That commission, together with the Vermont commission, during the summer of 1907 made a tour of Lake Champlain, held several joint and separate meetings, and the New York commission formulated its report and transmitted it to the New York legislature of 1908, a copy of which is annexed hereto, in the conclusion of which report they recommend as follows:
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ANNIVERSARY OF 1909.
Your commission respectfully submit the foregoing report to the consideration of the legislature of New York. The anniversary which we desire shall be suitably observed has great significance. Important as it is to the student of history, it makes a wider and stronger appeal to that large body of our citizens whose forefathers fought in the wars of the Champlain region or were among the pioneers who transformed it from the wilderness.
But chief of all the considerations which we urge upon your attention is the international character of the proposed celebration. The history of the Champlain Valley belongs to the history of three great nations, whose cordial relations we believe will be promoted by the suitable observance of this significant date.
RECOMMENDATION.
To that end your commission, after careful investigation, reaches the conclusion that the three hundredth anniversary of the discovery of Lake Champlain should be suitably celebrated by New York State; and to that end we respectfully recommend the enactment of the following bill.
Thereafter a bill was prepared and submitted to the legislature, which was amended in some respects, and subsequently enacted and became chapter 149 of the New York Laws of 1908, providing in substance for a celebration of the tercentenary of the discovery of Lake Champlain by Samuel Champlain in the month of July, 1609, which celebration, by the terms of the bill, is to occur in the month of July, 1909, at various points in the Champlain valley.
The commission appointed thereunder consisted of H. Wallace Knapp, Mooers, N. Y., chairman; Henry W. Hill, of Buffalo, secretary; Walter C. Witherbee, Port Henry, treasurer; James J. Frawley, New York City; James Shea, Lake Placid; James A. Foley, New York City; John H. Booth, Plattsburgh; John B. Riley, Plattsburgh; Louis C. Lafontaine, Champlain; Howland Pell, New York City.
This commission was empowered under the last-mentioned statute to enter into negotiations and co-operate with the State of Vermont, the Government of the United States, the Dominion of Canada, and the Province of Quebec, and either or all of them in such tercentenary celebration, and appropriated by chapter 466 of the New York Laws of 1908 the sum of $50,000 for that purpose.
The Vermont commission made its report to the legislature of Vermont, held in the fall of 1908, also recommending, among other things, that a proper celebration be held in conjunction with the State of New York, the Government of the United States, and the Dominion of Canada, a copy of which report is annexed hereto. Subsequently the State of Vermont made an appropriation of $25,000 to enable that State to participate in the tercentenary celebration.