Lake Champlain For ships named after the lake, see USS Lake Cham- plain. For homonymy, see Champlain. Lake Champlain (French: Lac Champlain) is a nat- ural freshwater lake in North America, located mainly within the borders of the United States (states of Vermont and New York) but partially situated across the Canada– United States border in the Canadian province of Quebec. The New York portion of the Champlain Valley includes the eastern portions of Clinton County and Essex County. Most of this area is part of the Adirondack Park. There are recreational opportunities in the park and along the relatively undeveloped coastline of Lake Champlain. The cities of Plattsburgh, New York and Burlington, Vermont are on the west and east shores of the lake, respectively, and the village of Ticonderoga, New York is located in the southern part of the region. The Quebec portion is located in the regional county municipalities of Le Haut- Richelieu and Brome-Missisquoi. 1 Geology The Champlain Valley is the northernmost unit of a land- form system known as the Great Appalachian Valley, which stretches from Quebec to Alabama. The Cham- plain Valley is a physiographic section of the larger Saint Lawrence Valley, which in turn is part of the larger Appalachian physiographic division.[1] It is one of numerous large lakes located in an arc from Labrador through the northern United States and into the Northwest Territories of Canada. Although it is smaller than each of the Great Lakes: Ontario, Erie, Huron, Superior, or Michigan, Lake Champlain is a large body of fresh water. Approximately 1,269 km2 (490 sq mi) in area, the lake is roughly 201 km (125 mi) long, and 23 km (14 mi) across at its widest point.[2][3] The maximum depth is approximately 400 feet (120 m). The lake varies seasonally from about 95 to 100 ft (29 to 30 m) above mean sea level.[4] 1.1 Hydrology Landsat photo Lake Champlain is situated in the Lake Champlain Val- ley between the Green Mountains of Vermont and the Adirondack Mountains of New York, drained northward and downstream of Montreal. It also receives the wa- by the 106-mile (171 km)-long Richelieu River into the ters from the 32-mile (51 km)-long Lake George, so its St. Lawrence River at Sorel-Tracy, Quebec northeast basin collects waters from the northwestern slopes of the 1 2 2 HISTORY Lake Champlain near Burlington during sunset. Brooklyn Museum - Green Mountains, Lake Champlain - Winck- worth Allan Gay - overall Green Mountains of Vermont and the northernmost east- ern peaks of the Adirondack Mountains of New York. and 19th centuries. The lake drains nearly half of Vermont. About 250,000 A variety of Native American names for the lake were people get their drinking water from the lake.[5] recorded by historians. Many historical works give Cani- The lake is fed by Otter Creek, the Winooski, Poultney, aderi Guarunte as the Iroquois name for the lake (mean- Missisquoi, and Lamoille Rivers in Vermont, and the ing: mouth or door of the country); the lake was an im- [9] Ausable, Chazy, Boquet, Saranac and La Chute rivers in portant northern gateway to their lands. A number of New York. other sources give Petonbowk (meaning the lake in be- tween) as the Abenaki name in their Algonquian language It is connected to the Hudson River by the Champlain for the lake.[10] The St. Francis/Sokoki Abenaki Band, Canal. who make their home along the Masipskiwibi River (in Portions of the lake freeze each winter, and in some Missisquoi language, “Crooked River”) in northwestern winters the entire lake surface freezes, referred to as Vermont, call the lake Bitawbagok, which has the same “closing”.[6] The lake temperature reaches an average of meaning as Petonbowk.[11] Some early 21st-century ar- 70 °F (21 °C) in July and August.[7] ticles appeared during the Champlain Quadricentennial (2009) claiming Ondakina as the “local” native name for the lake, but none cites a verifiable source.[12][13] 1.2 Chazy Reef The Chazy Reef is an extensive Ordovician carbonate 2.1 Colonial America and the Revolution- rock formation which extends from Tennessee to Quebec ary War and Newfoundland. It occurs in prominent outcropping at Goodsell Ridge, Isle La Motte, the northernmost island in Lake Champlain. The oldest reefs are around “The Head” of the south end of the island; slightly younger reefs are found at the Fisk Quarry; and the youngest (the famous coral reefs) are lo- cated in fields to the north.[8] Together, these three sites provide a unique narrative of events which took place over 450 million years ago in the ocean in the Southern Hemisphere, long before the emergence of Lake Cham- Map of Lac Champlain, from Fort de Chambly up to Fort St- plain twenty thousand years ago. Fréderic in Nouvelle France. Cadastral map showing conces- sions and seigneuries on the coasts of the lake according to 1739 surveying. 2 History New France allocated concessions all along lake Cham- plain to French settlers, and built forts to defend the wa- The lake was named after the French explorer Samuel terways. In colonial times, Lake Champlain was used de Champlain, who encountered it in 1609. While the as a water passage (or, in winter, ice) between the Saint ports of Burlington, Vermont; Port Henry, New York; Lawrence and the Hudson valleys. Travelers found it eas- and Plattsburgh, New York today are primarily used by ier to journey by boats and sledges on the lake rather small craft, ferries and lake cruise ships, they were of sub- than to go overland on the unpaved and frequently mud- stantial commercial and military importance in the 18th bound roads of the time. The northern tip of the lake at 2.3 Modern history 3 Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec (known as St. John in 2.3 Modern history colonial times under British rule) is a short distance from Montreal. The southern tip at Whitehall (Skenesborough in revolutionary times) is a short distance from Saratoga, Glens Falls, and Albany, New York. Forts were built at Ticonderoga and Crown Point (Fort St. Frederic) to control passage on the lake in colo- nial times. Important battles were fought at Ticonderoga in 1758 and 1775. During the Revolutionary War, the British and Americans conducted a frenetic shipbuilding race through the Spring and Summer of 1776 at opposite ends of the lake, fighting a significant naval engagement on October 11 at the Battle of Valcour Island. While it was a tactical defeat for the Americans and the small fleet led by Benedict Arnold was almost entirely destroyed, the Americans gained a strategic victory. The British inva- sion was delayed long enough so that the approach of A 1902 photograph of Fort Henry at Lake Champlain. winter prevented the fall of these forts until the follow- ing year. In this period, the Continental Army gained In the early 19th century, the construction of the strength and was victorious at Saratoga. Champlain Canal connected Lake Champlain to the Hudson River system, allowing north-south commerce by water from New York City to Montreal and Atlantic Canada. In 1909, 65,000 people celebrated the 300th anniver- 2.2 War of 1812 sary of the French discovery of the lake. Attending dig- nitaries included President William Howard Taft, along with representatives from France, Canada and the United During the War of 1812, British and American forces Kingdom.[14][15] faced each other in the Battle of Lake Champlain, also known as the Battle of Plattsburgh, fought on Septem- In 1929, then-New York Governor Franklin Roosevelt ber 11, 1814. This ended the final British invasion of the and Vermont Governor John Weeks, dedicated the first northern states during the War of 1812. It was fought bridge to span the lake, built from Crown Point to [16] just prior to the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, and the Chimney Point. This bridge lasted until December American victory denied the British any leverage to de- 2009. Severe deterioration was found, and the bridge mand exclusive control over the Great Lakes or territorial was demolished and replaced with the Lake Champlain gains against the New England states. Bridge, which opened in November 2011. Three US Naval ships have been named after this bat- On February 19, 1932, boats were able to sail on Lake tle, including the USS Lake Champlain (CV-39), the USS Champlain. It was the first time that the lake was known [17] Lake Champlain (CG-57), and a cargo ship used during to be free of ice during the winter at that time. World War I. Lake Champlain briefly became the nation’s sixth Great Following the War of 1812, the US Army began construc- Lake on March 6, 1998, when President Clinton signed tion on "Fort Blunder", an unnamed fortification built Senate Bill 927. This bill, which reauthorized the at the northernmost end of Lake Champlain to protect National Sea Grant Program, contained a line declaring against attacks from British Canada. Its nickname came Lake Champlain to be a Great Lake. This status enabled from a surveying error: the initial phase of construction its neighboring states to apply for additional federal re- on the fort turned out to be taking place on a point .75 search and education funds allocated to these national re- miles (1.21 km) north of the Canadian border. Once this sources. Following a small uproar, the Great Lake sta- error was spotted, construction was abandoned. Locals tus was rescinded on March 24 (although New York and scavenged materials used in the abandoned fort for use in Vermont universities continue to receive funds to monitor [18] their own homes and public buildings.