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A Brief Lake Champlain History

Lake Champlain History - The Battle of Plattsburgh

Battle of Plattsburgh

Lake Champlain’s Early History

Lake Champlain was named for Samuel de Champlain, a French explorer, who first saw the lake in 1609, but native people had been depending on the lake for food, water and transportation for ten thousand years before Champlain’s arrival.

In the Colonial era the lake provided easy passage between the Saint Lawrence and Hudson River Valleys. This passage connected French North America (Montreal and Quebec) and English North America (Albany and New York). Because of the easy and speedy travel it offered, this strategic military location was the scene of many battles for control. Throughout the Colonial period, the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 fleets of warships patrolled its waters and important battles were fought on Lake Champlain and the land surrounding it. A number of the old fortresses are still visible and a few, like Fort Ticonderoga have been maintained or restored.

Lake Champlain History - Fort Montgomery (Fort Blunder)

Fort Montgomery (Fort Blunder)

 

History of Lake Champlain in the Commercial and Recreational Eras

lake Champlain History - Ticonderoga

Ticonderoga

In the early 1800’s with the completion of the Champlain Canal, Lake Champlain was connected to the Hudson River allowing north-south commerce between New York City and Montreal (and Atlantic Canada). This began a booming commercial era in Lake Champlain history. Barges, sloops and lake schooners bustled back and forth carrying lumber, iron ore and agricultural goods.

Today Lake Champlain enjoys a more peaceful existence the warships have been replaced by recreational boaters. Thousands of people enjoy fishing, swimming and enjoying the beauty of the Lake Champlain life.

Lake Champlain history - sunset

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First View of Lake Champlain

Account of a First View of Lake Champlain

view of Lake Champlain

“Here a scene of indescribable sublimity burst upon us. Before us lay the waters of Lake Champlain, a sheet of unruffled glass, stretching some ninety miles to the south, widening and straitening as rocks and cliffs projected in the most fantastic shapes into the channel. On each side is a thick and uninhabited wilderness, now rising up into mountains, now falling into glens, while a noble background is presented toward the east by the Green Mountains, whose summits appear even to pierce the clouds. On the west mountains still more gigantic in loftiness, pride and dignity. I cannot by any powers of language do justice to such a scene.”

R.G. Gleig, a member of Gen. Fraser’s staff, June 1777

( at his first view of Lake Champlain )

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About Lake Champlain

Looking about Lake Champlain from above

Looking about Lake Champlain from above

Lake Champlain (French: lac Champlain) is a natural, freshwater lake bordered by the states of Vermont and New York and in the north by the Canadian province of Quebec. The New York portion of the Champlain Valley includes the eastern portions of Clinton and Essex Counties. Most of this area is part of the Adirondack Park. The eastern shore of Lake Champlain is composed of Franklin, Chittenden and Addison Counties of Vermont, and Vermont’s Grand Isle County is completely surrounded by Lake Champlain. The Quebec portion (the regional county municipalities of Le Haut-Richelieu and Brome–Missisquoi) forms the northern boundary of Lake Champlain.

Lake Champlain is over 120 miles (193 km) long and, at its widest about 12 miles (19 km) wide.  Its surface area covers about 435 sq mi (1,127 km2) has 587  (945 km) miles of shoreline and about 80 islands. Lake Champlain flows north from Whitehall, New York across the U.S./Canadian border to its outlet at the Richelieu River in Quebec. From there, the water flows into the St. Lawrence River, and eventually into the Atlantic Ocean at the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

With an average depth of 64 feet (19.5 m) and maximum depth of 400 feet (122 m)  in the area between Charlotte, Vermont and Essex, New York., Lake Champlain holds 6.2 cu miles (25.8 cubic km) of water or 6.8 trillion gallons (25.8 cubic km) .

The Lake is divided into five distinct areas, each with different physical and chemical characteristics and water quality. These lake segments include: the South Lake, the Main Lake (or Broad Lake), Malletts Bay, the Inland Sea (or Northeast Arm), and Missisquoi Bay.

Samuel de Champlain

Samuel_de_Champlain (1567-1635) French explorer of Lake Champlain

Who was this man for whom Lake Champlain is named?

Samuel de Champlain was an explorer, geographer and colonizer. He was born in 1567 in Brouage, a village on the Bay of Biscay. As a captain of a Spanish sailing ship, serving under Don Francisco Colombo, he visited the Spanish West Indies and Mexico. Between 1601 and 1603 he wrote his first book, the ‘Bref Discours’.

 

Samuel de Champlain : “Father of New France”

Statue of Samuel de Champlain, Isle La Motte, Vermont

Champlain made his first voyage to the St. Lawrence River in 1603 and was active in attempting to establish the French colony in Acadia. During this time he also explored the seacoast from Cape Breton to Martha’s Vineyard.

In 1609 Champlain discovered the lake that bears his name today. It was here that he fought his first battle with the Iroquois.

Champlain explored the Ottawa River to above Lac Coulange in 1613, and in 1615 he reached Georgian Bay. From 1617 through 1629 he worked to strengthen the colony of Quebec and promote trade on the lower Saint Lawrence River.

After the surrender of Quebec in 1629 he was taken captive and imprisoned in London, but he returned to New France in 1633 and remained there until his death on Christmas Day 1635.