Great Lakes

This article is about the Great Lakes of North America. For the region, see Great Lakes region. For other uses of this term, see Great Lakes (disambiguation).

A rare cloudless satellite view of the entire Great Lakes region, April 24, 2000

A map showing the Great Lakes

A map showing the Great Lakes and their watershed, with State, Provincial and International boundaries.

The Great Lakes after a storm in October 2011. The storm brought sediment and algae to the surface of the lakes.

The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada–United States border which connect to the Atlantic Ocean through the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes Waterway. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth comprising 21% of the world's surface fresh water. The total surface is 94,250 square miles (244,106 km²), and the total volume (measured at the low water datum) is 5,439 cubic miles (22,671 km³). The lakes are sometimes referred to as the North Coast or "Third Coast" by some citizens of the United States.

The lakes have been a major source of trade through this area, and they are home to a large number of aquatic species. Many invasive species have been introduced due to trade in the area, and some threaten the biodiversity of the area.

Geography

Though the five lakes reside in separate basins, they form a single, naturally interconnected body of fresh water. The lakes form a chain connecting the east-central interior of North America to the Atlantic Ocean. From the interior to the outlet at the St. Lawrence River, water flows from Superior to Michigan-Huron (in the hydrological sense, a single body of water), southward to Erie, and finally northward to Lake Ontario. The lakes drain a large watershed via many rivers, and are studded with approximately 35,000 islands. The Great Lakes region contains not only the five themselves but also many thousands of smaller lakes, often called inland lakes. Of the five lakes, Lake Michigan is the only one that is located entirely within the United States; the others form a water border between the United States and Canada.

Bathymetry

	Lake Erie	Lake Huron	Lake Michigan	Lake Ontario	Lake Superior
Surface area	9,910 sq mi (25,700 km2)	23,000 sq mi (60,000 km2)	22,300 sq mi (58,000 km2)	7,340 sq mi (19,000 km2)	31,700 sq mi (82,000 km2)
Water volume	116 cu mi (480 km3)	850 cu mi (3,500 km3)	1,180 cu mi (4,900 km3)	393 cu mi (1,640 km3)	2,900 cu mi (12,000 km3)
Elevation	571 ft (174 m)	577 ft (176 m)	577 ft (176 m)	246 ft (75 m)	600.0 ft (182.9 m)
Average depth	62 ft (19 m)	195 ft (59 m)	279 ft (85 m)	283 ft (86 m)	483 ft (147 m)
Maximum depth	210 ft (64 m)	748 ft (228 m)	925 ft (282 m)	804 ft (245 m)	1,335 ft (407 m)
Major settlements	Buffalo, NY Cleveland, OH Erie, PA Toledo, OH	Alpena, MI Bay City, MI Owen Sound, ON Port Huron, MI Sarnia, ON	Chicago, IL Gary, IN Green Bay, WI Milwaukee, WI Kenosha, WI Racine, WI Muskegon, MI Traverse City, MI	Hamilton, ON Kingston, ON Oshawa, ON Rochester, NY Toronto, ON	Duluth, MN Marquette, MI Sault Ste. Marie, MI Sault Ste. Marie, ON Superior, WI Thunder Bay, ON

Relative elevations, average depths, maximum depths, and volumes of the Great Lakes.

Notes:	The area of each rectangle is proportionate to the volume of each lake. All measurements at Low Water Datum.
Source:	EPA

System profile of the Great Lakes.

Because the surfaces of Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, and Erie are all approximately the same elevation above sea level while Lake Ontario is significantly lower and because Niagara Falls prevents all natural navigation, the four upper lakes are commonly called the "upper great lakes". This designation, however, is not universal. Those living on the shore of Lake Superior often refer to all the other lakes as "the lower lakes", for they are all lower. Sailors of bulk freighters transferring cargoes from Lake Superior and northern Lake Michigan-Huron to ports on Lake Erie or Ontario commonly refer to the latter as the lower lakes and Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Superior as the upper lakes. This corresponds to thinking of Lakes Erie and Ontario as "down south" and the others as "up north". Vessels sailing north on Lake Michigan are considered "upbound" even though they are sailing toward its effluent.

Water levels

Water levels of Lake Michigan have remained fairly constant over the past century. In fact, the variance has only been about two meters during that timeframe. According to geologist John King, of the University of Rhode Island, water levels are very sensitive to climate change and may change more drastically in the next century.

Lake Michigan-Huron

Main article: Lake Michigan-Huron

Lakes Michigan and Huron are hydrologically a single lake, sometimes called Lake Michigan-Huron, with a total area of 45,300 square miles (117,000 km²) they have the same surface elevation of 577 feet (176 m), and are connected not by a river but by the 295-foot (90 m) deep Straits of Mackinac.

Rivers

Chicago on Lake Michigan is the largest city on the Great Lakes

Toronto on Lake Ontario is the second-largest city on the Great Lakes

Detroit is the third largest metropolitan area linking Great Lakes system and the region's central metropolitan area.

• The Chicago River and Calumet River systems connect the Great Lakes waterways to the Mississippi Valley waterways through man-made alterations and canals.
• The St. Marys 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 Gulf of St. Lawrence, which connects to the Atlantic Ocean.

Other bodies of water

• Georgian Bay is a large bay located within Lake Huron, separated by the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. It contains the majority of the islands of the Great Lakes, with a count of approximately 30,000. The North Channel, a narrower westerly extension of Georgian Bay, separates Manitoulin Island from mainland Northern Ontario.
• The Straits of Mackinac connect Lake Michigan to Lake Huron.
• The Welland Canal connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, bypassing the Niagara River, which cannot be fully navigated due to the presence of Niagara Falls.
• Lake Saint Clair is the smallest lake in the Great Lake system but efforts have been made for consideration as one of the Great Lakes.
• Lake Nipigon to the north of Lake Superior was formed by an extension or aulacogen of the Midcontinent Rift System, which also formed Lake Superior, so the two lake beds are connected by shared geology.

Islands

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.

Connection to the ocean

The Saint Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway connect the Great Lakes to ocean-going vessels. The move to wider ocean-going container ships — which do not fit through the locks on these routes — has limited container shipping on the lakes. Most Great Lakes trade is of bulk material and bulk freighters of Seawaymax-size or less can move throughout the entire lakes and out to the Atlantic. Larger ships are confined to working in the lakes themselves, only barges can access the Illinois Waterway system providing access to the Gulf of Mexico. Despite their vast size, large sections of the Great Lakes freeze over in winter, interrupting most shipping. Some icebreakers ply the lakes, keeping the shipping lanes open through most of the winter.

The Great Lakes are also connected to the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Illinois River (from the Chicago River) and the Mississippi River. An alternate track is via the Illinois River (from Chicago), to the Mississippi, up the Ohio, and then through the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway (combination of a series of rivers and lakes and canals), to Mobile Bay and the Gulf. 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, New York) and at the south side of Lake Ontario (at Oswego, New York).

Boundaries

The lakes are bound by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. 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.

Name origins

Lake Erie

from Erie tribe, a shortened form of the Iroquoian word erielhonan “long tail”

Lake Huron

named by French explorers for inhabitants in the area, Wyandot or “Hurons”

Lake Michigan

likely from the Ojibwa word mishigami “great water”

Lake Ontario

Wyandot (Huron) word ontarío “Lake of Shining Waters” (ontara "beautiful", ontario "beautiful lake")

Lake Superior

English translation of French term “lac supérieur” "upper lake", referring to its position above Lake Huron. The Ojibwe people called it gitchigumi

Statistics

The Great Lakes contain 21% of the world’s fresh surface water: 5,472 cubic miles (22,810 km³), or 6.0×10¹⁵ U.S. gallons (2.3×10¹⁶ liters). This is enough water to cover the 48 contiguous U.S. states to a uniform depth of 9.5 feet (2.9 m). Although the lakes contain a large percentage of the world's fresh water, the Great Lakes supply only a small portion of U.S. drinking water on a national basis (roughly 4.2%).

Winter 2009–10 was somewhat mild, the precipitation was below normal for the Great Lakes Basin. Mean lake levels are thought to be slightly below or at their levels of 2009. An ice jam in February 2010 dropped the level in Lake St. Clair. Since the jam was removed the level has come back to its average. As of March 2010, the lakes were at the level, or slightly below, where they were in March 2009.

The combined surface area of the lakes is approximately 94,250 square miles (244,100 km²)—nearly the same size as the United Kingdom, and larger than the U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire combined.

The Great Lakes coast measures approximately 10,500 miles (16,900 km); however, the length of a coastline is impossible to measure exactly and is not a well-defined measure (see Coastline paradox).

Geology

A diagram of the formation of the Great Lakes

It has been estimated that the foundational geology that created the conditions shaping the present day upper Great Lakes was laid from 1.1 to 1.2 billion years ago, when two previously fused tectonic plates split apart and created the Midcontinent Rift, which crossed the Great Lakes Tectonic Zone. A valley was formed providing a basin that eventually became modern day Lake Superior. When a second fault line, the Saint Lawrence rift, formed approximately 570 million years ago, the basis for Lakes Ontario and Erie were created, along with what would become the St. Lawrence River.

The Great Lakes are estimated to have been formed at the end of the last glacial period (about 10,000 years ago), when the Laurentide ice sheet receded. The retreat of the ice sheet left behind a large amount of meltwater (see Lake Agassiz) that filled up the basins that the glaciers had carved, thus creating the Great Lakes as we know them today. Because of the uneven nature of glacier erosion, some higher hills became Great Lakes islands. The Niagara Escarpment follows the contour of the Great Lakes between New York and Wisconsin.

Land below the glaciers "rebounded" as it was uncovered. Because the glaciers covered some areas longer than others, this glacial rebound occurred at different rates.

Climate

The Great Lakes have a humid continental climate, Köppen climate classification Dfa (in southern areas) and Dfb (in northern parts) with varying influences from air masses from other regions including dry, cold Arctic systems, mild Pacific air masses from the West, and warm, wet tropical systems from the south and the Gulf of Mexico. The lakes themselves also have a moderating impact on the climate, they can also increase precipitation totals and produce lake-effect snowfall.

Lake effect

The most well known winter effect of the Great Lakes on weather there is the lake effect , sometimes very localized. During early and sometimes later in winter, the lakes often have no icepack in the middle. The prevailing winds from the west pick up the slightly warmer air and moisture from the lake surface, in relation to the cold surface winds above. As the slightly warmer, moist air passes over the colder land surface, the moisture often produces concentrated, heavy snowfall that set ups in bands or "streamers". This is similar to the effect of warmer air dropping snow as it passes over mountain ranges. During freezing weather with high winds, the "snow belt"s receive regular snow fall from this localized weather pattern, especially along its eastern shore. Snow belts are found in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ontario, and New York.

The lakes also moderate seasonal temperatures to some degree but not as large an influence as do large oceans, by absorbing heat and cooling the air in summer, then slowly radiating that heat in autumn. They protect against frost during the transitional weather, but they also keep the summer time temperatures cooler than further inland, but this effect can be very localized and overriden by offshore wind patterns. This temperature buffering produces areas known as "fruit belts", where fruit typically grown much farther south can be produced. Western Michigan has apple and cherry orchards, and vineyards adjacent to the lake shore as far north as the Grand Traverse Bay and Nottawasaga Bay in central Ontario. The eastern shore of Lake Michigan and the southern shore of Lake Erie have many wineries as a result of this, as does the Niagara Peninsula between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. A similar phenomenon allows wineries to flourish in the Finger Lakes region of New York as well as Prince Edward County, Ontario on Lake Ontario's northeast shore. Related to the lake effect is the occurrence of fog over medium-sized areas, particularly along the shorelines of the lakes. This is most noticeable along Lake Superior's shores.

The Great Lakes have been observed to help intesify storms, such as Hurricane Hazel in 1954, and the 2011 Goderich, Ontario tornado, which moved onshore as a tornadic waterspout. Also observed in 1996 was a rare subtropical cyclone forming in Lake Huron, dubbed the 1996 Lake Huron cyclone. Mainly a nighttime occurrence, Mesoscale convective complexs or MCCs, rather large severe thunderstorms covering wide areas are well known in the Great Lakes during mid-summer, causing damage to wide swaths of forest and shattering glass in city buildings, these systems sometimes have small embedded tornadoes but more often straight line winds accompanied by intense lightning.

Ecology

MODIS Satellite imagery of the Great Lakes on Jan. 5th, 2001 showing ice beginning to build up around the shores of each of the lakes, with snow on the ground.

The Great Lakes are an important source of fishing. Early European settlers were astounded by both the variety and quantity of fish; there were 150 different species in the Great Lakes. Throughout history, fish populations were the early indicator of the condition of the Lakes, and have remained one of the key indicators even in the current era of sophisticated analyses and measuring instruments. According to the bi-national (U.S. and Canadian) resource book, The Great Lakes: An Environmental Atlas and Resource Book, "the largest Great Lakes fish harvests were recorded in 1889 and 1899 at some 67,000 tonnes [147 million pounds]."

By 1801 the New York Legislature found it necessary to pass regulations curtailing obstructions to the natural migrations of Atlantic salmon from Lake Erie into their spawning channels. In the early 19th century, Upper Canada's government found it necessary to introduce similar legislation prohibiting the use of weirs and nets at the mouths of Lake Ontario’s tributaries. Other protective legislation was passed as well, but enforcement remained difficult and often quite spotty.

On both sides of the Canada–United States border, the proliferation of dams and impoundments multiplied, necessitating more regulatory efforts. Concerns by the middle of the 19th century included obstructions in the rivers which prevented salmon and sturgeon from reaching their spawning grounds. The Wisconsin Fisheries Commission noted a reduction of roughly 25% in general fish harvests by 1875. The states have removed dams from rivers where necessary.

Overfishing has been cited as a possible reason for a decrease in population of various whitefish, important because of their culinary desirability and, hence, economic consequence. Moreover, between 1879 and 1899, reported whitefish harvests declined from some 24.3 million pounds (11 million kg) to just over 9 million pounds (4 million kg). The population of giant freshwater mussels was eliminated as the mussels were harvested for use as buttons by early Great Lakes entrepreneurs.

Logging in the Great Lakes region may have removed tree cover near stream channels that provide spawning grounds which can affect shade and temperature-moderating conditions. Removal of tree cover destabilized soil, allowing soil to be carried in greater quantity into the streambeds and even brought about more frequent flooding. Running cut logs down the Lakes’ tributary rivers also stirred bottom sediments. In 1884, the New York Fish Commission determined that the dumping of sawmill waste (chips and sawdust) had impacted fish populations.

The influx of parasitic lamprey populations after the development of the Erie Canal and the much later Welland Canal led to two federal governments attempting to work together. By the mid-1950s the lake trout populations of Lakes Michigan and Huron were reduced, with the lamprey deemed largely to blame. This led to the launch of the bi-national Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

The authoritative but now outdated 1972 book The Great Lakes: An Environmental Atlas and Resource Book noted that "only pockets remain of the once large commercial fishery." In the meanwhile however the great water quality improvements realized during the 1970s and 1980s, combined with successful salmonid stocking programs, have enabled the growth of a large recreational fishery.

Pollution can affect aquatic food chains, fish populations, and human health. Improved management of the Great Lakes ecology began in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1960s, Ohio’s Cuyahoga River (or more precisely a combination of oil, chemicals and trash floating atop it in Cleveland, which created a very flammable brown, oily film) ignited and smoldered, creating international headlines.

The first U.S. Clean Water Act, signed by Pres. Richard Nixon in 1972, was a key piece of legislation, along with the bi-national Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement signed by Canada and the U.S. A variety of steps taken to process industrial and municipal pollution discharges into the system greatly improved water quality by the 1980s, and Lake Erie in particular is significantly cleaner. Discharge of toxic substances has been sharply reduced. Federal and state regulations control substances like PCBs. The first of 43 "Great Lakes Areas of Concern" to be formally "de-listed" due to successful cleanup was Ontario's Collingwood Harbour in 1994; Ontario's Severn Sound followed in 2003. Presque Isle Bay in Pennsylvania is formally listed as in recovery, as is Ontario's Spanish Harbour. Dozens of other Areas of Concern have received partial cleanups such as the Rouge River (Michigan) and Illinois' Waukegan Harbor.

Until 1970, mercury was not listed as a harmful chemical, according to the United States Federal Water Quality Administration. Within the past 10 years mercury has become more apparent in water tests. Mercury compounds have been used in paper mills to prevent slime from forming during their production, and chemical companies have used mercury to separate chlorine from brine solutions. Studies conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency have shown that when the mercury comes in contact with many of the bacteria and compounds in the fresh water, it forms the very toxic, inorganic methyl mercury. This form of mercury is not detrimental to a majority of fish types, but is very detrimental to people and other wildlife animals who consume the fish. Mercury has been known for health related problems such as birth defects in humans and animals, and the near extinction of eagles in the Great Lakes region.

The amount of raw sewage dumped into the waters was the primary focus of the both the first Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and federal laws passed in both countries during the 1970s. Implementation of secondary treatment of municipal sewage by major cities greatly reduced the routine discharge of untreated sewage during the 1970s and 1980s. The International Joint Commission in 2009 summarized the change: "Since the early 1970s, the level of treatment to reduce pollution from wastewater discharges to the Great Lakes has improved considerably. This is a result of significant expenditures to date on both infrastructure and technology, and robust regulatory systems that have proven to be, on the whole, quite effective." The commission reported that all urban sewage treatment systems on the U.S. side of the lakes had implemented secondary treatment, as had all on the Canadian side except for five small systems.

However, those treatment system upgrades have not, contrary to federal laws in both countries, yet eliminated Combined sewer Overflow events. This describes when older sewerage systems, which combine stormwater with sewage into single sewers heading to the treatment plant, are temporarily overwhelmed by heavy rainstorms. Local sewage treatment authorities then must release untreated effluent, a mix of rainwater and sewage, into local water bodies. While enormous public investments such as the Deep Tunnel projects in Chicago and Milwaukee have greatly reduced the frequency and volume of these events, they have not been eliminated. The number of such overflow events in Ontario, for example, is flat according to the International Joint Commission. Reports about this issue on the U.S. side highlight five large municipal systems (those of Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Milwaukee and Gary) as being the largest current periodic sources of untreated discharges into the Great Lakes.

Phosphate detergents were historically a major source of nutrient to the Great Lakes algae blooms in particular in the warmer and shallower portions of the system such as Lake Erie, Saginaw Bay, Green Bay, and the southernmost portion of Lake Michigan. By the mid-1980s, most jurisdictions bordering the Great Lakes had controlled phosphate detergents, resulting in sharp reductions in the frequency and extent of the blooms.

Since the 19th century an estimated 160 new species have found their way into the Great Lakes ecosystem, with ship ballast being a suspected pathway, causing severe economic and ecological impacts. According to the Inland Seas Education Association, on average a new species enters the Great Lakes every eight months.

A zebra mussel-encrusted vector averaging current meter from Lake Michigan.

Introductions into the Great Lakes include the zebra mussel, which was first discovered in 1988, and quagga mussel in 1989. The mollusks are efficient filter feeders, competing with native mussels, and can reduce available food and spawning grounds for fish. In addition, the mussels may be a nuisance to industries by clogging pipes. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that the economic impact of the zebra mussel could be about $5 billion over the next decade.

The alewife first entered the system west of Lake Ontario via 19th-century canals. By the 1960s, the small silver fish had become a familiar nuisance to beachgoers across Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Erie, as periodic mass dieoffs resulted in vast numbers of them washing up on shore; estimates by various governments have placed the percentage of Lake Michigan's biomass, which was made up of alewives in the early 1960s, as high as 90%. The various state and federal governments began stocking several species of salmonids in the late 1960s, including the native lake trout as well as non-native chinook and coho salmon; by the 1980s, alewife populations had dropped drastically. The ruffe, a small percid fish, became the most abundant fish species in Lake Superior's St. Louis River within five years of its detection in 1986. Its range, which has expanded to Lake Huron, poses a significant threat to the lower lake fishery. Five years after first being observed in the St. Clair River, the round goby can now be found in all of the Great Lakes. The goby is considered undesirable for several reasons: it preys upon bottom-feeding fish, overruns optimal habitat, spawns multiple times a season and can survive poor water quality conditions.

Several species of exotic water fleas have accidentally been introduced into the Great Lakes, such as the spiny waterflea, Bythotrephes longimanus, and the fishhook waterflea, Cercopagis pengoi, potentially having an effect on the zooplankton population. Several species of crayfish have also been introduced that may contend with native crayfish populations. More recently an electric fence has been set up across the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in order to keep several species of invasive Asian carps out of the area. These fast-growing planktivorous fish have heavily colonized the Mississippi and Illinois river systems. The sea lamprey wich has been particularly devastating to the native lake trout population, is another example of a marine invasive species in the Great Lakes. It has been suggested that invasive species, particularly zebra and quagga mussels, may be at least partially responsible for the collapse of the deepwater demersal fish community in Lake Huron, as well as drastic unprecedented changes in the zooplankton community of the lake.

History

A woodcut of Le Griffon

The brigantine Le Griffon, which was commissioned by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, was built at Cayuga Creek, near the southern end of the Niagara River, and became the first sailing ship to travel the upper Great Lakes on August 7, 1679.

During settlement, the Great Lakes and its rivers were the only practical means of moving people and freight. Barges from middle North America were able to reach the Atlantic Ocean from the Great Lakes when the Erie Canal opened in 1825. By 1848, with the opening of the Illinois and Michigan Canal at Chicago, direct access to the Mississippi River was possible from the lakes. With these two canals an all-inland water route was provided between New York City and New Orleans.

The main business of many of the passenger lines in the 19th century was transporting immigrants. Many of the larger cities owe their existence to their position on the lakes as a freight destination as well as for being a magnet for immigrants. After railroads and surface roads developed, the freight and passenger businesses dwindled and, except for ferries and a few foreign cruise ships, has now vanished.

The immigration routes still have an effect today. Immigrants often formed their own communities and some areas have a pronounced ethnicity, such as Dutch, German, Polish, Finnish, and many others. Since many immigrants settled for a time in New England before moving westward, many areas on the U.S. side of the Great Lakes also have a New England feel, especially in home styles and accent.

Since general freight these days is transported by railroads and trucks, domestic ships mostly move bulk cargoes, such as iron ore, coal and limestone for the steel industry. The domestic bulk freight developed because of the nearby mines. It was more economical to transport the ingredients for steel to centralized plants rather than try to make steel on the spot. Grain exports are also a major cargo on the lakes.

In the 19th century and early 20th centuries, iron and other ores such as copper were shipped south on (downbound ships), and supplies, food, and coal were shipped north (upbound). Because of the location of the coal fields in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and the general northeast track of the Appalachian Mountains, railroads naturally developed shipping routes that went due north to ports such as Erie, Pennsylvania and Ashtabula, Ohio.

Because the lake maritime community largely developed independently, it has some distinctive vocabulary. Ships, no matter the size, are called boats. When the sailing ships gave way to steamships, they were called steamboats—the same term used on the Mississippi. The ships also have a distinctive design (see Lake freighter). Ships that primarily trade on the lakes are known as lakers. Foreign boats are known as salties.

One of the more common sights on the lakes is the 1,000‑by‑105-foot (305-by-32-meter), 78,850-long-ton (80,120-metric-ton) self-unloader. This is a laker with a conveyor belt system that can unload itself by swinging a crane over the side. Today, the Great Lakes fleet is much smaller in numbers than it once was because of the increased use of overland freight, and a few larger ships replacing many small ones.

Economy

The Great Lakes are today used as a major mode of transport for bulk goods. In 2002, 162 million net tons of dry bulk cargo were moved on the Lakes. This was, in order of volume: iron ore, grain and potash. The iron ore and much of the stone and coal are used in the steel industry. There is also some shipping of liquid and containerized cargo but most container ships cannot pass the locks on the Saint Lawrence Seaway because the ships are too wide. The total amount of shipping on the lakes has been on a downward trend for several years.

The Great Lakes are used to supply drinking water to tens of millions of people in bordering areas. This valuable resource is collectively administered by the state and provincial governments adjacent to the lakes.

Recreational boating and tourism are major industries on the Great Lakes. A few small cruise ships operate on the Great Lakes including a couple of sailing ships. Sport fishing, commercial fishing, and Native American fishing represent a U.S.$4 billion a year industry with salmon, whitefish, smelt, lake trout and walleye being major catches. In addition, all kinds of water sports can be found on the lakes. Unusually for inland waters, the Great Lakes provide the possibility of lake surfing, particularly in winter due to the effect of strong storms and waves.

Great Lakes Circle Tour

The Great Lakes Circle Tour is a designated scenic road system connecting all of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.

Great Lakes passenger steamers

Main article: Great Lakes passenger steamers

From 1844 through 1857, palace steamers carried passengers and cargo around the Great Lakes. Throughout the 20th century, large luxurious passenger steamers sailed from Chicago all the way to Detroit and Cleveland. These were primarily operated by the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company. Several ferries currently operate on the Great Lakes to carry passengers to various islands, including Isle Royale, Pelee Island, Mackinac Island, Beaver Island, Bois Blanc Island (Ontario), Bois Blanc Island (Michigan), Kelleys Island, South Bass Island, North Manitou Island, South Manitou Island, Harsens Island, Manitoulin Island, and the Toronto Islands. As of 2007, three car ferry services cross the Great Lakes, two on Lake Michigan: a steamer from Ludington, Michigan, to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and a high speed catamaran from Milwaukee to Muskegon, Michigan, and one on Lake Erie: a boat from Kingsville, Ontario, or Leamington, Ontario, to Pelee Island, Ontario, then onto Sandusky, Ohio. An international ferry across Lake Ontario from Rochester, New York, to Toronto ran during 2004 and 2005, but is no longer in operation.

Some passenger steamers

Ship's name	Year built	Nationality		Ship's name	Year built	Nationality		Ship's name	Year built	Nationality
Niagara	1856	United States		SS Christopher Columbus	1892	United States		SS Eastland	1902	United States
Milwaukee Clipper	1904	United States		SS Keewatin	1907	Canadian		Comet	1857	United States

Shipwrecks

The large size of the Great Lakes increases the risk of water travel; storms and reefs are common threats. The lakes are prone to sudden and severe storms, in particular in the autumn, from late October until early December. Hundreds of ships have met their end on the lakes. The greatest concentration of shipwrecks lies near Thunder Bay (Michigan), beneath Lake Huron, near the point where eastbound and westbound shipping lanes converge.

The Lake Superior shipwreck coast from Grand Marais, Michigan, to Whitefish Point became known as the "Graveyard of the Great Lakes". More vessels have been lost in the Whitefish Point area than any other part of Lake Superior. The Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve serves as an underwater museum to protect the many shipwrecks in this area.

The first shipwreck was Le Griffon, the first ship to sail the Great Lakes. Caught in a storm while trading furs between Green Bay and Michilimacinac, it sank during a storm and has possibly been found. The last major freighter wrecked on the lakes was the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which sank on November 10, 1975, just over 17 miles (30 km) offshore from Whitefish Point. The largest loss of life in a shipwreck out on the lakes may have been that of the Lady Elgin, wrecked in 1860 with the loss of around 400 lives. In an incident at a Chicago dock in 1915, the SS Eastland rolled over while loading passengers, killing 841.

In August 2007, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society announced that it had found the wreckage of Cyprus, a 420-foot (130 m) long, century-old ore carrier. Cyprus sank during a Lake Superior storm on October 11, 1907, during its second voyage while hauling iron ore from Superior, Wisconsin, to Buffalo, New York. The entire crew of 23 drowned, except one, a man named Charles Pitz, who floated on a life raft for almost seven hours.

In June 2008, deep sea divers in Lake Ontario found the wreck of the 1780 Royal Navy warship HMS Ontario in what has been described as an "archaeological miracle". There are no plans to raise her as the site is being treated as a war grave.

In June 2010, the L.R. Doty was found in Lake Michigan by an exploration diving team led by Dive Boat Captain Jitka Hanakova from her boat the Molly V. The ship sank in October 1898, probably attempting to rescue a small schooner, the Olive Jeanette, during a terrible storm. There are no plans to raise the ship as it would quickly deteriorate in open air.

Still missing are the two last warships to sink in the Great Lakes, the French minesweepers, Inkerman and Cerisoles, which vanished in Lake Superior during a blizzard in 1918. 78 lives were lost making it the largest loss of life in Lake Superior and the greatest unexplained loss of life in the Great Lakes.

Related articles

• Category:Shipwrecks in the Great Lakes
• List of Great Lakes shipwrecks
• Great Storms of the North American Great Lakes
• Great Lakes Storm of 1913
• Mataafa Storm of 1905
• Michigan Underwater Preserves
• Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary

Legislation

The International Joint Commission was established in 1909 to help prevent and resolve disputes relating to the use and quality of boundary waters, and to advise Canada and the United States on questions related to water resources. Concerns over diversion of Lake water are of concern to both Americans and Canadians. Some water is diverted through the Chicago River to operate the Illinois Waterway but the flow is limited by treaty. Possible schemes for bottled water plants and diversion to dry regions of the continent raise concerns. Under the U.S. "Water Resources Development Act", diversion of water from the Great Lakes Basin requires the approval of all eight Great Lakes governors through the Great Lakes Commission, which rarely occurs. International treaties regulate large diversions. In 1998, the Canadian company Nova Group won approval from the Province of Ontario to withdraw 158,000,000 U.S. gallons (600,000 m³) of Lake Superior water annually to ship by tanker to Asian countries. Public outcry forced the company to abandon the plan before it began. Since that time, the eight Great Lakes Governors and the Premiers of Ontario and Quebec have negotiated the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact that would prevent most future diversion proposals and all long-distance ones. The agreements strengthen protection against abusive water withdrawal practices within the Great Lakes basin. On December 13, 2005, the Governors and Premiers signed these two agreements, the first of which is between all ten jurisdictions. It is somewhat more detailed and protective, though its legal strength has not yet been tested in court. The second, the Great Lakes Compact, has been approved by the state legislatures of all eight states that border the Great Lakes as well as the U.S. Congress, and was signed into law by President George W. Bush on 3 October 2008.

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, described as "the largest investment in the Great Lakes in two decades," was funded at $475 million in the U.S. federal government's Fiscal Year 2011 budget, and $300 million in the Fiscal Year 2012 budget. Through the program a coalition of federal agencies is making grants to local and state entities for toxics cleanups, wetlands and coastline restoration projects, and invasive species-related projects.

Coast Guard live fire exercises

In 2006, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) proposed a plan to designate 34 areas in the Great Lakes, at least five miles (8 km) offshore, as permanent safety zones for live fire machine gun practice. In August 2006, the plan was published in the Federal Register. The USCG reserved the right to hold target practice whenever the weather allowed with a two-hour notice. These firing ranges would be open to the public when not in use. In response to requests from the public, the Coast Guard held a series of public meetings in nine U.S. cities to solicit comment. During these meetings many people voiced concerns about the plan and its impact on the environment. On December 18, 2006, the Coast Guard announced its decision to withdraw the entire proposal. Officials said they would look into alternative ammunition, modifying the proposed zones and have more public dialogue before proposing a new plan.

See also

• Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909
• Eastern Continental Divide
• Great Lakes census statistical areas
• Great Lakes Megalopolis
• Great Lakes WATER Institute‎
• Great Recycling and Northern Development Canal

• List of cities on the Great Lakes
• List of municipalities on the Great Lakes
• Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge
• Muskellunge
• Northern pike
• Populated islands of the Great Lakes

• Seiche
• Snowbelt
• Sixty Years' War for control of the Great Lakes
• Valparaiso Moraine

Further reading

• Grady, Wayne (2007). The Great Lakes: the natural history of a changing region. David Suzuki Foundation. ISBN 978-1-55365-197-0. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Anin, Peter. (2006) The Great Lakes Water Wars Island Press ISBN 1-55963-087-6
• Beltran, R. et al. The Great Lakes: An Environmental Atlas and Resource Book. (United States Environmental Protection Agency and Government of Canada, 1995, ISBN 0-662-23441-3).
• Coon, W.F. and R.A. Sheets. Estimate of Ground Water in Storage in the Great Lakes Basin [Scientific Investigations Report 2006-5180]. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, 2006.

External links

• Official Environment Canada website: Great Lakes
• U.S. Dept. of Commerce – NOAA – Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
• Official United States Environmental Protection Agency website: Great Lakes
• Alliance For The Great Lakes
• Great Lakes Coast Watch
• Great Lakes Commission
• Great Lakes Information Network
• Internation Joint Commission – Canada and United States
• International Association for Great Lakes Research
• Great Lakes Dive Sites – An overview of diving in the Great Lakes
• Great Lakes Echo, a Michigan State University news service that covers Great Lakes environmental issues.
• Maritime History of the Great Lakes, digital library covering Great Lakes history.
• Contaminant-related effects observed in Herring Gulls and other fish-eating waterbirds inhabiting the Great Lakes.