seat of extensive
traffic, especially in lumber, but navigation has greatly decreased; the
tonnage entering and clearing at the lake was twice as great in the
early '70's as it was thirty years later. The principal ports are
Burlington, Vt., and Plattsburg, N.Y. Lake Champlain lies in a valley
from 1 to 30 m. wide, between the Green Mountains on the east and the
Adirondack Mountains on the west, and the scenery is most picturesque.
On the east side is a rather gradual ascent for 20 m. or more from shore
to summit, while on the west side the ascent is by a succession of
hills, in some places from the water's edge. North of Crown Point low
mountains rise 1000 to 1600 ft. above the lake, and behind these are the
higher peaks of the Adirondacks, reaching an elevation of more than 5000
ft. Lake George is a tributary on the south, several small streams flow
in from each side; the Champlain Canal, 63 m. in length, connects the
lake with the Hudson river; and through the Richelieu it has a natural
outlet to the north into the St Lawrence.

Lake Champlain was named from Samuel de Champlain, who discovered it in
July 1609. The valley is a natural pathway between the United States and
Canada, and during the various wars which the English have waged in
America it had great strategic importance. In 1731 the French built a
fort at Crown Point; in 1756, another at Ticonderoga; and both were
important strategic points in the French and Indian War as well as in
the American War of Independence. On the 11th of October 1776, the first
battle between an American and a British fleet, the battle of Valcour
Island, was fought on the lake. Benedict Arnold, the American commander,
with a decidedly inferior force, withstood the British under Thomas
Pringle for about seven hours, and then during the night escaped through
the enemy's line. Although overtaken the next day he again, after a
fight of a few hours, made a successful retreat.

At the beginning of the War of 1812 the American naval force on the
lake, though very small, was superior to that of the British, but on the
3rd of June 1813 the British captured two American sloops in the narrow
channel at the northern end and gained supremacy. Both sides now began
to build and equip vessels for a decisive contest; by May 1814 the
Americans had regained supremacy, and four months later a British land
force of 11,000 men under Sir George Prevost (1767-1816) and a naval
force of 16 vessels of abo