Note 103 — Chapter III

The lengthened sheet of Lake Champlain stretched from the frontiers of Canada nearly half the distance between Canada and New York. On the Canada side the River Richelieu formed a communication with the River St. Lawrence; on the New York side Lake George extended the water communication twelve leagues further to the south, and then a portage of twelve miles over the high land, which interposed itself to the further passage of the water, conducted the traveler to the banks of the Hudson, at a point where the river became navigable to the tide.[105] It was this almost uninterrupted water communication between the rival states of Canada and New York that rendered the forts on Lake Champlain[106] and Lake George[107] such important objects of attack or defense.