The Lamoille River is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

which runs through northern

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...

and drains into

Lake Champlain , native_name_lang = , image = Champlainmap.svg , caption = Lake Champlain-River Richelieu watershed , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = New York/ Vermont in the United States; and Quebec in Canada , coords = , type ...

. It is about in length, and has a drainage area of around . The river generally flows southwest, and then

northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each s ...

, from the

water divide A drainage divide, water divide, ridgeline, watershed, water parting or height of land is elevated terrain that separates neighboring drainage basins. On rugged land, the divide lies along topographical ridges, and may be in the form of a single ...

of the

Green Mountains The Green Mountains are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Vermont. The range runs primarily south to north and extends approximately from the border with Massachusetts to the border with Quebec, Canada. The part of the same range that is i ...

. It is the namesake of Lamoille County, Vermont, through which it flows. The river was the basis of the name of the now-defunct

Lamoille Valley Railroad Company Lamoille or La Moille may refer to: Places in the United States Illinois * La Moille, Illinois, a village * Lamoille Township, Bureau County, Illinois Iowa * LaMoille, Iowa, an unincorporated community Minnesota * Lamoille, Minnesota, an unincor ...

, successor to the St. Johnsbury and Lamoille County Railroad. Legend has it that early French settlers named the river ''La Mouette,'' meaning "The Seagull". However, a cartographer forgot to cross the t's, which led people to begin calling it ''La Moulle''. Over time, this became ''Lamoille,'' elided in speaking.

References

See also