The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-07-21
The cHAMPLAIN MONUMENT
Location Site Should Be Settled 3,
Two States.


It is a small affair, SO far as the
outside world is concerned but New
York and Vermont must somehow
settle the question where the pro-
posed monument to Samuel de Cham
plain SHOULD be located. There are
differences of opinion and it may be
difficult to reconcile them because of
the national desire of either state to
have the memorial placed on its soil.
And each has claim, isasmuch as
each will help to pay for the cost of
construction. In one of his speech
es last week President Taft faceti-
ously foreshadowed the conflict
which was sure to arise, and offered
the solution of colossus astride the
lake, one foot being placed in New
York and the other in Vermont. Per-
haps the main objection to this plan
is that the monument must be erect
ed for S125,00O.
Numerous suggestions have been
made, and those are sure to be the
most sensible and successful which
recognize that the memorial Is to
have incidentally a unitarian pur-
pose, that Is, serve as a lighthouse
for the lake navigation. If it is to
be of any use, the monument must
be located where the lake shipping
will most need it; secondarily, the
location should be determined by the
consideration that as many people as
possible should be able to see It,
With these points in mind, the New
York Times argues in favor OF a
place on the New York side, saying:
"The point from which the greatest
area of the lake can be seen by day,
and whence the monuments light
could be most widely visible at night,
is Split Rock Point. That is about
midway of the lake north and south,
and is within stones throw of the
border line of both states, thus Civ
ing each an approximately equal
share in the structure erected by
both. Moreover, it is on the line OF
thavel. and the water is so deep
there that the passengers on the lake
boats could come close enough for
the inscriptions to be read Gov.
Hughes suggestion on the other
hand. is a location on the Four
Brothers islands in the middle of
the lake at its widest Doint--a com
manding site, but open to the objec-
ton that it is somewhat outside the
line of travel The cities of Platts-
burg. n. Y. and Burlington, Vt, are
clamorous for the monument for To-
cal reason, but the desire for neftn-
er seems likely to prevail.
Lake Champlain has always SEEM
ed more of a Vermont than a New
York body of water. If one seeks the
boundary between the two states on
the map, he finds that it leaves much
the larger part of the lake, includ-
ing all of the large islands, on the
Vermont side. VermOnters, too, have
always taken more interest in ii than
New Workers. for the simple reason
that it meant more to them. New
Workers. have had other lakes-Erie
and Ontario, which they share with
Canada not to mention the smaller
ones like Lake Oneida and Lake
George, which are wholly within New
York Jurisdiction. These facts fur
nisa a reason, perhaps. why the mon
ument to Samuel de Champlain
should be placed on the Vermont
side of the boundary line; but, in
the end, the question arises why II
either state wishes to fix the site on
it's own soil, it does not pay the
whole cost of the memorial.-Spring
field Republican.