About & Around

Conflict and Settlement

When Europeans came to these valleys intent on claiming the territory, the waterway now known as Lakes to Locks Passage provided the travel route. Samuel de Champlain explored and claimed Lake Champlain for France in 1609. When he joined his Huron and Montaignais Indian guides in a battle with a party of Iroquois, the stage was set for two centuries of conflict.

As the French traveled down from Québec, they built forts to stake their claims to the new lands along the Richelieu River and northern Lake Champlain. Simultaneously, the English built forts as they moved north along the Upper Hudson River, Lake George and the southern reaches of Lake Champlain. Fur traders and settlers streamed into the new country and established communities along the river waterfalls and lakeshore harbors. The distinctive French and English influence of these communities is still evident today.

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