Download The Great Lakes

Great Lakes
May 12, 2010
1271004
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in eastern North
America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes
Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group
of freshwater lakes on Earth (by surface area). That is more than 94,000
square miles of water. The Great Lakes hold 22% (6 quadrillion gallons) of
the world's fresh water - only the polar ice caps and Lake Baikal in Siberia
contain more. If spread evenly across the continental U.S., the Great Lakes
would submerge the country under about 9.5 feet of water. The Great Lakes
shoreline of 10,900 miles is equal to 44 percent of the circumference of the
earth.
The total area of The Great Lakes watershed basin (the area where all the
rivers and streams drain into the lakes) is about 295,000 square miles. Major
rivers and other bodies of water include:
- The St. Mary’s River connects Lake Superior to Lake Huron.
- The St. Clair River connects Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair.
- The Detroit River connects Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie.
- The Niagara River, including Niagara Falls, connects Lake Erie to Lake
Ontario.
- The St. Lawrence River connects Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean.
- Georgian Bay is a large bay located within Lake Huron, separated by the
Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island.
- The Straits of Mackinac connects Lake Michigan to Lake Huron.
- The Welland Canal connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario.
- Lake St. Clair is a small lake within the Great Lake system.
- Lake Nipigon to the north of Lake Superior is sometimes called the sixth
Great Lake.
Dispersed throughout the Great Lakes are approximately 35,000 islands. The
largest among them is Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron, the largest island in
any inland body of water in the world. The second-largest island is Isle
Royale in Lake Superior. Both of these islands are large enough to contain
multiple lakes themselves — Manitoulin Island's Lake Manitou is listed in
the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest lake located on a
freshwater island.
The Saint Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway opened the Great
Lakes to ocean-going vessels. Despite their vast size, large sections of the
Great Lakes freeze over in winter, interrupting most shipping. The Great
Lakes are also connected to the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Illinois River
(from Chicago) and the Mississippi River. Commercial tug-and-barge traffic
on these waterways is heavy. Pleasure boats can also enter or exit the Great
Lakes by way of the Erie Canal and Hudson River in New York. The Erie
Canal connects to the Great Lakes at the east end of Lake Erie (at Buffalo,
NY) and at the south side of Lake Ontario (at Oswego, NY).
The lakes are bound by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. states
of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
and New York. However, not all of the lakes border on all of these regions.
Four of the five lakes form part of the Canada-United States border; the
fifth, Lake Michigan, is contained entirely within the United States. The
Saint Lawrence River, which marks the same international border for a
portion of its course, is the primary outlet of these interconnected lakes, and
flows through Quebec and past the Gaspé Peninsula to the northern Atlantic
Ocean. Great Lakes Circle Tour is a designated scenic road system
connecting all of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.
It is no wonder why they named them The Great Lakes.
Before we take a closer look at each lake, let's find out who discovered the
lakes and a short history of what has transpired up to now. Indians were the
first to use the many resources of the Great Lakes basin. Abundant game,
fertile soils and plentiful water enabled the early development of hunting,
subsistence agriculture and fishing. The lakes and tributaries provided
convenient transportation by canoe, and trade among groups flourished. The
first inhabitants of the Great Lakes basin arrived about 10,000 years ago.
These native people occupied widely scattered villages and grew corn,
squash, beans and tobacco, and harvesting wild rice. Yes, Indians were the
first true farmers in the area and supported themselves through a
combination of hunting and gathering and simple agricultural techniques.
Their modest plots produced corn, beans, peas, squash, and pumpkins.
Several Indian tribes were well-established on the lands surrounding the
lakes. Among these were:
Chippewa
Huron
Winnebago
Sioux
Attawandaronk
Eries
Cree
Assinbiboin
Potawatomi
Fox
Iroquois
Seneca
Ottawa
Menominee
Nipissing
Miami
Niagaras
Onondaga
I must admit that I don’t know my Indian tribes since the only tribe I have
ever heard of out of this group is the Sioux.
Then came the White Man in 1619. The French were the first Europeans to
explore the forests around the St. Lawrence Valley and had begun to exploit
the Great Lakes area for furs. The Dutch and British came next. During the
1700s the Lake Erie frontier became known by many as a region of terror,
with many violent confrontations between Indians and European visitors.
The British controlled the Great Lakes region during the American
Revolution. Actually, at the close of the conflict, the Great Lakes became the
boundary between the new U.S. republic and what remained of British North
America. The final military challenge for the wealth of the Great Lakes
region came with the War of 1812 with the British. But after two years when
the shooting finally stopped, both the Americans and the British claimed
victory. Canada had survived the invasion and was set on an inevitable
course to nationhood.
Here are some interesting facts about the five Great Lakes:
Lake Superior
1. Lake Superior is the world's largest freshwater lake with a surface area of
31,700 square miles.
2. Lake Superior contains as much water as all the other Great Lakes
combined, even throwing in two extra Lake Eries.
3. Lake Superior contains 10% of all the earth's fresh surface water.
4. There is enough water in Lake Superior (3,000,000,000,000,000 gallons) to
flood all of North and South America to a depth of one foot.
5. The deepest point in Lake Superior (about 40 miles north of Munising,
Michigan) is 1,300 feet (400 meters) below the surface.
6. Over 300 streams and rivers empty into Lake Superior.
7. The average elevation of Lake Superior is about 602 feet above sea level.
8. The Lake Superior shoreline, if straightened out, could connect Duluth
and the Bahama Islands.
9. The average underwater visibility of Lake Superior is 27 feet, making it
easily the cleanest and clearest of the Great Lakes.
10. The lake is about 350 miles in length and 160 miles in width.
11. Major cities include Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada (Pop 110,000) Duluth, Minnesota (Pop 88,000) - Marquette, Michigan (Pop 21,000) - Sault
Ste Marie, Michigan (Pop 17,000).
Lake Michigan
1. The word "Michigan" was originally used
to refer to the lake itself, and is believed to
come from the Ojibwa Indian word
mishigami, meaning "great water."
2. The third largest of the Great Lakes and is
the only one of the lakes which is contained
entirely inside U.S. borders.
3. Lake Michigan the largest body of fresh
water in the United States and is the sixth
largest lake in the world.
4. The lake is approximately 300 miles long
and averages 75 miles across, covering an area
of 22,400 square miles.
5. It is 581 feet above sea level and its deepest
point is 923 feet.
6. Lake Michigan boasts excellent salmon and
trout fishing. Species include Chinook, Coho,
and Atlantic Salmon, and Rainbow, Brown,
and Lake Trout.
7. It is bounded, from west to east, by the U.S.
states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and
Michigan.
8. Twelve million people live along Lake
Michigan's shores.
9. The biggest cities on Lake Michigan are
Chicago, Illinois (Pop 3,000,000), Milwukee,
Wisconsin (Pop 605,000), and Gary, Indiana
(Pop 103,000).
10. The state of Michigan has (by far) the
most cities on Lake Michigan but they are all
small towns with Muskegon being the biggest
with 40,000 people.
Lake Huron
1. The name of the lake is derived from early
French explorers who named it based on the
Huron Indians inhabiting the region.
2. Lake Huron is the second largest Great
Lake by surface area (23,010 square miles)
and the fifth largest freshwater lake in the
world.
3. The lake's average depth is 195 feet, while
the maximum depth is 750 feet. It has a
length of 206 miles and a greatest width of
183 miles.
4. It has the longest shoreline of the Great
Lakes, counting the shorelines of its 30,000
islands.
5. Manitoulin Island is the largest freshwater
island in the world.
6. Georgian Bay and Saginaw Bay are the
two largest bays on the Great Lakes.
7. Huron receives the flow from both Lake
Superior and Lake Michigan, but water flows
through Lake Huron much more quickly
than through either of them.
8. Shipwrecks are scattered throughout the
lake, with five bottomland preserves in
Michigan and a national park in Ontario
designated to protect the most historically
significant ones.
9. The Lake Huron basin is heavily forested,
sparsely populated, scenically beautiful, and
economically dependent on its rich natural
resources.
10. Important cities on Lake Huron include:
Sarnia, Ontario, Canada (Pop 72,000), Bay
City, Michigan (Pop 35,000) and Port Huron,
Michigan (Pop 31,000).
Lake Erie
1. Lake Erie is named after the Erie tribe of Native Americans who lived
along its southern shore.
2. Lake Erie is the eleventh largest lake in the world by surface area (9,910
square miles). It is the fourth largest of the Great Lakes in surface area and
the smallest by volume (116 cubic miles).
3. Lake Eire is 241 miles long and 57 miles wide. The average depth is 62 feet
with a maximum of 210 feet.
4. Ninety-five percent of Lake Erie's total inflow of water comes via the
Detroit River water from all the "upper lakes" (Superior, Michigan and
Huron). The rest comes from precipitation.
5. Lake Erie is the warmest and most biologically productive of the Great
Lakes and the Lake Erie walleye fishery is widely considered the best in the
world.
6. Point Pelee National Park in Lake Erie is the southernmost point on
Canada's mainland.
7. Major cities located on Lake Erie are Toledo, Ohio (Pop 295,000),
Cleveland, Ohio (Pop 478,000), Erie, Pennsylvania (Pop 104,000), and
Buffalo, New York (Pop 292,000).
Lake Ontario
1. Lake Ontario, the 14th largest lake in the world, is the smallest of the
Great Lakes in surface area (7,540 square miles). The maximum length is 193
miles and the maximum width is 53 miles.
2. It ranks fourth among the Great Lakes in maximum depth, but its average
depth is second only to Lake Superior.
3. Lake Ontario lies 325 ft (99 m) below Lake Erie, at the base of Niagara
Falls.
3. The major inflow source is the Niagara River and the outflow source is the
Saint Lawrence River. Niagara Falls are located between Lake Erie and
Lake Ontario.
4. The falls were always an obstacle to navigation into the upper lakes until
the Trent-Severn Waterway, along with the Welland and Erie Canals were
built to allow ships to pass around this bottleneck.
5. The oldest lighthouse on the U.S. side of the Great Lakes was set up at Fort
Niagara in 1818 to aid navigation.
6. The basin is largely rural, with many scenic resort areas.
7. Major cities located on Lake Erie are Toronto, Canada (Pop 2,500,000),
Rochestor, New York (Pop 206,000).
So, which great lake is the greatest? Unless you live on the shores of one of
the other great lakes and are biased, it is obvious that Lake Superior is the
greatest. It is the biggest, the deepest, the highest, the coldest, and got the
prettiest scenery surrounding it.
The only great lake I have ever seen is Lake Michigan. This was when I went
to Chicago on three business trips. I liked Chicago and Lake Michigan is a
big and beautiful lake. There is a chance I might see Lake Erie before I drop
dead since my daughter Tracy lives in Erie, PA. It would also be nice to visit
Niagara Falls while I’m in the area.
The Great Lakes Basin is definitely one of the most beautiful and interesting
regions of the world.
[email protected]