I think of the settlers. I'm a hundred miles as crow flies from the Atlantic Ocean. While New England was being settled, Indians dominated the area I live. Then there was the unpleasantry between New York claiming governance & Governor Benning Wentworth in New Hampshire selling Vermont. In the years other New England states were becoming well established & civilized, VT was struggling. Those who bought "Proprietor's Lots" were investors. They paid a tiny sum for each 160, or 100 acre lot. They had no way to know if it was in a swamp, middle of a lake, or top of a mountain.
Ultimately, these Proprietors sold their lots to settlers, who typically gambled as to what they were buying.
Many settlers paid for land they knew only its size. Most was difficult, if not impossible to homestead.
In Mount Tabor's case, there was a 1 time tax of $5.oo for each landowner to buy Right Of Way for the new, not yet built railroad. Mount Tabor had 7 miles of railroad to buy. Railroad was along the extreme Western edge of the town, hard against the Village of the next town, Danby. Most Mount Tabor residents were on the wrong side of a mountain range to benefit from a railroad. Summer, it took all day to reach a train, winter, it was impossible!
Many of the residents failed to pay their tax. I never knew if it was inability to pay, or refusal to pay. Many farms were taken by the town government for non payment of tax. By the Civil war, the practice of taking every able bodied man same day further decimated the town. Somewhere near 1865, the Town of Mount Tabor sold 21000 acres of seized land to the richest kid in Danby for $1100. Roughly $00.19 per acre. Thus ended Mount Tabor's existence as a populated town. Theoretically left 4000 acres in resident's ownership.
Still, the farms are evident! Stone walls abound. Cellar holes with fireplaces are still there.