The Champlain tercentenary

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

NEW YORK COMMISSIONERS
JOHN B. RILEY LOUIS C. LAFONTAINE
HOWLAND PELL
JOHN H. BOOTH
JAMES SHEA WILLIAM R. WEAVER

V. CONCLUSION OF THE WORK OF THE NEW YORK LAKE CHAMPLAIN TERCENTENARY COMMISSION

The work of the Commission was done largely through committees after a presentation and consideration of such problems as arose under instructions adopted at formal sessions of the Commission from time to time with reference to the conduct of the celebration and the construction of memorials. The Commission held upwards of thirty-seven formal sessions and the results may be seen in the work accomplished. From the first it was the purpose of the Commission to organize and carry to a successful conclusion such a celebration as would be in keeping with the dignity of the state and true to the historical events to be commemorated. The members of the Commission fully appreciate their limitations in undertaking to present in outline the history of the Champlain valley in the form necessarily pursued in the Tercentenary Celebration, which President Taft humorously characterized as a “traveling show,” but there was no other way suggested or that occurred to members of the Commission, whereby that could be done and any adequate presentation of the tragic events following the discovery of the lake could be made, than that adopted by the Commission.

Though there may not have been given “the substance,” the members trust that they may not have failed to so present its essentials as to enable many to behold something of what Professor William M. Sloane denominates “the vision of history,” as unfolded in the Champlain valley.

Activities of the Tercentenary Commissioners

The multifarious duties, devolving upon the members of Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commission during the period of five years of its existence, and involving activities of a wide range and great detail, may never be fully appreciated nor even fully understood. The members of the Commission were business and professional men actively engaged, but they were so deeply interested in the celebration, that they left nothing undone to ensure its success. Senator James J. Frawley was chairman of the Finance Committee of the Senate from 1911 and also a member of another State Commission, Senator James A. Foley, who was a member of Preliminary Champlain Commission, took a deep interest in the project from its inception, Senator H. Wallace Knapp, chairman, Hon. Walter C. Witherbee, treasurer, Hon. Howland Pell, whose family has done much to restore Ft. Ticonderoga, Hon. Louis C. Lafontaine, Judges John B. Riley and John H. Booth and Hon. James Shea, and Hon. William R. Weaver, all freely gave their services and as much of their time as they were able to the Tercentenary celebration.

At the final meeting of the New York Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commission a resolution was adopted expressing the appreciation of its members to its secretary, Henry W. Hill, for his long and unrequited services in preparing the comprehensive, historical and scholarly First and Final Reports of the Commission, which possess a literary finish and a perfection in every detail worthy the commemorative Tercentenary celebration and the bi-state, national and international functions involved.

In presenting their Final Report to the Legislature, the Tercentenary Commissioners avail themselves of this opportunity to make it a matter of record that they have had the support and active co-operation of the several Governors and successive Legislatures of the state in office during the life of the Commission in carrying to a successful conclusion the celebration and in the construction and dedication of the two permanent memorials to Samuel Champlain, the first white man to set foot on the soil of what is now within the confines of the state. The Government of the United States invited and, out of an appropriation made by it for that purpose, entertained the foreign guests. The state of Vermont contributed its proportionate share of the general expenses and of the cost of the joint memorial at Crown Point forts. The state of New York paid its proportionate share of the general expenses and of the cost of the joint memorial at Crown Point forts and the entire cost of the Champlain memorial at Plattsburgh and the Commission has turned a small balance back into the State Treasury, as will appear from the Financial Statement in the [Appendix] of this Final Report.