 This status enabled its neighboring states to apply for additional federal research and education funds allocated to these national resources.However, following a small uproar, the Great Lake status was rescinded on March 24 (although New York and Vermont universities continue to receive funds to monitor and study the lake).In 1609, Samuel de Champlain wrote that he saw a lake monster long, as thick as a man's thigh, with silver-gray scales a dagger could not penetrate.