The Champlain tercentenary

by New York . Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commission; Henry Wayland Hill

I. CONSTRUCTION OF MEMORIALS TO SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN

The first Report of this Commission was presented to the Honorable the Legislature of the State of New York, September 19, 1911. Subsequently thereto Commissioner and Senator James A. Foley, while still an Assemblyman, introduced a bill in the Assembly designed to empower the Commission to build two suitable permanent memorials to Samuel Champlain in that valley, one at Crown Point Forts and the other at Plattsburgh. Commissioner and Senator James J. Frawley had charge of the bill in the Senate. It was also designed to extend the term of the Commission into the year 1913, long enough to complete such memorials and to dedicate them with appropriate ceremonies. That bill passed the Legislature and upon its approval by Governor Dix, it became chapter 273 of the Laws of 1912. By its terms, it imposed on the Commission the duty of submitting to the Legislature of 1913, a full and complete report of its proceedings and transactions.

On March 27, 1912, the New York Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commission submitted its Financial Report to the Legislature, showing its receipts and disbursements down to March 26, 1912. These two reports of the Commission, already submitted to the Legislature, comprise all the proceedings and transactions of the Commission down to their respective dates, so that all that is necessary to do in this Final Report is to continue the record of its proceedings and transactions from such dates. This will include an account of the visit to this country of the distinguished French delegation, headed by His Excellency, Monsieur Albert Auguste Gabriel Hanotaux in April and May, 1912,—an event exponential of the perfect amity existing between the two Republics—and also an account of the dedicatory ceremonies of the Memorial Lighthouse at Crown Point Forts, New York, on July 5, 1912, and of the Champlain memorial at Plattsburgh, New York, on July 6, 1912.

These did not admit of so extensive an historical treatment of the important events occurring in the Champlain valley, nor of so wide a range of literary productions, as did the Tercentenary exercises, a record of which may be found in the First Report of this Commission. Nevertheless, the interchange of felicitations between the representatives of France and of this country, the cordial greetings everywhere extended to the French visitors and the amicable relations existing between the two peoples, prompting the warmest expressions of good will and generous impulses in addresses of rare literary quality, together with the dedicatory ceremonies themselves, are worthy a permanent record in this Final Report, thereby enlarging it into a volume, and are a fitting sequel to the historical Tercentenary Celebration.

The Commissioners fully realized the opportunity at Crown Point Forts for the construction and embellishment of a great Memorial Lighthouse to commemorate the advent of Samuel Champlain, the herald of civilization, into that valley, and they spared no pains to accomplish that result.

After examining some American memorials to Samuel Champlain and looking over the photographs of others and especially in view of the utilitarian character of the Crown Point memorial in the form of a Lighthouse and of its adaptability to sculptural embellishment, the Commissioners decided to undertake the production of such a Memorial after a design submitted by the architects, Messrs. Dillon, McLellan & Beadel of New York City, including a bronze statue group, the work of the sculptor, Carl Augustus Heber, of New York City. For three years, Mr. Heber was in the studios of Augustus St. Gaudens and Paul Bartlett in Paris and afterward worked on the embellishments of the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo under Karl Theodore Francis Bitter.

Among Heber’s more important works are the equestrian statue of General Sheridan at Somerset, Ohio; the statue of Franklin at Princeton University; the Schiller at Rochester, N. Y., the heroic statue “Roman Poet” in the Brooklyn Institute, and the bronze statue in St. Andrew’s Church at Stamford, Connecticut. He received a medal at the St. Louis Exposition for his “Pastoral” which is now in the museum of the Chicago Art Institute, and he won the Avery prize at the Architectural League in 1910.

Contracts were let to Booth Brothers and Hurricane Isle Granite Company for the construction of the Memorial Lighthouse on the property of the United States at Crown Point Forts of Fox Island granite according to the design found at pages 346-347 of the original Report of the Commission and for the bronze statue group after the Heber model, consisting of a bronze statue of Champlain with one of his soldiers crouching at his feet at one side and an Indian at the other. Just below the group is a conventionalized stone canoe prow laden with the products of the country. The work progressed as rapidly as was planned. The Fox Island granite came from the State of Maine and had to be delivered at Crown Point Forts, several miles distant from a railroad station. The memorial was practically completed on July 5, 1912, although the foundry work on the bronze statue group was not finished, but was in place before the close of navigation. The Commissioners are gratified that the entire memorial, including granite and bronze work, and architects’ fees, was completed within the contract price of approximately $51,313.83, and has been generally approved by the Governors of New York and Vermont and by all others who have passed judgment upon it. In the production of such memorials, where æsthetics must be combined with utilitarian purposes, not readily susceptible of artistic treatment, it is not to be determined a priori from plans, what the result may be and especially when so much depends upon the location and landscape surroundings, as in the case of this memorial.

The artistic features of this memorial with its group of bronze statuary, with the Rodin allegorical bust “La France” set in its granite base, with eight free standing Doric columns surrounding its central shaft, supporting a visitors’ gallery, that gives a wide outlook over the lake and above that, a lantern platform 50 feet from the ground, all surmounted by a circular capital with the garlands of the frieze binding the top together rising 73 feet above the circular terrace and 101 feet above the level of the lake and in the main after the style of the architecture prevailing in France at the time of Champlain, are rather accentuated by the grandeur of the natural scenery surrounding it, produced by the rugged Adirondacks in the west, the long expanse of undulating waters in the north, historic Chimney Point, the fertile fields, green vales and receding mountains in the east and the majestic ivy-clad ruins in the south, all under an azure vault of sky, “glorious as the gates of Heaven.” This memorial of highly artistic design with surroundings of such natural beauty and sublimity and nearly “throned among the hills” cannot fail to make an impression on the imagination and to produce a pleasing effect upon the mind, which is said by Sir Joshua Reynolds to be “the end of art.”

Champlain Memorial Lighthouse at Crown Point

Champlain Group at Crown Point Memorial

Inscriptions on the two granite pyramids are the following:

(Western pyramid)
NEW YORK
LAKE CHAMPLAIN
TERCENTENARY
COMMISSION

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GOVERNOR CHARLES E. HUGHES
GOVERNOR JOHN A. DIX
H. WALLACE KNAPP
HENRY W. HILL
WALTER C. WITHERBEE
JAMES J. FRAWLEY
JAMES SHEA
WILLIAM R. WEAVER
JAMES A. FOLEY
JOHN H. BOOTH
JOHN B. RILEY
LOUIS C. LAFONTAINE
HOWLAND PELL

(Eastern pyramid)
VERMONT
LAKE CHAMPLAIN
TERCENTENARY
COMMISSION

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GOVERNOR GEORGE H. PROUTY
GOVERNOR JOHN A. MEAD
LYNN M. HAYS
FRANK L. FISH
WALTER H. CROCKETT
HORACE W. BAILEY
GEORGE T. JARVIS
JOHN M. THOMAS
WILLIAM J. VAN PATTEN
ARTHUR F. STONE
FREDERICK O. BEAUPRE

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THE CHILDREN OF VERMONT PARTICIPATED IN
THE ERECTION OF THIS MONUMENT IN HONOR OF
SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN

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The following arms appear on the base of the monument, in following order from front to rear:

(East side)
Arms of “ La Compagnie de la Nouvelle France.”
Arms of the State of Vermont.
Arms of France of the time of Louis XIII.
(West side)
Arms of the United States.
Arms of the State of New York.
Arms of Brouage. (Birthplace of Champlain.)

Inscription on bronze tablet on the base of the Lighthouse, below the statue of Champlain and the Rodin bust:

1609 TO THE MEMORY OF 1909
SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN
INTREPID NAVIGATOR
SCHOLARLY EXPLORER
CHRISTIAN PIONEER
ERECTED BY THE STATE OF NEW YORK AND
THE STATE OF VERMONT
IN COMMEMORATION OF HIS DISCOVERY OF
THE LAKE WHICH BEARS HIS NAME

A description of the Rodin bust and the illustrations of this memorial may be found elsewhere in this volume. It was erected under the supervision of Commissioners Walter C. Witherbee, Howland Pell, James Shea, Louis C. Lafontaine and the chairman, Hon. H. Wallace Knapp. The Legislature authorized the construction of two permanent memorials to Samuel Champlain in the Champlain valley by chapter 181 of the Laws of 1911. The Commissioners appointed to supervise the construction of the Champlain memorial at Plattsburgh, were Judge John B. Riley, Judge John H. Booth, Senator James A. Foley and Hon. William R. Weaver, together with the chairman, the Hon. H. Wallace Knapp. They employed Messrs. Dillon, McLellan & Beadel to design the Plattsburgh memorial, the same architects who designed the Crown Point Memorial. Carl Augustus Heber was employed as the sculptor for the Plattsburgh Champlain Statue. The city of Plattsburgh purchased a commanding site for the memorial on the north shore of the harbor, below the outlet of the Saranac river overlooking Cumberland Bay and Lake Champlain.

Memorial to Samuel Champlain at Plattsburgh

Copyrighted and by the courtesy of the Powers Engraving Co. of New York

The Plattsburgh memorial has been described by the architects as follows:

DESCRIPTION

The Plattsburgh memorial to Samuel Champlain consists of a statue and pedestal standing on a terrace in a park overlooking Lake Champlain. The Terrace is bordered by a granite coping, and a flight of steps leads down to the lake.

The pedestal is square, slightly tapering toward the top. It is twenty-two feet high, and built of Massachusetts pink granite. It stands on a platform two steps above the terrace. Its base is surrounded by a granite seat and ornamented in front by the figure of a crouching Indian with bow and shield, carved in granite; at each side by a canoe prow with trophies typical of America in Champlain’s time; and at the rear by a bronze tablet bearing the names of the Commissioners.

The canoe prows were chosen because the birch bark canoe is one of the highest achievements, both constructively and artistically, of any primitive race, and is typical of Eastern North America. Strongly and ingeniously made of materials found in the woods, seaworthy, capable of carrying a heavy load, and so light that it could easily be carried from one waterway to another, it provided the quickest and easiest means of travel for the Indians and for the explorers of this part of the country. Without its assistance, journeys such as Champlain’s would have been vastly more difficult, if not impossible.

The type is fast disappearing with our forests, so it seems fitting to perpetuate it in stone on the monument to Champlain, to whom it was of such service.

The upper part of the pedestal is decorated with carved garlands of Indian corn, and bears the following inscription on the front and back respectively:

(Front)
Samuel
Champlain
1567 1635
Navigator
Discoverer
Colonizer

(Rear)
Erected by
The State of
New York in
Commemoration
of the
Discovery of
Lake Champlain
1609 1909

(Inscription on Bronze Tablet on Rear)

LAKE CHAMPLAIN TERCENTENARY COMMISSION
STATE OF NEW YORK

GOV. CHARLES E. HUGHES.
H. WALLACE KNAPP
HENRY W. HILL
WALTER C. WITHERBEE
JAMES J. FRAWLEY
JAMES SHEA

GOV. JOHN A. DIX
WILLIAM R. WEAVER
JAMES A. FOLEY
JOHN H. BOOTH
JOHN B. RILEY
LOUIS C. LAFONTAINE

HOWLAND PELL

The statue of Champlain, which is nearly twelve feet high and of bronze, represents him in his soldier costume holding in his hand the arquebuse of which he speaks in his memoirs. This and his breastplate, helmet or morion, cloak, doublet, boots, and sword follow carefully the style of his period: the arquebuse, morion and sword being modelled after the ancient pieces in the collection of Hon. Howland Pell.

The monument was designed by Dillon, McLellan & Beadel, the architects of the Champlain Memorial Lighthouse at Crown Point Forts, and the sculpture was done by Carl A. Heber, who modelled the Crown Point memorial figures.

Champlain Statue at Plattsburgh

Crouching Indian at Base of Champlain Statue at Plattsburgh

Contracts were let to Booth Brothers and Hurricane Isle Granite Company for the granite work of the Plattsburgh Memorial, which was to be built of Massachusetts pink granite and also for the bronze tablet, steps, coping, etc., and to Carl A. Heber, the sculptor for the bronze statue of Champlain and for the models of the Indian, canoe prow and garlands. The approximate cost of the entire memorial, including architects’ fees, was $20,263.51. This memorial was completed in time for dedication on July 6, 1912. It is a stately and dignified memorial after an original design, about 34 feet high and rising 61½ feet above the level of the lake, and so located as to be readily seen from the decks of passenger steamers entering the port of Plattsburgh. As a work of art, it will stand comparison with any of the memorials to Samuel Champlain in this country.

Champlain Memorial at Crown Point Forts Nearing Completion