The late Great Lakes debate There was a flurry of reaction, editorial and otherwise, to the short-lived designation of Lake Champlain as a Great Lake earlier this year. "In retrospect," said Davis Helberg, port director of the Great Lakes' largest tonnage port on the Great Lakes' largest lake, "the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain both may have gained because of all the national publicity we both received. The only thing worse than people talking about you is when nobody's talking about you." Editorial cartoonists had a field day with the subject.