is situated between forty-three and forty-four degrees of north latitude, and between seventy-six and eighty degrees west longitude. It is about two hundred miles in length and forty in width; its form nearly oval, and its circumference about six hundred miles. It abounds with fish of an excellent flavor, among which are the Oswego bass, weighing three or four pounds. Near the south-east part it receives the waters of the Oswego river, and on the north-east it discharges itself into the St. Lawrence. It is never entirely closed by ice, and is computed from some soundings to be five hundred feet deep. The Ridge Road, or Alluvial Way, is a remarkable ridge extending along the south shore of this lake, from Rochester on the Gennessee to Lewiston on the river Niagara, eighty-seven miles. It is composed of common beach sand and gravel stones worn smooth, and these are intermixed with small shells. Its general width is from four to eight rods, and it is raised in the middle with a handsome crowning arch, from six to ten feet. Its general surface preserves a very uniform level, bring raised to meet the unevenness of the ground which it covers. At the rivers Gennessee and Niagara, its elevation is about one hundred and twenty or thirty feet; and this is its elevation above Lake Ontario, from which it is distant between six and ten miles. There seems to be no way of accounting for this ridge, without supposing that the surface of Lake Ontario was one hundred and thirty feet higher at some former period than it is at present. There is a similar ridge for one hundred and twenty miles, on the south side of Lake Erie.
Lake Champlain lies between the states of New York and Vermont, and communicates with Lower Canada by the river Sorelle, which falls into the St. Lawrence forty-five miles below Montreal. It is about one hundred and twenty miles in length, and of various breadths: for the first thirty miles, that is, from South river to Crown Point, it is nowhere above two miles wide; beyond this, for the distance of twelve miles, it is five or six miles across, it then narrows, and again at the end of a few miles expands. That part called the Broad Lake, commences about twenty-five miles north of Crown Point, and is eighteen miles across in the widest part. Here the lake is interspersed with a great number of islands, the largest of which, named South Hero, is fifteen miles in length, and averages four in breadth. The soil of this island is very fertile, and more than seven hundred people are settled upon it. The Broad Lake is nearly fifty miles in length, and gradually narrows till it terminates in the river Sorelle. Lake Champlain, except at the narrow parts at either end, is in general very deep; in many places sixty and seventy, and in some even a hundred fathoms. The scenery along various parts of the lake is extremely beautiful, the shores being highly ornamented with hanging woods and rocks, and the mountains on the western side rise up in ranges, one behind the other, in the most magnificent manner.
Remains of Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point, important positions during the old French wars, are found at two great bends of this lake. On the 11th of September, 1814, Commodore McDonough, commander of the American fleet, gained a complete victory over the British fleet in Cumberland Bay, directly in front of the town of Plattsburg.
This lake opens a ready communication between New York and the country bordering on the St. Lawrence. Through the town of Whitehall, which stands at the head of the lake, a considerable trade is carried on across Champlain with Lower Canada. On the British end of the lake, one hundred and fifty miles from Whitehall, stands the garrison town of St. John’s.
Lake George, which discharges itself into Lake Champlain, is the most beautiful sheet of water in the whole country. It is thirty-six miles long, and from two to four broad. It is situated in the eastern part of the state of New-York. Its waters are deep and remarkably transparent, and from their extreme limpidness, the French gave them the name of the Lake of the Holy Sacrament. The shores consist of abrupt and shelving points, and are bounded by two long ranges of mountains,20 sometimes rising boldly from the water, and at others ascending with a gentle and graceful sweep, exhibiting naked and weather-beaten cliffs and wild forests, intermixed with fine cultivated fields, lawns and pastures. The village of Caldwell stands on the south-eastern side of the lake, and is much visited by travellers who come to enjoy the fine scenery in the neighborhood. A steam-boat plies upon the lake in summer.
The islands of the lake are said to be three hundred and sixty-five in number. They are of every form and size, and contribute greatly to the romantic beauty of its surface. Some of them are covered with trees, others are thinly wooded, and others are abrupt and craggy rocks. Diamond Island abounds in crystals of quartz. Long Island contains one hundred acres, and is under cultivation. At a place called the Narrows, the lake is contracted, and its surface is covered with a most beautiful cluster of islands which extends for several miles. Some of them are covered with trees, some show little lawns or spots of grass, heaps of barren rocks, or gently sloping shores; and most of them are ornamented with pines, hemlocks, and other tall trees, solitary or in groups, and disposed with the most charming variety. Sometimes an island will be found just large enough to support a few fine trees, or perhaps a single one, while the next may appear like a solid mass of bushes and wild flowers; near at hand, perhaps, is a third, with a dark grove of pines, and a decaying old trunk in front of it; and thus, through every interval between the islands, as you pass along, another and another labyrinth is opened to view, among little isolated spots of ground, divided by narrow channels, from which it seems impossible for a man who has entered them ever to find his way out. Some of the islands look almost like ships with their masts; and many have an air of lightness, as if they were sailing upon the lake.
After passing the Narrows, the lake widens again, and the retrospect is for several miles through that passage with ranges of rounded mountain summits appearing at a great distance between them. The lake contains abundance of the finest perch, bass, and other fish; trout are found in a stream flowing into the southern part. Near the southern shore, are the ruins of Fort William Henry and Fort George, celebrated in the early wars of the French.
The state of New-York contains a vast number of small lakes. There is scarcely a stream in the northern part of this state, but that has its source in one of these, or runs through several in its progress, whether to the great lakes or to Hudson’s river. Seneca Lake, in the western part of the state, is about thirty-five miles in length, from two to four in breadth, and of great depth. The water of this lake has a gradual periodical rise and fall, once in several years, the cause of which has never been ascertained. The view from the height of land between Seneca and the adjacent lakes is extensive and agreeable. Cayuga Lake is thirty-eight miles long from north to south, and from one to four miles wide; in some places the shore of this lake is precipitous, but in general it is a gentle declivity from the surrounding country to the water. The waters are somewhat shallow, but sufficient for navigation. Several steam-boats ply upon them, and are often crowded by water parties in the fine season. A bridge of a mile in length crosses the north end of the lake.
Oneida Lake is a beautiful sheet of water, twenty miles long and four broad. It is famous for the abundance and excellence of its fish. ‘I made a small excursion along the border of this lake,’ says Mr. Schultz, ‘and although the shore was low, yet I found a firm, dry, white, sandy beach to walk upon; some other parts of it, however, I was informed, were low and swampy. I was much amused in the evening by a singular illumination upon the lake, which I was at first wholly unable to account for. The water at this part of the lake, it seems, is very shallow for nearly half a mile from the shore, and being perfectly transparent, and the bottom a white sand, the smallest object may be readily distinguished. The Indians have a method of taking salmon and other fish by means of an iron frame fixed in the bow of the canoe, projecting forward three or four feet, and elevated about five; upon this they kindle a bright fire of pine knots, and while one person sits in the stern with a paddle to impel the boat forward, another stands in the bow with a sharp spear ready to strike the fish who play about the light. Ten or twelve of these canoes moving about irregularly on the lake, on a fine calm evening, with the reflection of their lights, like so many lines of fire, extending from each object to a centre on which you stand, afford a most pleasing prospect, and far exceeds in my opinion the most brilliant display of artificial fireworks.’
Among the smaller lakes of New York are Onondago, Skeneatiles, Owasco, Canandaigua, Otsego, Caniadebago, Oswegatchie, Cross, Hemlock, Hanyaga,
