Date Published:

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Lake Champlain

Champlain, lake, a long, narrow body of water which separates the states of New York and Vermont, and extends northward a few miles beyond the Quebec boundary. It is 130 miles long; its width varies from ½ mile to 10 miles; and it has a total area of 600 square miles. Its principal outlet is the Richelieu river, which empties into the St. Lawrence below Montreal ; and until the coming of the railway it was the chief avenue of communication between New York and Canada. By means of the Chambly canal in Quebec, and the Champlain and Hudson river canals, it still provides uninterrupted water communication between the St. Lawrence and Hudson rivers. This lake is named after Samuel Champlain, who discovered it in 1609; and it was the scene of a naval battle fought opposite the town of Plattsburg, between the British and the Americans, on September 11, 1814. See W. H. Crockett, A history of lake Champlain (Burlington, 1909).

Source  : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. II, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 411p., p. 32.