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A New Great Lake

More than 300 years ago, French explorers arrived at the shores of Lake Superior. They dipped their hands in the lake, took a sip and were surprised to find that the water was not salty. The lake was so big, they thought that they'd reached the sea.

It's easy to mistake any of the Great Lakes--Superior, Michigan, Huron, Ontario and Erie--for an ocean. Just consider the facts:

• The Great Lakes hold enough water to cover the U.S. 10 feet deep!
• They hold one-fifth of the world's fresh surface water.
• Their familiar shapes can be seen from space.

For centuries, the five Great Lakes have made Americans proud. Now there's a new one. Last Friday President Bill Clinton signed a law making Lake Champlain, in Vermont and New York, a Great Lake.

"Vermonters have always considered Lake Champlain the sixth Great Lake," says Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, who proposed the law.

A Close Cousin
Fans of the new law point out that Champlain was carved by the same glaciers that created the Great Lakes 3 billion years ago. It is linked to the Great Lakes by the St. Lawrence River system.

For years, the U.S. government has given scientists millions of dollars to study the Great Lakes. The money is used to help solve problems like pollution.

Now scientists at Lake Champlain can get a share of that money. They say that Champlain has many of the same troubles as the other Great Lakes. One problem is the overpopulation of the lakes by a shellfish called the zebra mussel. "We also want to clean up pollution," says Lake Champlain expert Betsy Rosenbluth.

Too Small To Be Great?
But not everyone is happy about Champlain's promotion to greatness. Critics say that the lake is just a sliver of water compared to the big five. "Just look at a map!" says Great Lakes scientist Bob Graham, with a laugh. It would take nearly 65 Champlains to cover Lake Superior.

"I know the Great Lakes. I've traveled the Great Lakes. And Lake Champlain is not one of the Great Lakes," says Ohio Senator John Glenn, who is fighting the new law.

Leahy agrees to disagree: "When it comes to counting the Great Lakes, New Englanders will count to six and Midwesterners to only five. But who knows about school kids in the next century?"

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Monster Of The Lake
Does a sea monster lurk in Lake Champlain? More than 300 people have said they've seen one. Locals call it Champ. Joseph Zarzynski has been searching for Champ for 20 years. "People describe it as being 12 to 15 feet long, with humps," he says. Zarzynski believes Champ is a plesiosaur - a water dinosaur that disappeared more than 65 million years ago.

Just as no one has proof Scotland's Loch Ness monster exists, no one has proof Champ exists either. But the legend lives on.

Next: Home On An Icy Planet