Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-03-09
From the Boston Jorrnall -
Antiquities of Lake ChanarIain.

tflOt, Etaan Alien, VINO hrSt coined the
expression that the outlet of the beauti-
full Lake Champlain is "The key of Cana
d." Truly spoken. Government forti-
fcations erected on these shores as early
as 1914, others in 1917, and later still in
1914, attest the faith of the American
Congress in the view Of Colonel Allen.
At present the massive walls of Fort
Montgomery, now twenty six years in
process of construction, and the third in
magnitude Of the thirteen military forth
fcations in the Empire State, stands SEN
tinel on the line, and frowningly guards
this important sikey )" and an enemy from
the north would be compelled in passing
it to come under the fire of 1854 guns,
some Of them sixteen feet in length and
weighing twenty-five tons apiece. But
"annexationh is only a question of time,
and doubtless the time will be long ere
the cannon of this formidable fort shall
| be pointed toward a hostile fleet from
Canada Hence the immense fortress is a
useless thing, and so far as being neees.
sary for war purposes is concerned, Hsav-
| en- grant it may remain SO.
Apropos of the site and subject, there is
no section Of the United States more rich
III 1dCt dAd nGuiOEl6d OE 81
pregnant with old time legends and rem
iniscenoes as this famous 'key" and the
lands Immediately adjacent. 1t has been
the thoroughfare of contending nations
for more than two centuries. A history
of the terminus of the lake aud all its OPP
posite shores, together with the grand old
town of Champlain, now lies in manu-
script and may one day see the light. The
record stretches back in its field of re-
search to the memorable morning of the
4th OF July, 1909, when Captain Samuel
de Champlain, then Viceroy Of New
France, las Canada was termed), shooting
up and out of the River Richelieu in the
midst of his Indian allies in a bireh-b bark
canoe, was the first white man who ever
looked on these splendid waters and their
then forest bound shores. What changes
have come in these two hundred and sixty
one years, The red man and his frail
bark has given place to the magnificent
steamer and the feet of a cultivated and
marvelously advancing people. Oh, it is
wonderful to think what once was and
what now is On this broad green Ameri-
can continent.
Seven miles south of the fort and the
key which it guards is Isle la Motto,
owned by Vermont, and celebrated for
the excelleucy of it's gray-blue marble
This fertile leland is seven miles in length
and one and a half miles in width, and
lies midway between North Hero and AL.
burgh on the Vermont side, and the town
of Chazy in New York on tho west the
main channel running west Of it. Here
on the west shore of tho island and not
far from the government lighthouse, are
still 10 be seen the remains of an old fort
built by the French in the seventeenth
century. These ruins are distinct from
the earthw0rks thrown up by our military
authorities in 1912 14-traces of which
are yet visible, but nearer the middle of
the Island, and are not to be by anti
quarians confounded with them. From
1909 to 1868 the Canadian French claimed
possession of Lake Champlain and all the
land on either side. The conquest of
Canada by the English put an end to the
claim On the west shore of Isle la
Motto, then French soil, was built Fort
ST. Anne in 1865. The task Of it's con-
strucson was committed 10 one III.
de la Motto, bold captain of one of the
Carnignan companies, and its builder gave
his name to the island forever afterwards.
1t was the first permanent settlement and
occupation by the French of any part of
the soil sonth of latitude 45 degrees. The
site selected was low land projecting
into the water, and from which point the
eye could sweep the lake up and down for
a distance Of many miles. AS a COM
handing position from which to watch
the enemy, who always came on the wa
ter, it was admirably chosen. The fort
with its clearings must have occupied an
area of an acre. 1t was made of timbers
from the forests, stones from the shores,
and earth from the surrounding soil, being
intended as a military rendezvous from
which to attack tho angry Mohawk Iro-
Quois, with whom war was an inevitable
and incessant necessity. Here constant
armed guard was kept, and numerous
dwellings, must have been erected by the
habitans from Canada. Several regiments
at times occupied the forts.
1t was only a year later when the
treaoherous foe surprised and murdered
Captain Sieur de Traversy and also
nephew of the French Viceroy, one Cap
tain Sieur de Chusy or Chazy. They
were killed while hunting and fishing at
the mouth of the river that empties its
waters into the lake on the New York
side, just opposite where the fort stood; a
river to which Chazy beaueathed his
name, which was also more latterly given
to an adjacent town. Some of the French
soldiers were at the same time made cap
tives. The place of the murder ia still
additionally preserved. being marked by
a mound. The Indian who bore the It'd
ings to the Viceroy at Quebec had the au.
dacitY to boast that he had slain the officer
.tt. IL l. 4
him instantly strangled. September of
that year saw twelve hundred Frenohmen
with ope hundred Huron aud Algonquin
savages assembled at Fort st. Anne, ready
to proceed up the lake and avenge the
death of their comrades. Six Jesuit
priests accompanied the expedition, and
the war was prosecuted in the name and
for the glory of "The Cross" Twenty.
two years later twelve hundred Mohawk
warriors invaded Canada, and Fort st.
Anne, lying in their desolated track, was
left partly in ruins. Peter Klam, the
traveller, who passed through the lake in
1749, was shown the spot where it stood,
which he describes as then quite over
grown with trees. In time the fortress
was partly abandoned. But continual
reference is made to the site by military
authorities for more than a century and
quarter after it's construction. The first
American settlers on Isle la Motto in
1856 found its ruins still in existence.
So late as 1870 the remains of ehimneys
were visible, as were also the traces of a
we'll, which it ig presumed was located in
the center. -
1t is undoubtedly true that small
settlement was made by the French
around this fort on Isle la Motto, and so
far as it is true that the island ia Yer
mont soil, this settlement dates back fifty
nine years earlier than the reputed first
English settlement at Fort Dummer, in
the southeastern corner of Vermont. No
other existed from latitude is Q to Al
Albany. Why, then, should the claim be
put forth by antiquarians that Fort Dunn
mer instead of Fort st. Anne is the oldest
settled place in the Green Mountain
State?