The St. Lawrence Seaway and The Great Lakes – Part One of Two
The St. Lawrence River waterway system, stretching some 2,300 miles (3,700 km) from the Atlantic Ocean westward to almost the middle of the North American continent, is the world’s longest inland waterway. Because there is so much to discuss about pleasure boating in a system that contains five of the world’s largest freshwater lakes, it has been necessary to divide it into two parts. The following is Part 1.
Long before Samuel de Champlain came to North America in the early 1600s and landed near Montreal, Quebec, he explored what we know now as the St. Lawrence River Valley, the five Great Lakes, and as far west as the Mississippi River. The indigenous people of the area have used these waters to travel, trade, hunt, and explore since time immemorial. Even the largest of ships have been able to navigate portions of the Great Lakes waterway except for some rapids, shoals, and waterfalls in the river sections connecting these lakes.
Providing a navigable waterway for ocean-going vessels to travel the length of the system was always the political and economic dream, but it was not until 1959 that the St. Lawrence Seaway opened to realize that dream. The Seaway was built solely on accommodating commercial vessels for the economic enhancement of both the United States and Canada. Benefits to pleasure boaters were not a consideration, but the resulting waterway nevertheless has provided one of the biggest pleasure boating havens in the world.
The Canada-United States International border runs roughly down the middle of four of the five Great Lakes and connecting rivers. Pleasure boaters can therefore enjoy the magnitude and magnificence of almost the entire system from either side of the border. Lake Michigan is entirely within the United States. The most westerly of the five Great Lakes and the head of the Seaway system is Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake in the world which contains a staggering 10% of the entire world’s supply of fresh water. The five Great Lakes together contain a total of over 1/5th of the world’s total of surface fresh water with over 4500 miles (7,250 km) of coastline.
Duluth, Minnesota is situated at the most westerly point of Lake Superior and therefore of the entire St. Lawrence Seaway system. It resides some 150 miles (240 km) south of the Canada-US border as Lake Superior is shaped somewhat like a boomerang. Some almost 200 miles (320 km) northeast of Duluth and 50 miles (80 km) north of the 49th parallel which forms the Canada-United States border, is Canada’s most westerly city on the shore of Lake Superior, Thunder Bay. Both Duluth and Thunder Bay, as well as nearby Superior, Wisconsin are huge commercial shipping ports.
Pleasure boating on Lake Superior is not for the feint of heart as it is the coldest of all the Great Lakes. Due to its remoteness, it also has the fewest number of pleasure boating harbours with available amenities. What it does offer, however, is some of the most incredible wilderness boating shoreline and rugged beauty available anywhere in the world. Good charts, GPS, and sonar will lead you to places you simply could not otherwise imagine.
Headed east, the St. Mary’s River empties Lake Superior into Lake Huron through the twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, colloquially and together known as “The Soo.” In 1895, the United States Army Corps of Engineers built the St. Mary’s Falls Canal containing the parallel Soo Locks with a vertical height of 21 feet while bypassing the hazardous Soo rapids. Lake Huron is the second largest of the Great Lakes with the longest shoreline of over 3800 miles (6,100 km).
Georgian Bay and the North Channel are huge bodies of water separated from the east side of Lake Huron by the continuation of the Niagara Escarpment, which forms the Bruce Peninsula, and by the world’s largest freshwater island, Manitoulin Island. Georgian Bay and the North Channel are home to what is known as the Thirty Thousand islands, recognized by many as the finest freshwater cruising in the world. Georgian Bay alone is 120 miles (200 km) long and its islands incorporate the UNESCO-designated Georgian Bay Biosphere. Again, good charts, GPS, and sonar will provide such incredible pleasure boating that you could not possibly see it all in a lifetime. It is, quite simply, a pleasure boating paradise.
The western end of Lake Huron is actually joined to Lake Michigan by the Straits of Mackinac, considerably south of where the St. Mary’s River and subsequent channels join Lake Huron to Lake Superior. In fact, some say that Lakes Huron and Michigan are actually just one continuous lake as the Straits of Mackinac are a considerable five miles (eight km) wide at the narrowest point and the two lakes are at the same elevation. The Mackinac Bridge provides vehicular traffic access across the Straits.
Lake Michigan is the second largest of the Great Lakes in terms of volume of water averaging 280 feet (85 m) in depth with its deepest point being 925 feet (282 m). Lake Michigan is huge at over 300 miles (480 km) long and 118 miles (190 km) wide. The continuation of the aforementioned limestone-formed Niagara Escarpment resurfaces as the memorable and quaint Door County, Wisconsin peninsula on the northwestern side of Lake Michigan, thus creating the pleasure boating paradise of Green Bay which is similar geologically to Georgian Bay.
Green Bay itself is 118 miles (190 km) long by 23 miles (37 km) wide at its widest point and is fed by the Fox River at its mouth on the Bay’s south end, home of famous Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Fox River waterway is itself a boating destination as 17 locks will elevate you into beautiful Lake Winnebago. At the southernmost end of Winnebago is Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, headquarters of one of boating’s biggest names, Mercury Marine. At the southernmost point of Lake Michigan is Chicago, the third-largest city in the United States. From Chicago, a river and canal can take you west to the Mississippi River and from there on to the Gulf of Mexico.
The eastern shore of Lake Michigan is home to the largest freshwater sand dunes in the world, the highest of which is Sleeping Bear which stands 450 feet (137 m) above the lake. On the northeastern side of Lake Michigan is Traverse Bay, smaller than Green Bay at just 32 miles (51 km) long by less than 10 miles (16 km) wide, but a substantial 620 feet (190 m) deep at its deepest point. This, along with its inviting beaches, makes Traverse Bay a go-to for fishing, watersports, and cruising.
Lake Michigan of course flows into Lake Huron and Lake Huron empties into the St. Clair River at Port Huron, Michigan on the US side and Sarnia, Ontario on the Canadian side. The 41 mile long (66 km) St. Clair River drops six feet (2 m) in elevation as it drains Lake Huron into Lake St. Clair through a discharge delta known as the St. Clair Flats which is the largest freshwater delta in the world.
Some say Lake St. Clair should be the sixth Great Lake, but it is simply too small to even be compared to the other Great lakes. Lake St. Clair is roughly a round anomaly between Lakes Huron and Erie, being only 26 miles (42 km) long by 24 miles (39 km) wide and with an average depth of about 10 feet (3 m). A shipping channel is dredged the length of the lake between the two rivers to a depth of 27 feet (8 m). Lake St. Clair is renowned for its freshwater fishing and is one of the busiest recreational waterways in Midwest United States.
Lake St. Clair then drains all of Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron, into the Detroit River which flows some 28 miles (44 km) from Lake St. Clair into Lake Erie while undergoing a modest elevation change of about three feet (1 m). The Detroit River has both American and Canadian Heritage River designations -- the only river ever to be dually recognized. Detroit and Windsor are both huge centres of pleasure boating. There are no locks on either the St. Clair or Detroit rivers but the current is substantial in many places due to the sheer volume of water.
The next Great Lake along the natural flow of water of the St. Lawrence Seaway system from west to east is the smallest by volume of all the Great Lakes -- Lake Erie. It is also the most southern of the lakes and by far the shallowest. Because of these factors, it also warms fastest in spring and cools fastest in fall. All of these factors together make Lake Erie the most biologically diverse of all the Great Lakes. It is a haven for migrating species of birds. In fact, Point Pelee National Park, located near the west end of Lake Erie, is Canada’s most ecologically diverse national park and its southern tip is actually further south than the northern part of California! It is one of the premier spots for birdwatching in North America.
All of these factors also come together to make Lake Erie a most popular vacation and boating paradise. The sheer volume of pleasure boating on both sides of the lake creates an economic base for the cities and towns of both the United States and Canada that cater to the pleasure boater. In fact, massive and famous (or perhaps infamous) boating get-togethers that attract thousands of pleasure boaters happen annually at Put-In-Bay off Port Clinton, Ohio and at Pottahawk, a sand bar off Long Point, Ontario.
Boaters may also choose to enter the Erie Canal waterway at Buffalo, New York on Lake Erie. This canal connects through 35 locks with the Hudson River on its journey to New York City where it then joins with the Intra-Coastal Waterway. The Erie Canal will de discussed later in this waterways series.
To Be Continued. #culture #destinations
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