The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-08-14
LAKES GEORGE AND CHAmPLAIN.
characteristics of the Region = Historic
Memorials.

A1J6T a utty db hOOA-
ing can be more delightful, refreshing
or Lake Champlain. Add to their nat
ural charms the sense of relief which one
feels at liberation from heat of 100 de-
grees in the shade, and the swift progress
of the steamer over the CLASSY surface of
these superb bodies of water is enchant-
ing. I am not prepared to say that
should have found Lake George, with
out this sense of contrast, all that my
fancy had painted it. In truth, l think
was at first trife disappointed. Per-
haps it was because there was such an
infinite deal of nature to such trivial
pennyworth of man. l did not expect it
to resemble Swiss lake, and was glad
that it did not; but l seemed to want
more evidence of human handiwork
scattered along its vastly slope. The vii
las and hotels looked like children's toy
houses, set lightly on these colossal hills,
to the very bases of which the young
woods came down. There was print
tive pre- Revolutionary feeling to the
whole lakescape which was almost puz-
cling. felt as if l might see little
company of Indians in war-paint round
ing the foot of some one of the cliffs in
their birchen canoes; or as if we might
rescue Jesuit father, who had been hid
ing from savages ON a lonely island in
the midst of the waters, as poor Pere ST.
Bernard did so many years ago.
Doubtless portion, of my disappoint-
ment came from the fact that so stored
lake should have so few visible memor-
ials of its romantic past. All! if the
lake could but give up its dead! and its
treasures long ago sunk to the rocky bot
10 ,1ok rscsa Sf l,a Nact ha
recalled by the hundreds of quaint ba-
teaux lost in the old French War; by the
curiously rugged ships of our Revolu-
ton; by the vessels laden to the gun
wales with war material brought thou
sands of miles only to rust in deep water.
We should find whole batteries of rusty,
old-fashioned cannon, and muskets
enough to equip phantom army of for
est rangers. Sometimes, i'll very fair
weather, and not far from, Caldwell, the
hulk of one of the Revolutionary vessels
may be seen, peacefully reclining deep
down in the transparent water. As for
bits of shell, bullets and other small gear
of war, am told that they would be
found in much greater numbers than on
the fields of Waterloo and Sedan. They
were accommodating in this natural store
house of the lakes basin fora long time
and the wastage was enormous.
II.
No wonder these lakes were fought
over by the European nations disputing
possession of this beautiful North, for
they form one of the most magnificent
highways and pleasure grounds in the
world. At the end of another hundred
years Lake George will have been subju-
gated, and Champlain's shores will be
strung with acontinuous garland of mag
nifcent summer residences.
On Lake George there are some noble
vistas, peculiarly impressive in such
weather as that in which l saw them,
when the splendor of the sun is deli
cately yelled with fleecy clouds, and now
and then shower blows up and scatters
pearly tears over the bosom of the waters.
One of these views is that of the crags
putting out into the lake, as they appear
in the distance, shortly after leaving
Caldwell. There was something quite
Alpine in the grandeur of this scene. But
in general the placidity and regularity
were monotonous. The spectacle of
Block Mountain, with it's girdles of
naples, pine and birch, and its summit
of bare and darkened pines, is also i'm
posing.
was glad to see, in these days when
the great American hog is abroad in so
many places, trying to monopolize land
which should be kept in trust through
the generations for the people, that the
square white placard of the State was
visible on great many of the islands in
Lake George, and that they are not likely
to be given up to the monopolist. Pleas
ant sylvan and aquatic retreats they are,
even in days of rain and mist, and be-
witching when the dog-star RACES. Some
of them have rude cottages, others fur
nish only the floor of the lodging
smooth lawns-on which the visitor in
search of renewed health and strength
might well sleep with the blue sky for
his only dome. But shudder ran through
me as l thought of this lake and its sur
roundings in winter In this month and
IN August the island region of Lake
George has quite Venetian aspect. The
jewellers on the islands fill their trees
with Chinese lanterns, which send forth
long CLEANS over the waters. On the
''Harbor Islands," only one hundred and
thirty odd years ago, the North Ameri-
can Indian, after a massacre of six or
seven score unoffending Englishmen
whom he had caught going on trading
expedition, RECALLED himself with savory
cuts from the roasted bodies of his vic
tins. 1t was rather more, perilous to
venture on the great lake road then than
now, and the danger was not over for half
a century after this shocking occurrence.
The venerable Father Rouband, who has
left an interesting chronicle of the event,
says that 1.-THE Indians had prepared
themselves for this feast by drinking
from skulls filed with human blood"
and that "their smeared faces and
stained lips gave evidence of the truth of
the story" The demons had placed ten
Englishmen, whom they had allowed to
live, on a log where they could witness
the horrid repast Fancy having front
seat at banquet at which your dearest
friends and cOmpagnons du voyage were
served up as roast and boiled, entrees
and pieces de resistancel
".
The story of ''Rogers's Slide," told of
the tremendously sharp slope which hur-
ries down to the water from the noun
tain on the west side of the bay, is hard
to believe, even of New Hampshire
man. Rogers was scout who, in the
winter of 1857, being surprised by body
of Indians, saved his life by leaving snow
shoe tracks at the edge of the precipi-
tous slope in such manner that the In
dians fancied he had leaped over. Mean
time he had slipped down a neighboring
ravine and got away on the frozen sur
face of the lake. l am willing to believe
that he had all the cunning that the ira
ditiOn credits him with, but not that he
could fool the Indians. If the children
Of the forest did not get him, it was not
because he had thrown them off the
track, but because of his daring descent
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