Saddleback Mountain (Keene, New York) Saddleback Mountain (Keene, New York) Saddleback Mountain is a mountain located in Essex County, New York. The mountain is part of the Great Range of the Adirondack Mountains. The long summit ridge has peaks at each end with a pronounced dip between, giving it the profile of a saddle. Saddleback Mtn. is flanked to the southwest by Basin Mountain, and to the east by Gothics. Saddleback Mountain stands within the watershed of the East Branch of the Ausable River, which drains into Lake Champlain, thence into Canada's Richelieu River, the Saint Lawrence River, and into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.
Lake Champlain been connected to the Erie Canal via the Champlain Canal since the canal's official opening September 9, 1823, the same day as the opening of the Erie Canal from Rochester on Lake Ontario to Albany. It connects to the St. Lawrence River via the Richelieu River, with the Chambly Canal bypassing rapids on the river since 1843. Together with these waterways the lake is part of the Lakes to Locks Passage. The Lake Champlain Seaway, a project to use the lake to bring ocean-going ships from New York City to Montreal, was proposed in the late 19th century and considered