Otter Creek is the longest river entirely contained within the borders of Vermont. Roughly long, it is the primary watercourse running through Rutland County and Addison County. The mouth of the river flows into Lake Champlain. Settled by indigenous peoples at least 10-11,000 years ago, the river was an important economic region for indigenous people before European settlement. The river became an important economic region for settlers, who took advantage of the river for agriculture and industry through the 18th and 19th centuries. History Before European settlement, the river valley was settled by native peoples and was called by early settlers as the "Indian road" because of its importance to navigating Abenaki, Algonquin and Iroquois settlements in the region. Archeological evidence suggest both war parties and trading happened between communities on the river. Otter Creek (or "Kill") was known to the French as "La Rivière aux Loutres", whence the English name. On April 1, 1690, Capt. Abraham Schuyler was commissioned by the city of Albany to take a party up the Otter Creek about and there to keep watch and engage any Native Americans. This would correspond today to the City of Vergennes. In 1731, the French began construction of a fort at Crown Point to be known as Fort Frederic. Before commencing, they founded a new settlement called Addison. With increase awareness of the valley's fertile land, the 18th century saw increased settlement by white settlers. Vergennes, situated on the first falls, upstream from the outlet of Otter Creek, was one of the first industrial hubs on the river, with a sawmill erected in 1764. In 1814, a fleet was hastily, but effectively, assembled here by American forces at Vergennes, to participate in the Battle of Plattsburg. During the 1800s, communities began to harness the rivers' quick waters for industrial purposes creating hydropower facilities in Rutland, Proctor, Brandon, Middlebury, Weybridge, and Vergennes. During flooding caused by Tropical Storm Irene, Otter Creek flooded in downtown Rutland causing millions of dollars in damage. Geography Otter Creek rises in the Green Mountain National Forest on the western slopes of Mt. Tabor in the town of Peru in Bennington County, and flows southwesterly into the town of Dorset towards East Dorset, thence veering northward into Emerald Lake. Thence it runs northward passing through the towns of Danby, Wallingford, Clarendon, and Rutland town, the city of Rutland, and the towns of Proctor, Pittsford, and