Chap. 1. 



DESCRIPTIVE GEOGRAPHY. 



LAKES AND PONDS. 



LAKE CHAMPLAIW. 



formerly had an abundance, have ceased 

 to receive the necessary supply of water 

 during a considerable portion of the year ; 

 and many mill sites, which were once 

 thought valuable, have, from the same 

 cause, become entirely useless. One of 

 the principal causes of this diminution of 

 our stneams is supposed to be the cutting 

 down of the forests, which formerly threw 

 off immense quantities of vapor into the 

 atmosphere, which was again precipitated 

 upon the earth in rain and snow. But it 

 is believed that the quantity of water 

 which annually passes off' in our streams 

 is not so much less than formerly as is 

 generally imagined. Before the country 

 was cleared, the whole surface of the 

 ground was deeply covered with leaves, 

 limbs, and logs, and the channels of all 

 the smaller streams were much obstruct- 

 ed by the same. The consequence was, 

 that, when the snows dissolved in the 

 spring, or the rains fell in the summer, 

 the waters were retained among the 

 leaves, or retarded by the other obstruc- 

 tions, so as to pass off slowly, and the 

 streams were kept up, nearly uniform as 

 to size, during fhe whole year. But since 

 the country has become settled, and the 

 obstructions, which retarded the water, 

 removed by fresliets, when the snows 

 melt or the rains fall, the waters run off 

 from the surface of the ground quickly, 

 the streams are raised suddenly, run rap- 

 idly, and soon subside. In consequence 

 of the water being thus carried off more 

 rapidly, the streams would be smaller 

 than formerly during a considerable part 

 of the year, even though the quantity of 

 water be the same. It is a well known 

 fact that the freshets in Vermont are 

 more sudden and violent than v/hen the 

 country was new. 



The waters of tlie lakes, ponds and 

 streams are universally soft, miscible with 

 soap, and in general free from foreign 

 fiubstances. And the same may be said 

 of most of the springs, particularly on the 

 Green Mountains, and in that portion of 

 the state lying east of these mountains. 

 The waters of most of the springs and 

 wells in the western part of the state 

 are rendered hard and unsuitable for 

 washing by the lime they hold in solu- 

 tion, and there are many springs which 

 are highly impregnated with Epsom salts, 

 and others containing iron, sulphuretted 

 hydrogen, &.c. These mineral springs 

 will be described in another place. 



Lakes and Fonds. Small lakes and 

 ponds are found in all parts of Vermont, 

 but there are no large bodies of water 

 which lie wholly within the state. Lake 

 Champlain lies between this state and the 



state of New York, and more than half o^ 

 it within the limits of Vermont. It ex- 

 tends in a straight line from south to 

 north, 102 miles along the western boun- 

 daiy, from Whitehall to the 45tli degree 

 of latitude, and thence about 24 miles to 

 St. Johns in Canada, affording an easy 

 communication with that province and 

 with New York. This lake is connected 

 with Hudson river, at Albany, by a canal 

 64 miles in length ; so that the towns ly- 

 ing on the shores of Lake Champlain 

 have direct communication by water with 

 the cities of Troy, Albany, Hudson, and 

 New York, and, by means of the great 

 western canal, with the great western 

 lakes. The length of this lake from 

 south to north, measured in a straight line 

 from one extremity to the other, and sup- 

 posing it to terminate northerly at St. 

 Johns, is 126 miles. Its width varies from 

 one fourth of a mile to 13 miles, and the 

 mean width is about 4.^ miles. This would 

 give an area of 567 square miles, two 

 thirds of which lie within the limits of 

 Vermont. The waters, which this lake 

 receives from Vermont, are drained, by 

 rivers and other streams, from 4088 milea 

 of its territory. Its depth is generally 

 sufficient for the navigation of the largest 

 vessels. It received its present name 

 from Samuel Champlain, a French noble- 

 man, who discovered it in the sprincr of 

 1609, and who died at Quebec in 163.5, 

 and was not drowned in its waters, as has 

 been often said.* One of the names giv- 

 en to this lake by tlie aborigines is said to 

 have been Caniaderi-G2iarunte,s\gm!ymg 

 the mouth or door of the country. t If so, 

 it was very appropriate, as it forms the 

 gate-way between the country on the St. 

 Lawrence and that on the Hudson. The 

 name of this lake in the Abenfiqui tongue 

 was Petaiod-boyque, signifying alternate 

 land and water, in allusion to the numer- 

 ous islands and projecting points of land 

 along the lake. Previous to tlie settle- 

 ment of the country by Europeans, this 

 lake had long been the thoroilgh-fare be- 

 tween hostile and powerful Indian tribes, 

 and its shores the scene of many a mortal 

 conflict. And after the settlement, it 

 continued the same in reference to the 

 French and English colonies, and subse- 

 quently in reference to the English in 

 Canada and the United States. In con- 

 sequence of this peculiarity of its loca- 

 tion, the name of Lake Champlain stands 

 connected with some of the most interest- 

 ing events in the annals of our country ; 

 and the transactions associated with the 

 names of Ticonderoga, and Crown Point, 



* See Part II, p. 2. fSpafFord'sGaz.ofN.y., p. 



