Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-08-03
ON THE WATER.
A Trip Through Lakes ChampInin and
George.

| Fort TICoNDERoGA. July 90, 1888.
To the Editor of the Free Press and Times:
There areI suppose thousands of your read
ers, who have never yet made the trip through
Lake Champlain and Lake George. On,
keeps meeting such negecters of their op
portunitics. Yet no one makes the trip, il
any kind of endurable weather, without won
dering why he and everybody else that car
afford it, does not make it every year. Tc
Normontcrs certainly, this little summer ex.
cursion is so delightful, so easy, so cheap, SC
''iillin' at the price," that no other is to be
compared TO it.
To do it, one wants to take, some fine day,
If it is hot on shore, it will rarely he toe
warm on the watcr-thc staunch steamer
Vermont" This when it was built, was
beyond question, the finest steamer of its
class, that walked the waters of the Amer.
can Lakes-it still remains unsurpassed for
comfort, steadiness, elegance, and safety.
Inc Vermont is commanded this Summer
by Capt. X. Arbuckle, who succeeds the
veteran Capt. Rushow (who has been OBJ
liged to lay off for this season.
and who capably and faithfully fills the re-
sponslbilties and requirements of the position.
Mr. Frank White succeeds Mr.. L. j. Bald
win as clerk, the latter having been promoted
TO the command of the Lake George steamer
"Ganouski." Mr.. White is an efficient and
courteous clerk. With these changes, the
staff of the boat remain about the same, The
brothers Rockwell, unsurpassed as pilots,
are always at the wheel; the same veteran
engineers, after twenty years more or less in
the employ of the Champain Transportation
Company, still control throttle and lever ;
and the familiar faces among the other hands
assure the passenger who has travelled with
them before, that the experienced care for
the prompt and safe despatch of passengers
and baggage which has always characterized
this route, will still be exercised. The
vermont is larger boat than is now
needed for the accommodation of the Lake
Champain travel, under the changed condi-
tons brought about by the construction of
the railroads; but her size is all for the ad
vantage of her passengers and it ID not ex-
aggeratlng the case particle, to say that
there is not public steamboat in the world
that carries her passengers with more in
variable comfort and safety in all weathers.
The trip up Lake Champan to Ticonder-
oga past Rock RogeO-as it was called in an
cicnt Indian and Colonial times, now Rock
Dundcr-and the -Four Brothers across the
broad lake with its mountain RIM along the
rocky cedar-crowned shores of Essex past
the variegatcd face of the "Painted Rocks"
and the PERCEPTIONS mountain wall of the
Morlah heights. the home of the bald eagles
time out of mind,-into the beautiful bay of
Westport by the old earthworks and ruined
barracks of Crown Point and Ticonderoga-
astonishingly preserved against ,he tooth of
time, and more easily traced after the lapse
OF hundred and thirty years than many of
the Notifications of the last war in Virginia
are to-day-has been too often described, to
need description.
AS for Lake George nothing can take from
or add to its natural beauties. 1t is simply
the most beautiful of American lakes, as
regards the crystal purity of its waters and
the grandeur and beauty of the mountain
setting which holds this gem of the lakes
But the hand and art of man IS yearly add
ing to the picturesqueness of the shores, and
to the interest and attractiveness of the trip
through it. New Summer hotels and retreats
spring up every year on its points and is
lands. One would say at first thought, that
the multitude of these must spoil rather
than improve the Lake; but it is not So
Hardly any of them injure tho natural feat
ures of the shores and it is remarkable to,
what an extent many of them have been
made, by skillful and unconventional and art
istlc outlines and cOloring, to harmonic with
the rocks and woods and often even to en-.
hancc the beauty of the scene. One impor-
tant result of this addition of human life to
the scene, is that the traveller sees the lake
much more fully than of yorc. Formerly the
trip was comparatively straight one through
the lake, with only three or four stops. Now
each of the larger hotels has its steamboat
landing and the boat goes zigzaggng across
the lake from one to the other, thus length
ening the trip and disclosing bays and is
lands and openings, of old only seen by those
who went to search for them. The steamer
Horizon now makes fourteen landings at as
many different points, each way. Ii is quite
the thing at most of the hotels, for the guests
to go to the landings, when the boat comes
along, and the crowds of old and young, in
varied attire, some in silks and satins and
some IN sensible rustic rig, make an interest
ing study for the passing spectator.
The travel through Lake George last Sum-
mer was probably double that of any pre-
vious season. This Summer 1t is not as great
as last year, owing doubtless to the GOODNESS
OF the weather. and to the slimness of the
season at Saratoga, where the big hotels thus
far have not had half their usual quota of
guests, and so do not supply the customary
number OF travellers for tho trip through the
lakes. But these are temporary causes.
Lake George will undoubtedly be sought by
increasing numbers of seekers for health and
pleasure, as the years go on. And the Cham
plain Transportation Company, with its
usual prompt care for the interests of the
public, is increasing its facilities for the ac-
commodation of the stream of travel The
fine steamer "Horicon," Captain Manvile,
is a somewhat smaller edition of the Yer
mont, with the state rooms omitted, and is.
In speed, room, steadiness and elegance. ali
that can be desired. The little Ganouski, which
leaves Caldwell in the morning and runs
down the lake and back each day, will next
Summer be replaced by worthy mate to the
Horizon, which the company is now build
ing at Baldwin, under the competent super
vision OF the veteran boatbuilder, Mr.. A. b.
Curtis. The hull OF the new boat is done.
nd the deck timbers laid, and she will be
launched this fall, and completed in season
for next years travel. The company will
then be able to take 400 or 500 passengers
through the lake each way daily, and all i'm
portant points on the lake can be reached by
any possible number of visitors twice a day
from either end But no one need wait for
the new boat. The present boats are ample
for the present travel, and there is room and
welcome at the Lake George hotels. for all
ppmpre "