Lake Champlain

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Lake Champlain (French: lac Champlain), named for the French explorer Samuel de Champlain, who encountered it 1609, is a large lake in North America, mostly within the borders of the United States (states of Vermont and New York) but partially situated across the US-Canada border in the province of Quebec.

It is the sixth-largest body of fresh water in the contiguous United States, situated in the Champlain Valley between the Green Mountains of Vermont and the Adirondack Mountains of New York, drained northward by the Richelieu River into the St. Lawrence River near Montreal and fed by Otter Creek, the Winooski, Missisquoi, and Lamoille Rivers in Vermont, and the Ausable, Chazy, and Saranac Rivers in New York. Lake Champlain also receives water from Lake George via the La Chute River. The lake varies from 95 to 100 feet above mean sea level.

While the ports of Burlington, Vermont, Port Henry, New York, and Plattsburgh, New York are little used nowadays except by small crafts, ferries and lake cruise ships, they had substantial commercial and military importance in the 18th and 19th Century.

Contents

1 A region of large freshwater lakes
2 Colonial America and the Revolutionary War
3 War of 1812
4 Modern history
5 Lake crossings

5.1 Mainland
5.2 Ferry
5.3 Railroad

6 See also

A region of large freshwater lakes

Lake Champlain is one of a large number of large lakes spread in an arc from Labrador through the Northern United States and into the Northwest Territories of Canada. Although it cannot be compared with Ontario, Erie, Huron, Superior, or Michigan, Lake Champlain is a large body of fresh water. Approximately 1130 km² (435 square miles) in area, the lake is roughly 180 km (110 miles) long, and 19 km (12 miles) across at its widest point. It contains roughly 80 islands including an entire county in Vermont.

Colonial America and the Revolutionary War

In Colonial times, Lake Champlain provided an easily traversed water (or, in winter, ice) passage between the Saint Lawrence and the Hudson Valleys. Boats and sledges were usually preferable to the unpaved and frequently mud bound roads of the time. The northern tip of the lake at Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec (St. John in colonial times) is a short distance from Montreal. The Southern tip at Whitehall (Skenesborough in Colonial times) is a short distance from Saratoga, Glens Falls, and Albany, New York.

Forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point (Fort St. Frederic) controlled passage of the lake in Colonial times. Important battles were fought at Ticonderoga in 1758 and 1777. A significant naval battle was fought in 1776 at Valcour Island: in the Battle of Valcour Island, Benedict Arnold delayed British ships enough to prevent the fall of these forts until the following year, allowing the Continental Army to grow stronger and enabling the later victory at Saratoga.

War of 1812

In the early 19th century, the construction of the New York Barge Canal connected Lake Champlain to the Hudson River system, allowing north-south commerce by water from New York City to Montreal and Atlantic Canada.

The Battle of Lake Champlain also known as the Battle of Plattsburgh, fought on September 11, 1814, ended the final invasion of the Northern states during the War of 1812. Fought just prior to the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, the American victory denied the British any leverage to demand exclusive control over the Great Lakes and any territorial gains against the New England states. (See: Battle of Plattsburgh)

Fort Blunder (more properly known as Fort Montgomery) was built by the Americans on an arm of Lake Champlain after the War of 1812, to protect against attacks from British Canada. Its name comes from a surveying error: the initial phase of construction on the fort turned out to be taking place three quarters of a mile north of the border. Once this error was spotted, construction stopped and resumed at the current location, safely on U.S. soil. The materials used in the aborted fort were scavenged by locals for use in their own homes and public buildings.

Modern history

Lake Champlain briefly became the nation's sixth Great Lake on March 6, 1998, when President Clinton signed Senate Bill 927. This bill, which reauthorized the National Sea Grant Program, contained a line penned by U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, declaring Lake Champlain to be a Great Lake. Not coincidentally, this status allows neighboring states to apply for additional federal research and education funds allocated to these national resources. Following a small uproar, the Great Lake status was rescinded on March 24 (although Vermont universities continue to receive funds to monitor and study the lake).

One of the more enduring myths surrounding Lake Champlain is that of Champ. Reminiscent of the Loch Ness monster, Ogopogo and other phenomena of cryptozoology, Champ is purportedly a giant aquatic animal that makes the lake its home. Sightings have been sporadic over time. Regardless, locals and tourists have developed something of a fondness for the creature and its legend and representations of Champ can now be found on tee shirts, coffee mugs, and many other tourist souvenirs. The Vermont Lake Monsters, a minor-league baseball team, have a cartoonish version of Champ as their mascot.

The Alburg Peninsula (also known as the Alburg Tongue), extending south from the Quebec shore of the lake into Vermont, shares with Point Roberts, Washington, and the Northwest Angle in Minnesota as well as Province Point (see below) the distinction of being reachable by land from the rest of its state only via Canada. However, unlike the other three cases, this is no longer of practical significance since highway bridges across the lake do provide access to the peninsula within the United States (from three directions, in fact). A few kilometres to the north-east of the town of East Alburg, however, the southernmost tip of a small promontory, Province Point, is cut through by the US-Canadian border.

Lake crossings

Mainland

The lake can be crossed by road at only one southerly point, the Champlain Bridge, connecting Chimney Point in Vermont with Crown Point, New York.

To the north, Grand Isle County, Vermont connects to the New York mainland via U.S. Route 2 to Rouses Point, NY adjacent to the Canadian border.

Ferry

North of Ticonderoga, NY, the lake widens appreciably; ferry service is provided by the Lake Champlain Transportation Company at:

Charlotte, VT to Essex, NY (may not travel when the lake is frozen)
Burlington, VT to Port Kent, NY (seasonal)

Grand Isle, VT to Plattsburgh, NY (year-round icebreaking service)

The most southerly crossing is the Fort Ticonderoga Ferry, connecting Ticonderoga, New York with Shoreham, Vermont just north of the historic fort.

Railroad

Through history there were four significant railroad crossings over the lake. Currently, only one such crossing remains.

The "floating" rail trestle from Larabees Point, VT to Ticonderoga, NY. This crossing used a floating trestle that was abandoned in 1918 due to many accidents resulting in locomotives and rail cars being dumped in the lake. This crossing was operated by the Addison Branch of the Rutland Railroad.
The Island Line Causeway. This marble rock landfill causeway stretched from Colchester, VT (on the mainland) three miles north and west to South Hero, VT. Two breaks in the causeway were spanned by a fixed iron trestle and a swingbridge that could be opened to allow nautical navigation. The Rutland Railroad (later Rutland Railway) operated trains over this causeway from 1901-1961. The Railway was officially abandoned in 1963 with tracks and trestles removed over the course of the ten years that followed. The marble causeway still remains, as does the fixed iron trestle that bridges the lesser of the two gaps. The swingbridge over the navigation channel was removed sometime in the early 1970s. The main three mile causeway is a popular recreation area (called Colchester Park) for cyclists, runners, anglers, and lovers of the outdoors. Two smaller marble rock landfill causeways were also erected as part of this line that connected Grande Isle, VT to North Hero, VT and from North Hero, VT to Alburgh,VT.
The Rouses Point, NY rail trestle. This wooden trestle carried two railroads (the Rutland Railroad and the Central Vermont Railroad) over the lake adjacent and to the south of the US 2 vehicular bridge. This trestle carried rolling stock from sometime in the late 19th Century until 1964. The iron swingbridge at the center (over the navigation channel) has been removed, but most of the wooden piles that carried the railroads still remain and can be seen easily looking south from the U.S. 2 bridge. The Rouses Point, NY side of the bridge has been converted, in part, to a access pier associated with the local marina.
The Swanton, VT, to East Alburgh, VT, rail trestle. This wooden trestle was built in the same manner as the Rouses Point, NY trestle. It crosses the lake just south of Missisquoi Bay and the Canadian Border and exists directly south of the VT 78 highway causeway This rail crossing carries the New England Central Railroad (part of the Canadian National Railroad) and is still being used to this day.