The old order changeth indeed when Vermont and New York live only in service to the common good and together place above their monument the emblem of their common country. It has long been so, but it was not always so. It is well, perhaps, to remember the passing altercations, since they serve now only to demonstrate how closely and firmly they have drawn together. Surely this water will run clear and sweet between them and the light from the tower above all fall upon fraternal shores. Vermont has done her duty, and her duty has been a labor of love. With such a spirit sitting by our hearthstone, the future of the valley is secure.
In behalf of the Tercentenary Commission of the State of New York, I thank the members of the Tercentenary Commission of the State of Vermont and all their associates, for the efficiency of their co-operation in the labors that are now drawing to a close.
Gentlemen of the Executive Departments of the States of Vermont and New York, our task is done; the monument before us is at your disposal. In the name of the New York Commission I want to thank you and your predecessors in office for the aid you have given us, and the effective support we have received from you, in the days of our perplexity and discouragement. If any shortcomings of ours are to be remembered, kindly bear in mind that it was our heads and not our hearts that went astray.
That these meetings of officials and citizens of the countries that are represented here will be repeated, and that the spirit of peace and good will will continue for all times is our sincere desire.
Gentlemen, in pursuance of the authority vested in the New York—Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commission, we now transfer to your charge the Crown Point Memorial Lighthouse.
President John M. Thomas, D.D., of Middlebury College, representing the Vermont Tercentenary Commission, spoke as follows:
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: In behalf of the freemen of Vermont, and representing the Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commission of Vermont, I have the honor to transfer to the representative of his Excellency, Governor John A. Mead, this memorial of the discoverer of Lake Champlain and of the territory now comprising the State of Vermont. This commemorative light-tower is erected on a site made American soil forever by the valor of our Green Mountain sires. It is our will that it shall stand as a reminder to succeeding generations of the honor in which the men of the generation of the three hundredth anniversary of his discovery held the intrepid navigator, the scholarly explorer, and the Christian pioneer, Samuel Champlain.
Gov. John A. Dix speaking at Crown Point Memorial, July 5, 1912
Gov. John A. Dix of New York, in accepting the memorial and transferring it to the United States, said: