USA > Vermont > The Lake Champlain and Lake George valleys, Vol. I > Part 2
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The mountains are ever so much older than the lakes. Since the rock structure of the Adirondacks existed long before that of the Green Mountains, it is with the former that we shall be at first con- cerned. The present site of the Adirondacks was once covered by the great Grenville Sea. This body of water accumulated beds of shales, limestone and sandstone, which were originally two or three miles thick. Because of later heavings and changes in the earth's crust, its horizontal arrangement has been broken up, but its presence is, never- theless, easily discernible. This so-called Grenville formation is as old as any known rocks in the world. There must have been older rocks that formed the bottom of the Grenville Ocean and upon which the Grenville beds were deposited, but up to the present time they are unknown, although there are very old rocks that may have formed the floor of this ancient ocean. Also, the sands and muds that accumulated must have been the erosion products from some con-
C & G-1
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LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
tinent whose exact location is unknown, although it is thought to have been somewhere to the north. The sea, itself, was in existence for a vast period of time, the accumulation of the Grenville sedimentary strata beginning about two billion years ago.
At the end of the Grenville period, great masses of molten rock were forced up to near the earth's surface, where they cooled and solidified. Finally, horizontal stresses within the earth's crust caused a slow uplift of the Adirondack area, which was exposed to erosion through millions of years and resulted in the removal of the overlying Grenville sediments except for fragments found in the valleys and lower elevations of the Adirondack area. The Adirondacks of today are but a shadow of their former size as created. For untold millions of years the winds have been howling around their lofty peaks, and the rains and the snows have beaten mercilessly against their summits. The elements have robbed them of their ancient glory. As a result, there are no really high, precipitous peaks that stand out promi- nently above the others. However, their very age extols them. They were monarchs of the sylvan waste for millions of years before the Rocky Mountains were born. Through all the distant ages, they wel- comed the sun each morning, and received a parting benediction at night. Each winter crowned their heads with snow, and each summer covered them with robes of beauty as century after century went by. And still they stand like rugged sentinels, facing the sky.
During the Ordovician period, a vast shallow sea covered all of Vermont, and the only section of New York State above water was the Adirondack area. At or toward the close of this period, how- ever, compressive forces in the earth's crust were brought to bear upon the sediments deposited by the Ordovician ocean. As a result, the strata were tilted, highly folded, and elevated far above sea level into the magnificent Taconic range, of which the Green Mountains were a part. The range has been subjected to long erosion, and there is evidence that the uplift was at least several thousand feet. As in the case of the Adirondacks, the Green Mountains of today are but remnants of their former selves, and the same can be said for the White Mountains and the Berkshires which were created at that time. No longer were the Adirondack peaks the sole sentinels on duty. Their long vigil through the ages was now shared by their friendly rivals, the green-clad giants of Vermont.
(Courtesy of the Champlain Valley Council)
THE HEART OF THE CHAMPLAIN VALLEY Air View of Lake Champlain at its Widest Point
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LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
After countless centuries had come and gone, at the close of the Paleozoic era, the Appalachian Mountains were created. At that time a tremendous disturbance took place in the earth, probably the great- est in the geologic history of North America. This section of our country underwent vast changes and was raised well above sea level, true marine conditions ceasing to exist here. At a still more recent date, at the end of the Mesozoic era, when the earth again suffered convulsions, and the Rocky Mountains were formed, there was also considerable strain in this area. During that era, all of New York had been reduced to a vast monotonous plain except for the Adiron- dacks and the Catskills. At the end, this plain was changed by an upwarping of the earth's crust. All the great valleys have been formed since that time, including the Champlain and St. Lawrence depressions.
For a long time Lake George and Lake Champlain did not exist. Their valleys, however, were increased in depth by the settlement of earth blocks, and the depressions constitute what is scientifically known as a fault trough. The main stream occupying the Champlain val- ley flowed northward. The present site of the Narrows on Lake George is thought to have been one of the divides between the Hud- son valley and the north, with streams rising there and flowing in both directions, the southern one flowing through Dunham's Bay. At one time the source of the St. Lawrence was undoubtedly in the Thousand Islands region, while before the coming of the ice sheet, the Hudson did not follow exactly the same channel that it does today. In gen- eral, this river flows along its preglacial valley, but its present chan- nel through Glens Falls and Fort Edward is a new one.
Next we come to the great ice sheets, which lasted from five hun- dred thousand to fifteen hundred thousand years. At the time of its greatest extent, ice covered nearly four million square miles of North America. The particular part of it that invaded our section was known as the Labradorean or Laurentide ice sheet. Many lakes formed by the glacier on the tops of mountains attest the thickness of the ice. Viscous tar will spread slowly out in all directions if poured on a level surface, and the ice of a glacier acts in much the same way. The center will at no time be much thicker than elsewhere in either case, provided that the tar is poured slowly. As the huge ice sheet flowed southward, its progress was impeded by the Adiron- dacks, which tended to divided and send it in two directions, one up the
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OUR GEOLOGIC HERITAGE
St. Lawrence valley and the other up the Champlain valley. The force of this giant ice cake was immense. It carried all sizes and kinds of boulders along with it, strewing them all over central New York. The mountains themselves were completely buried, and their peaks and sides thoroughly scraped and scoured off down to fresh rock. The valleys were dug out as effectively as if some gigantic steam shovel had been there, while the accumulated débris was depos- ited elsewhere, damming up streams and making minor geographical changes elsewhere. On the other hand, major topographical features were relatively unchanged.
Before the coming of the ice sheet the ancient channel of the Hud- son had been from Sherman Island (above Glens Falls) south and southeast toward Saratoga. For a short time at the end of the ice age, the passage of the Hudson from Corinth to Sherman Island was blocked by the retreating ice barrier, and the river flowed from Corinth to the west of Saratoga. The present channel through Glens Falls and Fort Edward is a third route formed at the close of the glacial epoch. As the ice plowed through the deep narrow gorge, today occupied by Lake George, it considerably lowered the preglacial divide where the Narrows are now located and dammed up the valley at both ends with glacial deposits. With the retreat of the ice sheet, various bodies of standing water were left behind in the hollows formed in the ground and streams of melted ice washed away much of the soil scraped away by the glacier. Although most of our lakes were formed by glaciers, in general the original bodies of water did not bear much resemblance to the lakes of today. Some of them are now extinct.
One of the great postglacial waterways was Lake Albany, con- taining fresh water, which at its greatest size extended from as far south as Kingston to as far north as Whitehall. Fine clays were depos- ited in it and sand deltas were formed along its shores by the streams that flowed into it, resulting in the picturesque clay and sand terraces that occur on both sides of the Hudson valley in that region. When the ice sheet retreated down the Champlain valley, a great dam formed glacial Lake Vermont, which was considerably larger than the Lake Champlain of today. It covered most of the present State of Vermont west of the Green Mountains, and some of the river basins and depressions to the eastward. It extended as far south- ward as the Fort Edward district, and possibly overflowed through
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LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
the Winooski valley to the Connecticut River, and perhaps into the St. Lawrence as well. Another glacial lake, now extinct, was Lake Pottersville. It not only included the present Schroon Lake, but also Brant Lake, Paradox Lake, the lowlands around Chestertown and the intervening territory. It was fully seventy feet above the present level of Schroon Lake, and disappeared because the wear and tear of the ages carried away the dam of glacial sediment which held it back.
The ice sheet was so heavy that it caused the crust of the earth to settle under its tremendous load. When it returned northward, the whole area was swamped under the sea which rushed in upon the heels of the retreating ice. Sea water filled the valleys of the St. Lawrence and the Hudson as well as the Champlain area. New Eng- land and New Brunswick formed a huge island separated from the mainland by these waters. It was known as the Champlain Sea and many evidences of it are still to be seen. Later, this arm of the ocean slowly drained off as the land in this vicinity started to rise. The upbending of the earth's crust was uneven and tilted, so that today at the northern end of Lake Champlain, we find sea beaches, ocean shells, and whale and walrus bones about five hundred feet above the present level of the lake, whereas at the southern end they occur at an elevation of only four hundred feet. Subsequently, the rivers running from the Champlain valley rinsed the salt out, with the result that we today possess a fresh water lake. Marine forms of life, although modified in structure and habits by the changed environment, still inhabit Lake Champlain, showing its former connection with the ocean.
As we stop and survey the work of the Creator, the most impor- tant feature from the point of view of the historian is the presence of the waterways, destined to be used for centuries as the avenues of war and the arteries of commerce by men, both red and white. Up and down these waterways from time immemorial sped parties of copper hued aborigines on hunting expeditions and voyages of con- quest. Later, with the coming of the white man, they were the routes used by traders and pioneers carrying European civilization, both good and bad. From the north came Jesuit missionaries on their way to fame and torture at the hands of the Iroquois. Vast armies moved up and down the valleys, wrestling for the control of the continent, both in the French and Indian wars and the Revolution. Into these valleys swarmed settlers with their Bibles and their rifles, carving a
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OUR GEOLOGIC HERITAGE
living from the soil and the virgin forest. After them came transpor- tation facilities, factories and finally the development of this section as one of the world's most famed playgrounds and recreation centers.
It is difficult to consider the historic and economic importance of Lake George and Lake Champlain except in connection with the St. Lawrence, the Hudson and the Mohawk. No roads at first pene- trated the wilderness. Tortuous Indian trails were the only avenues of travel by land. Water, therefore, was the principal means of trans- portation. The nation, whether red or white, that controlled these lakes and rivers was fortunate indeed. The Hudson and the Mohawk constituted enviable pathways to the country beyond the Alleghanies, while the close proximity of the Hudson to the southern limits of Lake George and Lake Champlain provided an easy route connecting the St. Lawrence with New York City. The lakes and rivers together made New York State the key to the continent, at least to the section east of the Mississippi. The possession of these waterways was so vital that the acquisition of New York by the English from the Dutch has been regarded as the most important political event up to that time in the history of the English colonies in America. By virtue of geography, any nation that controlled Lake George and Lake Cham- plain was in a fine position to control the junction of the Mohawk and the Hudson as well. Albany was in constant danger whenever the two lakes were in enemy hands.
In peace and in war, Lake Champlain has been the political and economic center for western Vermont and northeastern New York. It is one hundred and fourteen miles in length, and the distance from Whitehall to Fort Montgomery on the Canadian line is one hundred seven miles and a half. Its maximum width is from twelve to thirteen miles near the mouth of the Ausable River and its mean width is about four and one-half miles. Its greatest depth is three hundred and ninety-nine feet, southeast of Essex, and it is elevated ninety-three feet above sea level. It is drained at the north by the Richelieu River, which empties into the St. Lawrence, but is also connected with the Hudson by a canal from Whitehall. It has an area of about six hun- dred square miles, two-thirds of which is in Vermont. When com- pared with Lake George, it has few islands, but some of them are quite large. Grand Isle is twelve miles long and from one to four mile ; wide. North Hero is fourteen miles long and from two to three miles wide. Another large island, about six miles long, is Isle La
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LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
Motte. There is nothing monotonous about the scenery of Lake Champlain. In some sections the surrounding countryside is prac- tically level, with beautiful mountains rising far in the distance; in other parts the steep mountains descend almost abruptly into the lake. There is no similarity whatever between the broad, clear waters around Burlington and the narrow, muddy, river-like southern arm.
The general shoreline is sinuous and offers many fine bays. The northernmost, which extends into Canadian territory, is Missisquoi Bay, where the rangers were to leave their boats on the occasion of Rogers' famous and thrilling expedition against the St. Francis Indians. The most important bays, however, from a historical point of view, are at the southern end. Between Ticonderoga and the Hudson there were only two main routes : one by way of Lake George and one by way of South Bay and Wood Creek past Whitehall and Fort Ann. Wood Creek was navigable when not filled with boulders and fallen trees by retreating armies, and has had a bloody history. After the battle of Saratoga, the presence of this tiny waterway was not soon forgotten by English statesmen and military leaders.
The rivers on both sides of the Champlain valley are short and descend rather rapidly into the lake. There are four streams of con- siderable size on the Vermont side. The longest of these is the Otter, approximately ninety miles long, navigable for lake vessels for about eight miles to the falls at Vergennes. Directly north of Burlington is the mouth of the beautiful valley of the Winooski, and a few more miles farther north is the equally picturesque Lamoille. In the extreme northern part of the State is the Missisquoi River. Although Lake George empties into Lake Champlain, the quantity of water from that source is not as great as is generally believed. As in the case of Vermont, most of the rivers flowing into Lake Champlain on the New York side are in the northern section. In the extreme north, near the border, we find the mouths of the Big and Little Chazy Rivers. The Saranac enters the lake near Plattsburgh. The most famous of the rivers geologically, however, is the Ausable. It existed previous to the coming of the ice sheet, but its old channel was filled with heavy drift. After the retreat of the glacier northward, the river was forced to take a new route, and since that time has cut a deep nar- row gorge through Potsdam sandstone, creating the Ausable Chasm that we know today. The chasm is nearly two miles long and its walls are from one hundred to two hundred feet high. It is known far and
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OUR GEOLOGIC HERITAGE
wide as one of nature's masterpieces. Two other rivers also flow into Lake Champlain from the New York side: the Salmon and the Boquet, the latter being of particular historical importance because of its connection with William Gilliland, perhaps the greatest of the early settlers in the Champlain valley, who made his home on its banks in the town of Westport.
Lake George exists in sharp contrast to Lake Champlain. It is not much over thirty miles long, very narrow, and precipitous moun- tains rise directly from the water along much of its shoreline. It con- tains about two hundred and twenty islands which are extremely small when compared with those found in Lake Champlain. They add much to the beauty of Lake George because they are generally cov- ered with foliage to the edge of the water. For so small a lake it is extremely deep, its greatest depth being one hundred and eighty-seven feet between Dome Island and the eastern shore. The water is so pure that it has been carried to distant places for religious purposes. No rivers enter the lake, it being fed entirely by small brooks and springs.
A number of small lakes are to be found scattered over both Ver- mont and northeastern New York. Those in Vermont are extremely small, the largest being Lake Bomoseen in Rutland County, which is eight miles long and two and a half miles wide at the broadest part. In New York State, the Adirondacks abound in mountain lakes of romantic beauty. Of these, the one most widely known is probably Lake Placid.
In the Adirondacks we find the source of the Hudson, the princi- pal river of New York State and one of the most picturesque and important waterways east of the Mississippi. It begins in Lake Tear- of-the-Clouds at considerably over four thousand feet above sea level in the center of a triangle formed by Mount Marcy, Gray Peak and Skylight. Between its source and North Creek, its fall is very rapid, amounting to about sixty-four feet per mile. From North Creek to the Sacondaga the fall is only fourteen feet per mile, but from there to Fort Edward it is greater, due primarily to abrupt descents at dif- ferent places. As far as Troy and Albany, the Hudson remains a small stream obstructed with rapids, whereas below that point it is really a drowned river valley and subject to oceanic tides. Above Glens Falls there are three chief tributaries : the Indian, Schroon and Sacondaga rivers. Between there and Albany the Hudson is joined
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LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
by the Batten Kill, Fish Creek, and the Hoosic and Mohawk rivers. Much of the Hudson flows in the inner gorge of a broader valley with rocky banks so that the tributaries tend to enter the larger stream over waterfalls. In addition, the Hudson has lost its ancient channel in places, resulting in the formation of rapids. Both of these features have been of considerable importance, because they have become valuable sources of power, resulting in the growth of enterprising communities. Cohoes, Mechanicville, Stillwater and Troy are only a few of the communities that owe a part of their growth to one or both of these physical factors.
In the days when water transportation was by all means the easiest method of travel, the Hudson was the preferred route to the interior of the continent by the Dutch and the English. Taken in conjunction with Lake George and Lake Champlain, it was the key to the extinc- tion of French power in Canada. When considered together with the Mohawk, it constituted an easy avenue of westward expansion. Due to the geography of eastern America, the rivers, including par- ticularly the Hudson and the Mohawk, "were cut out for battle- grounds in all colonial wars between the English and the French, just as the head streams of the Po and Ebro leading down from che passes of the Alps and Pyrenees have been the scenes of conflict in every northern invasion of Italy and Spain since the days of Hannibal and Roland."* Later, in the American Revolution, the importance of the rivers was not to be diminished.
Geography dictated where the crowned heads of Europe should build their forts in the struggles for control of the continent. There is nothing astounding about the early erection of a fort at Crown Point, where today the bridge crosses to Chimney Point and where Lake Champlain seems almost strangled by the encroaching land. Neither is there anything surprising about building a fortress at Ticonderoga, an excellent location guarding both of the water routes from the south. The construction of a fort at the head of Lake George was essential from a geographic point of view, while the erec- tion of fortifications at Fort Edward would obviously serve as a check against invasion from the north by either water route. Located at Fort Edward was the Great Carrying Place, an important portage from the Hudson to the Champlain valley. From Lake George vil- lage and Fort Ann the water flows northward into the St. Lawrence
*Semple, Ellen Churchill: "American History and Its Geographic Conditions."
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OUR GEOLOGIC HERITAGE
River, yet in Essex County at a point further north than the nothern- most part of Lake George the Hudson River begins its journey south- ward, running in the opposite direction, until it makes a sudden turn to the east as far as Fort Edward, where it flows once more to the south. The distance is short from Fort Edward to either Lake George or Fort Ann. From early times the Indians carried their canoes over the portage in one direction or the other. With the waters of the Hudson passing so close to the St. Lawrence system, the Great Carrying Place became fully as important to the white man as it had been to the red, and was to prove as significant in the develop- ment of the peaceful pursuits of trade and commerce as it was in the plans of contending military commanders.
The Green Mountains constitute one of the most famous features of Vermont and it is from them that the name of the State is derived. It is impossible to think of one without the other. Those rich and beautiful mountains, their smooth, rounded domes often covered with grass and their slopes screened with forests of firs, have provided ample resources for industry and commerce, unusual scenery for lovers of nature, and really constitute the backbone of Vermont both geographically and industrially. Although the range runs the entire length of the State, it is highest around the deep valleys of the Winooski and the Lamoille. In all, there are about twenty peaks over thirty-five hundred feet high. Of these, the highest and best known is Mount Mansfield, located between the two rivers mentioned, and some distance east of Burlington. It stands approximately forty- four hundred feet above sea level. Other important peaks are Kill- ington, Camel's Hump, Lincoln and Jay, each of them being over four thousand feet high.
Their brothers of the Adirondacks are also predominantly dome shaped, although there are some sharp peaks, such as Whiteface. As a rule, the highest and most precipitous peaks are in that section of the Adirondacks which borders on Lake Champlain, and we often find bold rocky headlands on the western shore. On the New York side of the Champlain valley, high precipices exist over five hundred feet high. On Lake George a famous precipice is Rogers' Rock. Minor ranges which make up the Adirondacks are separated by deep, narrow valleys, which fact adds to the appearance of roughness. The older a mountain range is, the more rounded and sloping we naturally expect to find its peaks, because the rain, the snow, the wind and
(Courtesy of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad)
LAKE GEORGE VIEW
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OUR GEOLOGIC HERITAGE
other agencies have had a longer time to wear down the sharp points and edges. Since the Adirondacks are older than the Green Moun- tains they should be even more rounded than the Vermont peaks. The more precipitous peaks near the New York shore appear to be youthful, but their attempt to deceive us is in vain. Although their outer cloak suggests adolescence, their aged lines on the rocks under- neath penetrate their masquerade. The highest peaks are to be found in Essex County. Included in these is Mount Marcy, the monarch of New York State, rising a distance of five thousand, three hundred and forty-four feet. Mount McIntyre is next in size, but Whiteface is probably the best known of all the Adirondack peaks. Standing far toward the north, in the town of Wilmington, Essex County, northeast of Lake Placid, the latter mountain rises to a height of nearly forty-nine hundred feet. It is considered to be the most graceful of all the Adirondack peaks, and was the first to possess a name. It is the favorite among the winter sport fans who love to ascend mountains on skis and snowshoes; for several years it was unique in that the usual method of ascent was on horseback; but today a modern highway exists up its slopes .*
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