e Caughnawaga Ship-canal is to connect Lake
Champlain with the St. Lawrence by the least possible distance,
and with the smallest amount of lockage. When built, it will
enable the vessel or propeller to sail from the head of lakes
Superior or Michigan without breaking bulk, and will enable such
vessels to land and receive cargo at Burlington and Whitehall,
from whence western freights can be carried to and from Boston,
and throughout New England, by railway cheaper than by any other
route.
"It will possess the advantage, when the Welland Canal is
enlarged and the locks of the St. Lawrence Canal lengthened, of
passing vessels of eight hundred and fifty tons' burden, and
with that size of vessel (impossible on any other route) of
improved model, with facilities for loading and discharging
cargoes at both ends of the route, in the length of the voyage
without transshipment, in having the least distance between any
of the lake ports and a seaport, and in having the shortest
length of taxed canal navigation. The construction of the
Caughnawaga Canal, when carried out, will remedy the
difficulties which now exist and stand in the way of an
uninterrupted water communication between the western states
and the Atlantic seaboard."
From Rouse's Point we proceeded to a picturesque point which jutted into
the lake below Chazy Landing, and was sheltered by a grove of trees into
which we hauled the Mayeta. Bodfish's woodcraft enabled him to construct
a wigwam out of rails and rubber blankets, where we quietly resided
until Monday morning. The owner of the point, Mr. Trombly, invited us to
dinner on Sunday, and exhibited samples of a ton of maple sugar which he
had made from the sap of one thousand trees.
On Monday, July 20th, we rowed southward. Our route now skirted the
western shore of Lake Champlain, which is the eastern boundary of the
great Adirondack wilderness. Several of the tributaries of the lake take
their rise in this region, which is being more and more visited by the
hunter, the fisherman, the artist, and the tourist, as its natural
attractions are becoming known to the public. The geodetical survey of
the northern wilderness of New York state, known as the Adirondack
country, under the efficient and energetic labors of Mr. Verplanck
Colvin, will cover an area of nearly five thousand square miles. In his
report of the great work he
|