Points North; Segments on the History of Lake Champlain and the S.S. Ticonderoga

This time on points north. We're off to explore Lake Champlain. The wars and the superhighway it formed. Then climb aboard one of the lakes treasures the SS Ticonderoga. Welcome to points north. I'm Fran Stoddard. Today about the loudest sound you'll hear on Lake Champlain besides this wind is the friendly blast of a ferry boat whistle. But once the roar of battle echoed through the Champlain Valley where thousands of men women and children lived and fought to change the face of history. It's off to war we go. Lake Champlain peaceful sunlit water dramatic mountain vistas. That's what we see today. But in the 17 and a hundred Europeans and native people fought on the lake and its shores changed the history of America.

When Samuel de Champlain first arrived on Lake Champlain in 16 0 9 the land now known as Canada had been claimed by France which over the next decades build forts on the lake against the Iroquois raids into Quebec. Got the British also had colonies in the land called America and were hungry for more. The next century and a half brought four brutal wars to the Champlain Valley to determine which European country would rule today. A reconstruction of Fort Ticonderoga stands where Fort carryon was built by two thousand Frenchmen. It faces south against expected invasion from the British forts on Lake George. In the end it wasn't enough. The French and their native allies surrendered and signed a treaty in 1763. The British maintained possession of placeholder force here of varying sizes until the beginning of the American Revolution in 1775. That's when I walked in very early in the morning and took the place.

Of the man in the Ford were asleep in the first British century they came upon ran away. The second one did not. He attempted to haul his musket was fired. They wrapped him up considerably dragged through the archway and thats where Alan made his famous entry to the west barracks demanding the surrender of the court. Through the efforts of this band of Vermont farmers desperately needed cannons and ammunition fell into revolutionary hands. Six months later the cannon were arduously dragged through the snow to Boston and installed on the City Heights. With that additional firepower British forces were dislodged. And all the while throughout the colonies the UN dramatic daily routines of military encampments filled the lives of soldiers from either side of the war. They've got to have what to cook a rational guy keep your cattle and your musket clean you have to keep your tent in order. You have to wash your linens on a regular basis if you don't want them to rot off your body.

And during the revolution the camps weren't just a community of men. Children weren't safely tucked away at home. Most of the ladies that you find around camp are refugees most of the New York regiments were raised in the lower Hudson Valley New York City area and with the occupation of New York City that forced a lot of ladies and children to follow. Yes I'm going to go get a star. For one weekend in September. A revolutionary war encampment outside the walls of Fort Ticonderoga came together representing the British and American troops. Reenacted the experience of wearing the clothes of the 18th century and living with the tools available at that time. It's based on a lot of research and everyone here. Does the very best he or she can. To replicate as closely as possible something that is real.

And that really. Time. Welcome to the brown dot tavern. We're set up as the sutler for His Majesty's Fifth Regiment. What this businesswoman called a subtler in her time was paid by the regiment commander and would have traveled with the Army to feed the officers the scene reflects an actual British regiment. COME ON THAT was a hero Percy second clone of the Boston Garrison and the fortune off to have extra funds to pay for the tavern keeper. Most of the troops in both armies cook their own food and eat out under the sky. Some of the women in the American camp would have been employees of the army. If you're an official nursing laundress. We are supposed to get paid but often the army doesn't have any money. Why would anyone want to sleep on the cold ground without mattresses or down sleeping bags. Why dress in clothes that have tight collars or go barefoot no matter what the temperature.

People become more real. They're not just you know. Names and books and dates and things like that they become real people to you. It's not the military aspect so much that interests me but how they lived while they were here. And where they came from and being able to imagine and realize the hardships that they endured. Marjorie Robins volunteered to work on archaeological digs at Mount independence where a fort was built in 1776 just across the lake from Ticonderoga archaeology discovers history through things uncovered at a site. We opened up one pit and found a tremendous number of bones. Tell Bones not people bones not sheep bones but cow bones. This must have been the sight of butchering animals for food for the troops. The team found X eds and other tools buttons from uniforms and artifacts of all kinds. A bottle provides one of the mysteries that fascinates Audrey Porche the director of the Mount green wine bottle inscribed and signed by

James Hill dated 1777 and so now the question of course is who is James Hill. Was he an American soldier. Was he a British soldier or was he even a soldier. Could he have been a settler for one summer the footsteps of more than ten thousand people crisscross the dirt paths of the fort research archaeology and a touch of imagination. Give us a tiny glimpse of the buildings which were once there as we walked through the woods here we come on to this. This looks like a pile of rocks and what it really is is the remains of a block house in which a cannon or two were placed. Denis Howe also worked on the dig for several years finding the past through bits and pieces. Most of the buildings here did not have foundations but this one did. This was very strong and they store their powder here and they needed to protect it from enemy fire so it's down in this hollow and they had real strong walls around it.

And in another area the artillerymen who manned the southern battery here which was aimed toward the landward side of Mount independence had their quarters along this surface of the ledge and they built their house in such a way that one wall was the existing stone ledge of the mound. It's a very lovely and peaceful place now which it probably wasn't when there were ten thousand soldiers living on four hundred acres. Peaceful it surely wasn't. When the British Fleet arrived in October of 1776 they were met by a terrifying array of artillery flags and troops at both forks and they turned back to Canada with out a battle for the fortification of Mount independence proved extremely important. The Americans were able to buy essentially one year and it was a critical year because it gave them time to

get their act together basically so that they could later on go down and meet were going forces at Saratoga. And if you know Colonel Anthony Wayne commanded a much smaller garrison at the mount over the next winter and provisions became scarce. Imagine living in ragged huts during a Vermont winter. Over 1000 men died of disease or injuries or they just plain froze to death. These were enemies the army had no weapons to defeat. A new colonel took over in June of 1777. Arthur St. Clair was in command of his garrison had been depleted to about 2000 out of 12000 soldiers. Their thought was that they really didn't need more soldiers here. They knew they were needed elsewhere. But the British and their allies were getting ready for their next move in the Champlain Valley. I am kind of like a Mohawk. My name is many flags my

my people are coming with General Burgoyne and his army. We're heading south against the Americans. Many Mohawk people have fought with the French against the British in earlier times. But as American colonists expanded settlements Mohawk allegiance changed. These Americans are not following the treaties they're going across and taking over our land. That is why we fight against these these these people. Oh in addition to native peoples German mercenaries made up about half of the goings forces people drowning you know. In July instead of attacking for Ty and MT independence by ship as expected British foot soldiers took a stand on nearby Mount defiance. These blocks and tackles the ropes and dragged about a half dozen cannons up to the top of each of which the cannon barrels way to roughly 2500 pounds. Its easy range with the advantage of elevation. They could take anything out here at the old fort they

could have destroyed anything on the independents. So Claire realized he had no hope here it was the last straw. The two forts were quickly abandoned by the American troops and the British took command remaining there until the revolution came to an end. Other forts built or occupied by the French British and Americans have dotted the lake over the centuries. Today at Crown Point the empty shells of stone and mortar walls still stand this eerie reminder of its former military inhabitants. But history is made up of more than forts and battles. It's filled with the day to day realities of people who we know a little about. You can't know everything about what happened yesterday. Much less two hundred years ago. But that's part of the romance. You can fill in some of the blanks on. Each one in his own right. From battleships to steamboats Lake Champlain has played host to many vessels

and once boasted a bustling commercial waterway the superhighway of the 18th and 19th centuries. Heard about. During the warm weather season. Boat captains shout their commands just as they have for centuries. If sailors from long ago were transported by time machine to a modern sailboat like the Northern spies. They would know just what the captain and crew were talking about. Ship hands from the past couldn't raise a sail without giving instructions on current technology. The helm would look and feel familiar and they'd easily recognize the compass. The gentle sound of a 43 foot boat slipping through the waves. And the silent power of wind filling the sails are just as they have always been. Technology has changed some things. Sales are no longer made of heavy canvas. And

fiberglass halls are much lighter than wooden ones. Vessels of beach air on the lake reflect the overall technology available at the time. Long before Europeans knew this continent existed people here invented a very sturdy boat called a dugout canoe definitely solve the need for them to travel in tributaries and across the lake and to get to better hunting and fishing grounds seasonally starting with a large log as raw material. The technology was simple but effective. They would burn the top of the wood and then chisel it and shave it off with their sharp edged tools until they had created a vessel that would float and carry them from place to place in 16 0 9. The first recorded European to visit the region Samuel de Champlain traveled with native people in the next generation of canoe made of birch bark. Later it was used by truckers and others who immigrated here. My general appearance here would be of a friend Hunter that might have been in the Champlain Valley Inn. Oh early seventeen hundreds I

travelled by canoe because it's like nothing I can carry it from waterway to waterway and it allows me to carry a load of oh half a ton in a boat this size which is far more than I ever carried on the trail of the day. For most of history the lake was a crucial regional highway lightweight yet able to transport heavy loads. The birch bark canoe was definitely an improvement over the cumbersome dugout. The boats which move through Lake Champlain as dark waters changed as the population grew and as technology developed. The region began to be well settled after the American Revolution and the boat type that evolved on Lake Champlain to move people and goods was a traditional sailing vessel sailing ships carried much more than a canoe ever could. But there was one big drawback. When the wind blew in the wrong direction or the wind didn't blow. You sat but the wind always returns and the cargo would finally

arrive at its destination as a highway for commercial transportation. The lake didn't go far enough. The densely forested landscape cut the businesspeople of the Champlain Valley off from the vast markets of Albany in New York City. If you want to go overland into the Hudson Valley it was expensive and it was limiting. How do you move marble blocks easily or economically on a wagon to to the to the Hudson Valley in 1823 the dream of a practical connection came true when the Champlain Canal opened. It began at the southern tip of the lake Whitehall New York and exited on the Hudson River in Troy. They talked about the cargoes of the first boats coming back from New York City with barrels of oil stores and and the types of. Products and food stuffs I could never have survived the trip overland to a place like this and overnight industries like the marble industry the iron industry the lumber industry all had these new outlets for their products and there was an

explosion of trade and commerce on Lake Champlain eager to take full advantage of the lake and the canal. A northern shipyard started building vessels called the sailing canal boat newspapers of the time called it an experiment. Narrow and shallow in order to fit through the locks. The sailing canal boats were stable enough to travel on the broad lake. The General Butler was wrecked by foul weather over 100 years ago when found by divers in 1980 it rekindled memories. Our society had forgotten that there were such things a sailing canal boats on Lake Champlain in the boat actually led us to that re understanding of the history of this region. During the mid 1800s when powered ships filled harbors all along the lake shore loading and unloading tons of goods but technology was not standing still. All of a sudden comes steam power and it was greeted just like we greet new competition coming in from the outside today it was greeted with distrust and the traditional sailors really did not like it and

they tried to persuade people not to travel on those noisy smelly dangerous steam boats stay on our safe and try to ensure wind power vessels if you if you go on one of those you'll be sailing on a floating bottom and you'll be you know at jeopardy of your life over time steamboats proved to be safe and dependable. They powered up and down the lake on schedule. We guard most of the wind and ultimately shot out the sailing ships. Today a leisurely afternoon on a sailboat is an escape from the noise of modern mine. But sailing is also a tangible link to the technology of Orient sisters. Below the surface of Lake Champlain are Sterns and bows holes and masts. They represent all the technologies ever used to travel this pathway between the mountains. Although it doesn't look like one the lake is a vibrant history textbook. You have living quarters with plates and dishes and dresses and toys and the things that tell us about how the people lived on the boats.

It's an extraordinary window into whatever time period the boat happens to represent pottery crocs with a tin cans of their day storing food for the crew jugs held liquids. Some have been found and broken and in such perfect shape they could be used again. China pitchers bowls and glassware indicate a higher standard of living for the captain and perhaps his family who might have travelled with him. The ship wrecks on the bottom of Lake Champlain have extraordinary power to reconnect us and teach us about the past. In 1997 a sonar survey of the silky lake bottom turned up a new link to a more distant past a gunboat from the battle of elk or island in 1776. This was a key event in the war between revolutionary colonists and their foes of the British. It is completely intact including remarkably having its mass still standing and one of us can still on in its heyday the wreck would have looked much like the Philadelphia to which the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum reconstructed board

by board is a replica of another victim of the same battle. The Philadelphia Museum uses the Philly too for tactical re-enactments based on actual naval engagements. Basically what we're trying to do is get a better understanding of how the boats were maneuvered at the Battle of Alec or. Any boat that has guns. You want to make sure you can bring the guns to bear on your enemy. Oh. In battle situations the crew turned a gunboat by Lang ropes between two or three anchor lines and then pulling it around Bit by bit. We've also sailed the vessel and realize that it's a very difficult boat to sail. Sleek tuners like the Northern spies seem to fly before the wind. But steamers can go faster than sailing ships and when the competition for business. They too were eventually surpassed and the beginning of the end of Lake Champlain as a superhighway was the

coming of the railroads. All of a sudden you see a lot of the entrepreneurs involved in sailing steam becoming railroad entrepreneurs as well. The rail cars big advantage was that they ran all through the winter months when the lake was closed by ice. Eventually interstate highways and tractor trailers overtook the railway system in the never ending process of transportation evolution. Burlington Harbor protects small pleasure boats now instead of the massive cargo ships of years gone by tour boats cruising by at a leisurely pace and the four ferry crossings left on the lake are the last vestiges of a once bustling commercial traffic route. But you can still experience a touch of Lake Champlain distant past. Just by watching the water go by. And imagining. Launched in 1996 the SS Ticonderoga was the last remaining steam

powered passenger ship of its kind safely anchored on land now at the Shelburne museum. The Ticonderoga operated for nearly 50 years and became a legend on the lake. It is we're going to go. The way she was an exceptionally good Siebold on the hurricane and a nice day. You can sit there and watch this big praying for diamond shape walking be moved up and down and it's almost hypnotic to watch this. You know remember the noise of it. I remember being able to look down that hatch in the cargo deck and then watch Man stoking the fires. I think I was only about 9 years old at the time. She was one of the last votes of our type to be built at the Shelburne shipyard. The USS Ticonderoga was two hundred twenty feet long fifty nine feet wide with a handmade steam powered engine. She was launched in 1907.

Captain Aull Ensign Fisher and his son Martin. Both commanded the time for many years. Martin Fisher remembers her with great affection. She was the ice. I smiled and I were cheering and as soon as she get out of the shell when I were making the break she was on the run the piper. Initially the tie was a vital link in a transportation system owned and operated by the Delaware and Hudson railroad both in train schedules were coordinated to transport people and freight north from New York City. But not too many years later the tie was reduced to running excursion trips. About the time the railroads and the auto came into existence that seemed to be the preferred method of travel. Before then like Champlain was a highly for most of the things that had to be transported. By the 1950s the high was in trouble. The Fishers known her and were having

a hard time staying financially afloat. Fortunately Shelburne historian Ralph Nader in Hill loved the ship and set out to say it. Really had amounted to quite a bit. About a $6000. Bill. Then. He that is how I feel. And went to the Chamber of Commerce and I think in two weeks raise $10000 just to save the time and then. Scrappy. Persuaded Shelburne museum founder Electra Webb to take over the time. But hard times persistent ridership was down. The boilers needed costly repairs and engineers were getting hard to find. Finally the decision was made to preserve the boat by moving her inland to the grounds of the Shelbourne museum. That historic trip took more than a year to plan. First the tie was floated over a large cradle mounted on a section of railroad track. Then sets of tracks were laid ahead of the huge

craft as she was slowly winced over the fields and through the woods to her new home. This happens to be the last remaining. Passenger steamboat. In America. It's unique in the fact that it has a single cylinder steam engine. Mounted. And. There. Is no more. No more such animals. It's an illustration of an older way of doing things an older way of getting around. Back a century ago there were there were thousands of these vests all over the United States North America. And. This is the last one. Of its type. And from that you know that yes it is personal. And that's all for this time. We welcome your comments and suggestions. So write to us at

Public Television 0 5 4 4 6. Our email address is at the dot org. Be with us next time when points north fly with a flock of geese. And handle some of the British falconry. And that's all for this week for all of us at points north. I'm Fran's daughter. Take care.