|The Denizen of Lake Champlain| |By Craig Heinselman| When one
says Lake Monster, the initial response is a connection to the
most famous lake creature of them all, Nessie of Loch Ness in
Scotland. However, North America has a rich history of Lake
Creatures as well. Ranging from Ogopogo in Okanagan Lake of
British Columbia, to Tessie of Lake Tahoe in California to
perhaps the most famous lake creature Champ from Lake Champlain
in Vermont, New York and Quebec (Canada). Lake Champlain [MAP ]
has been called the other great lake due to its size and depth.
The lake borders Vermont and New York on the American side and
Quebec on the Canadian side, and runs from Whitehall, New York
to the Richelieu River in Quebec. Stretching 109 miles in length
and up to 11 miles in width, the lake boasts impressive depths
to 400 feet and a water area of 440 square miles. The lake
itself formed around 10,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice
Age, prior to that the Champlain area (named after the explorer
Samuel de Champlain fro