Northward from Ausable River, Lake Champlain contains a number of
large islands. Valeur Island is near the New York shore, and in the
narrow channel separating them, in 1776, a desperate naval contest was
fought between Arnold and Carleton, resulting in the defeat of the
Americans. Beyond are the large islands of Grand Isle, South Hero and
North Hero. Standing in an admirable position on Bluff Point, a high
promontory on the western shore, is the great Hotel Champlain,
elevated two hundred feet above the lake. To the north the Saranac
River, coming from the southwest, flows out of the Adirondacks through
its red sandstone gorge into Cumberland Bay, and at its mouth is the
pleasant town of Plattsburg, having a population of seven thousand.
The broad peninsula of Cumberland Head, projecting far to the
southward into the lake, encloses the bay in front of the town.
Plattsburg's greatest fame comes from its battle and Commodore
McDonough's victory in 1814. The earliest settler was a British army
officer, one Count de Fredenburgh, who built a sawmill at a fall near
the mouth of the Saranac; but he was made way with early in the
Revolution, and many have been the startling tales since told of his
ghostly figure, in red coat and knee-breeches, stalking about the
ruins of the old mill at Fredenburgh Falls. After the war, New York
State confiscated the property and gave it to Zephaniah Platt and his
associates, who established the town, and in 1785 rebuilt the mill.
Plattsburg had become a place of so much importance that in the War of
1812-15 the English sent a large force from Canada for its capture.
They attacked it on a Sunday morning in September, 1814, Sir George
Prevost commanding the land forces and Commodore Downie a fleet of
sixteen vessels. General Macomb had a small American detachment
entrenched on the southern bank of the Saranac in hastily constructed
earthworks, some remains being yet visible. The naval contest,
however, decided the day, the superior British fleet being overcome by
the better American tactics. McDonough had but fourteen vessels,
anchored in a double line across the mouth of Cumberland Bay. As the
British fleet rounded Cumberland Head to make the attack, a cock that
was aboard McDonough's flag-ship, the "Saratoga," suddenly flew upon a
gun and crowed lustily. This was esteemed a good omen, and giving
three cheers, the Americans went to work with a will. After two hours'
conflict the British fleet was defeated and captured. Downie was
killed early in the action, and with fifteen other officers sleeps in
Plattsburg Cemetery. McDonough was crushed by a falling boom, and
afterwards was stunned by being struck with the flying head of one of
his officers, knocked off by a cannon-shot, but he was undaunted to
the end. Honors were heaped upon him, Congress giving him a gold
medal, and he was also presented with an estate upon Cumberland Head
overlooking the scene of his victory.
Plattsburg has the chief United States military post on the Canadian
border, there being usually a large force stationed at the extensive
barracks. It is also the terminus of railways coming from the
Adirondacks, originally built to fetch out the iron-ores, of which it
is an active market. One of these railways comes from Ausable Forks.
Another is the Chateaugay Railroad, which has a circuitous route
around the northern and eastern verges of the wilderness, from the
Chateaugay and Chazy Lakes, where are the ore beds in a dismal region.
Lyon Mountain, one of the chief ore producers, has its mines at two
thousand feet elevation above the lake. Stretching far away to the
northward is the immense Chateaugay forest and wilderness, extending
into Canada. This railroad passes Dannemora, where is located the
Clinton Prison, a New York State institution, at which it is said
"they always have a number of people of leisure, who pass their time
in meditation, making nails, cracking ore, and in other congenial
pursuits." The railroad route cuts into the red sandstone gorge of the
Saranac, and follows its valley out to Plattsburg. Some distance north
of Plattsburg, and at the Canadian boundary, is Rouse's Point, a
border customs station. This is the northern end of Lake Champlain,
which discharges through the Richelieu or Sorel River into the St.
Lawrence, the waters descending about one hundred feet, and mostly by
the Chambly Rapids. The Chambly Canal, which locks down this descent,
provides navigation facilities from Champlain to the St. Lawrence
waters.