BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. (AP) -- A long-lost message in a bottle has resurfaced 35 years after a Vermont boy sent it off in a favorite swimming hole.

The glass bottle with a note was found recently near the Bellows Falls dam by 14-year-old Justin Shepard. It was missing its cork, but there was still enough information inside it to track down the writer, Sean Keown (COW'-un).

Years ago, Keown and a pal shipped bottles containing notes down the White River in Rochester, about 75 miles away.

Keown tells WCAX-TV (http://bit.ly/NT8tM1 ) he had no idea he would get it back.

The old note promised a reward for the bottle's finder. Keown said at the time, he was in elementary school and was thinking maybe a candy bar or soda. He thinks now it will be cash.

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Information from: WCAX-TV, http://www.wcax.com