Rock River (Lake Champlain) facts for kids

The Rock River (French: Rivière de la Roche) is a tributary of Rock River Bay, in the north of Lake Champlain. This river flows:

• in Franklin County, in the cities of Franklin and Highgate, in northern Vermont, in the United States;
• in Saint-Armand, in the Brome-Missisquoi Regional County Municipality, in the administrative region of Montérégie, in the southwest of the province of Quebec, in Canada.

Besides the village area of Saint-Armand, agriculture is the main economic activity in this valley; recreotourism, second, near Lake Champlain. ·

The valley of this watercourse is served by the following roads:

• Franklin County (upper course): Hanna Road, Beaver Meadow Road, Barnum Road and Browns Corner Road;
• Highgate (intermediate course): Bouchard Road, Cassidy Road, Tarte Road, Rollo Road, Franklin Road, Gore Road (VT 207) and Rainville Road;
• Saint-Armand (in Quebec): chemin Pelletier Sud, chemin de Saint-Armand, chemin Bradley;
• Highgate (lower course): Ballard Road, Saint Armand Road, Highway 189, Spring Street (US 7).

The surface of the Roche river (except the rapids zones) is generally frozen from mid-December to the beginning of March, but the safe circulation on the ice is generally made from the end of December to the end of February. The water level of the river varies with the seasons and the precipitation; the spring flood generally occurs in March.

Geography

Via Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River, it is part of the watershed of the St. Lawrence River.

The Roche River originates from a swamp area in Franklin County, on the edge of the Highgate. This source is located between Jones Road and Hanna Road, at the West of Lake Carmi, Vermont.

The Roche Plate river flows over 40.8 kilometres (25.4 mi) including 30.7 kilometres (19.1 mi) in Vermont and 10.1 kilometres (6.3 mi) in Quebec, with a drop of , according to the following segments:

• 10.1 kilometres (6.3 mi) in the upper part (in the town of Franklin in Vermont) entirely in agricultural area: first on 2.8 kilometres (1.7 mi) northwesterly to the Hanna Road bridge; then west, first forming a hook towards the north, then a large curve towards the south, crossing the Browns Corner Road, collecting a stream (coming from the northeast), up to the city limit Franklin and Highgate;
• 13.7 kilometres (8.5 mi) in the intermediate part (in the town of Highgate in Vermont) entirely in agricultural area: first on 3.4 kilometres (2.1 mi) towards the southwest, until a river bend; then north 10.3 kilometres (6.4 mi) crossing the Bullis Pond and crossing the Gore Road (VT 207), to the Canada-US border;
• 10.1 kilometres (6.3 mi) in the intermediate part (in Saint-Armand, in Quebec): first on 4.2 kilometres (2.6 mi) towards the northwest in the forest and agricultural zone, forming a loop to the northeast where it intersects Chemin Pelletier Sud, forming a loop to the west, collecting Brook Brandy (coming from the northeast), crossing Chemin de Saint-Armand, to a river bend; then on 5.9 kilometres (3.7 mi) towards the southwest passing by the East side of the village of Saint-Armand, and meandering in agricultural area to the Canada-US border;
• 6.9 kilometres (4.3 mi) in the lower part (in Vermont): south-west from the Canada-US border, forming a few loops west and east, before heading southwesterly in an agricultural plain passing under the Saint Armand Road bridge, under the highway 189 bridge and under the Spring Street bridge (US7), then flows onto the east bank of Rock River Bay in the northern part of Lake Champlain.

The Roche river flows on the east shore of Rock River Bay, in the southern part of Missisquoi Bay, an appendage north of Lake Champlain. This confluence is located in Highgate Springs, Vermont.

Toponymy

According to the Geographic Names Information System, it is also known as "River Rocher" and "Riviere de La Roche."

In Quebec, this river appears on the 1732 map of the surveyor Jean-Baptiste Lefebvre, dit Anger, under the spelling "Rivière du Rocher". Formerly, in the English-speaking community of Quebec, this watercourse was designated "Rock River", as in Vermont. The origin of this acronym is attributable to the presence of a large rock at the mouth of the stream on the east shore of Rock River Bay, Lake Champlain, Vermont. In Quebec, the toponym "Rivière de la Roche" was approved on February 2, 1955, by the Geography Commission, which was renamed "Commission de toponymie du Québec". ·

The toponym "Rivière de la Roche" was formalized on December 5, 1968, at the Commission de toponymie du Québec.