Geology: 1609: Quadricentennial Curriculum In All Directions, Many Stones Background

• Main Authors: Samuel De Champlain, Jeff Meyers Lcmm
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Terra Firma; abenaki
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.460.9825; http://www.lcmm.org/navigating/QuadCurriculum_Geology.pdf

As soon as we had reached the fall [we] went on shore to see whether we could pass this place; but we went some league and a half without seeing any prospect of being able to do so, finding only water running with great swiftness, and in all directions many stones, very dangerous, and with but little water about them.Having returned, and seeing the slight prospect there was of passing the fall with our shallop, I was much troubled. And it gave me especial dissatisfaction to go back without seeing a very large lake, filled with handsome islands, and with large tracts of fine land bordering on the lake…After duly thinking over the matter, I determined to go and fulfill my promise, and carry out my desire. Accordingly, I embarked with the savages in their canoes… Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies soil and other loose material on the landscape, providing the physical foundation for landforms and for the natural and cultural events that make up what we know as “history”. In our minds, it forms the solid framework, the “terra firma ” that seems to have always been here, unchanging and immovable. In the summer of 1609, Samuel de Champlain accompanied Algonquin and Abenaki allies to enter the “River of the Iroquois ” (today’s Richelieu River) in a large rowing and sailing boat known as a “shallop”.