The Champlain Canal is a 60-mile (97 km) canal in New York that connects the Hudson River to the south end of Lake Champlain. It was simultaneously constructed with the Erie Canal for use by commercial vessels, fully opening in 1823. Today, it is mostly used by recreational boaters as part of the New York State Canal System and Lakes to Locks Passage.
Water for the highest portion comes from the Hudson River via the Glens Falls Feeder Canal, from above the drop at Glens Falls, New York.
Lake Champlain (/ʃæmˈpleɪn/ sham-PLAYN; French: Lac Champlain, pronounced [lak ʃɑ̃plɛ̃] ) is a large natural freshwater lake in North America. With a length of 107 mi (172 km) and surface area over 500 sq mi (1,295 km), it lies mostly between the U.S. states of New York and Vermont, but also extends north into the Canadian province of Quebec.
The cities of Burlington, Vermont, and Plattsburgh, New York, are the largest settlements on the lake, and towards the south lies the historic Fort Ticonderoga in New York. The Quebec portion is in the regional county municipalities of Le Haut-Richelieu and Brome-Missisquoi. There are a number of islands in the lake; the largest include Grand Isle, Isle La Motte and North Hero: all part of Grand Isle County, Vermont. Because of Lake Champlain's connections both to the St. Lawrence Seaway via the Richelieu River, and to the Hudson River via the Champlain Canal, Lake Champlain is sometimes referred to as "The Sixth Great Lake".
The Richelieu River (French: [ʁiʃ(ə)ljø] ) is a river of Quebec, Canada, and a major right-bank tributary of the St. Lawrence River. It rises at Lake Champlain, from which it flows northward through Quebec and empties into the St. Lawrence. It was formerly known by the French as the Iroquois River and the Chambly River, and was named for Cardinal Richelieu, the powerful minister under Louis XIII.
This river was a long a key route of water transport for trading, first by indigenous peoples, and then for cross-border trade between Canada and the United States. With 19th-century construction of the Champlain Canal (1823) south of Lake Champlain and the Chambly Canal (1843) to the north, the Richelieu provided a direct route from the Saint Lawrence River to New York via Lake Champlain, the canals, and the Hudson River. The construction of rail transport in the mid-19th century competed with such river/canal routes and ultimately succeeded them, because of faster service with greater freight capacity.