The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-08-11
A CHAMPLAIN WATERWAY.

The announcement made by Gov
ernor Prouty the other day that he
! would appoint Vermont delegates to
attend the meeting of the Deep Wa
terways Association, to be held at
Providence, r. l., calls to mind the
| fact that Vermont has a double inter-
est in Canadian transportation mat
ters. Our people are interested not
only in the completion of the Grand
Trunk Pacific project, and the build
ing of the Central Vermont extension
! from Palmer, Mass, to Providence,
r. L., but also in the movement to
deepen the. waterway connecting the
st. Lawrence and Hudson rivers by
way of Lake Champlain.
An article in the New York Observ-
er-Reflector on Lake Champlain says:
The number of tourists spending
their vacations here is steadily in
creasing, and it is only question of
time when reservations will have to
be made long way ahead to secure
desirable accommodations, unless en-
terprising men, alive to their oppor-
tunities, provide a liberal supply of
hotels, cottages and camps for those
who are bound to visit this region as
! soon as they are aware of the advan-
tages it offers as summer resort.
, Funds have already been appro-
priated by the State of New York to
widen the canal which connects Lake
Champlain with the Hudson River,
and the work is already in progress.
In the near future it will be posi-
BILE to make the entire journey from
New York to Montreal by water
Could any trip be more delightful?
Just think of being able to board a
palatial steamer in our great metrop-
oils and in absolute comfort proceed
to ones destination without change,
and through one of the most beauti-
full waterways in the world. Surely,
the day is not far distant when Lake
Champlain and the glorious country
which surrounds it will become ma
tional playground. Even now the
money which is spent by summer Wis
itors each year runs up into the
millions. Last season more than ~,
600 tourists visited the Green Noun
tain State, and if the influx this sum-
mer shows a proportionate increase
that number may be doubled"
A waterway connecting the Hud-
son with the St. Lawrence, deep
enough to permit motor boats and
yachts of considerable size to pass
from New York City to Montreal and
Quebec, would stimulate to remark
able degree the summer tourist busin-
ess along Lake Champlain. what
more delightful cruise could be i'm
agined than a sail up the Hudson
River, into Lake Champlain, visit to
the various points of scenic and his
toric interest and trip to Montreal5
the Thousand Islands or some other
we'll known point along that historic
stream.
To be strictly accurate, the funds
for deepening the Champlain Canal
were appropriated several years ago,
thanks to the efforts of Senator Hen
ry w. Hill, and others, and the work
is now approaching completion To
make the route to Canada effective the
Chambly Canal needs to be deepened
and new and shorter waterway
constructed by digging a canal to
Montreal instead of following the
Richileu River to its mouth. Much
interest has been shown by Canadi-
ans in this proposition. Such wa
ter route ought to divert great deal
of Western business through Lake
Champlain, which, directly and indi-
rectly, would be of much benefit to
Vermont. The subject is one which
ought to be of great interest to the
people of this State.