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| Will Fleckenstein posted |
The numbers are a little different, but in the same ballpark.
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| Mike Stonex shared a Matt Saganda share of a Matt Saganda post |
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| Mark Sprang posted It may not be terribly easy to read the small print, but this 1951 map of ore flows from the Lake Superior Iron Ore Association gives you a great overview of where things were going, both for the Great Lakes and New England. A nicely-colored, easy to understand map. https://bit.ly/3n0qfdN [1951 is before Bethlehem built Burns Harbor.] |
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| Clare Gilbert posted Gives us a little perspective on the size of the Great Lakes. |
WDIO posted two photos with the comment: "Remember this? 5 years ago today, Lake Superior's ice cover was 94%!"
David Schauer shared with the comment: "A big difference 5 years ago."
Mark Brown: The ice coverage of 5 years ago was almost as rare as today’s lack of coverage. I can only recall twice when it completely froze over. It froze completely over when I was a junior back in ‘73 and once in the mid ‘90s.
It has come close a bunch of times.
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LAKE ERIE TOP TEN:10.) The deepest point in Lake Erie is 210 ft deep, which is 115 feet higher in elevation than the surface of Lake Ontario.9.) The Lake Erie Marsh Region is globally important for millions of migratory birds to feed and rest during their long-distance migrations.8.) The Welland Canal with a series of eight locks descends 326 feet and connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario.7.) The Port of Cleveland generated over $350 million, and over 15 million tons of cargo in a recent year.6.) Lake Erie is surrounded by 871 miles shoreline (241 miles east to west, 57 miles north to south)5.) 90% of water in Lake Erie is from the upper Great Lakes via Detroit River.4.) Lake Erie is the fourth-largest lake (by surface area) of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the eleventh-largest globally.3.) Lake Erie is named for the Erielhonan people who lived along its southern shore.2.) Put-in-Bay...................1.) While Lake Erie only accounts for 2% of the total volume of water, it's fish population accounts for an estimated 50% of all fish inhabiting the Great Lakes!BONUS: Lake Erie has more shipwrecks than the Bermuda Triangle! And even more amazing, the majority of those wrecks are in the Western Basin between the Lake Erie Islands and Toledo. It was estimated by an Ohio Sea Grant that the Western Basin of Lake Erie has the greatest density of shipwrecks on earth!
Russ Taylor: I’ll add to it. The Great Lakes hold 20% of the world’s fresh water. There are more shipwrecks on the bottom of Lake Erie than any other of the lakes.
Matt Zytkowicz - Century 21 Transcendent Realty: Russ Taylor Actually more in Lake Erie than even the Bermuda Triangle. And the majority of those are in the Western Basin which is really crazy. It's a tiny area.
Sue Kuhn McGrain: Any theories as to why there are so many shipwrecks in that area?
Matt Zytkowicz - Century 21 Transcendent Realty: Sue Kuhn McGrain It's very shallow so when storms whip up it creates high steep irregular waves that are very dangerous. There's also a current from the Detroit and Maumee rivers that cuts the bottom out of windblown waves during Nor'easters. On top of all that the western basin is littered with rocky shoals.
Linda Chamberlain sharedKristine Schneider posted the comment:
Things You Probably Never Knew About The Great Lakes.....
1. Lake Superior is actually not a lake at all, but an inland sea .
2. All of the four other Great Lakes, plus 2 more the size of Lake Erie, would fit inside of Lake Superior.
3. Isle Royale is a massive island surrounded by Lake Superior. Within this island are several smaller lakes. Yes, that’s a lake on a lake.
4. Despite its massive size, Lake Superior is an extremely young formation by Earth’s standards (only 10,000 years old).
5. There is enough water in Lake Superior to submerge all of North and South America in 1 foot of water.
6. Lake Superior contains 3 quadrillion gallons of water (3,000,000,000,000,000). All five of the Great Lakes combined contain 6 quadrillion gallons.
7. Contained within Lake Superior is a whopping 10% of the world’s fresh surface water.
8. It’s estimated there are about 100 million lake trout in Lake Superior. That’s nearly one-fifth of the human population of North America!
9. There are small outlets through which water leaves Lake Superior. It takes two centuries for all the water in the lake to replace itself.
10. Lake Erie is the fourth-largest Great Lake in surface area, and the smallest in depth. It’s the 11th largest lake on the planet.
11. There is alleged to be a 30- to 40-foot-long “monster” in Lake Erie named Bessie. The earliest recorded sighting goes back as early as 1793.
12. Water in Lake Erie replaces itself in only 2.6 years, which is notable considering the water in Lake Superior takes two centuries.
13. The original publication of Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax contained the line, “I hear things are just as bad up in Lake Erie.”
Fourteen years later, the Ohio Sea Grant Program wrote to Seuss to make the case that conditions had improved. He removed the line.
14. Not only is lake Erie the smallest Great Lake when it comes to volume, but it’s surrounded by the most industry.
Seventeen metropolitan areas, each with populations of more than 50,000, border the Lake Erie basin.
15. During the War of 1812, the U.S. beat the British in a naval battle called
the Battle of Lake Erie, forcing them to abandon Detroit.
16. The shoreline of all the Great Lakes combined equals nearly 44% of the circumference of the planet.
17. If not for the the Straits of Mackinac, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron might be considered one lake.
Hydrologically speaking, they have the same mean water level and are considered one lake.
18. The Keystone State was one of the largest and most luxurious wooden steamships running during the Civil War.
In 1861, it disappeared. In 2013, it was found 30 miles northeast of Harrisville under 175 feet of water.
19. Goderich Mine is the largest salt mine in the world. Part of it runs underneath Lake Huron, more than 500 meters underground.
20. Below Lake Huron, there are 9,000-year-old animal-herding structures used by prehistoric people from when the water levels were significantly lower.
21. There are massive sinkholes in Lake Huron that have high amounts of sulfur and low amounts of oxygen, almost replicating the conditions of Earth’s ancient oceans 3 million years ago. Unique ecosystems are contained within them.
22. Lake Huron is the second largest among the Great Lakes, and the fifth largest in the world.
23. In size, Lake Michigan ranks third among the Great Lakes, and sixth among all freshwater lakes in the world.
24. Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake that is entirely within the borders of the United States.
25. The largest fresh water sand dunes in the world line the shores of Lake Michigan.
26. Because water enters and exits Lake Michigan through the same path, it takes 77 years longer for the water to replace itself than in Huron, despite their similarity in size and depth. (Lake Michigan: 99 years, Lake Huron: 22 years)
27. When the temperature of Lake Michigan is below freezing, this happens.
28. Within Lake Michigan there is a “triangle” with a similar reputation to the Bermuda Triangle, where a large amount of “strange disappearances” have occurred. There have also been alleged UFO sightings.
29. Singapore, Mich., is a ghost town on the shores of Lake Michigan that was buried under sand in 1871. Because of severe weather conditions and a lack of resources due to the need to rebuild after the great Chicago fire, the town was lost completely.
30. In the mid-19th century, Lake Michigan had a pirate problem. Their booty: timber. In fact, the demise of Singapore is due in large part to the rapidly deforested area surrounding the town.
31. Jim Dreyer swam across Lake Michigan in 1998 (65 miles), and then in 2003, he swam the length of Lake Michigan (422 miles).
32. Lake Michigan was the location of the first recorded “Big Great Lakes disaster,” in which a steamer carrying 600 people collided with a schooner delivering timber to Chicago. Four hundred and fifty people died.
33. Lake Ontario is the smallest of the Great Lakes in surface area, and second smallest in depth. It’s the 14th largest lake on the planet.
34. The province Ontario was named after the lake, and not vice versa.
35. In 1804, a Canadian warship, His Majesty’s Ship Speedy, sank in Lake Ontario. In 1990, wreck hunter Ed Burtt managed to find it.
Only, he isn’t allowed to recover any artifacts until a government-approved site to exhibit them is found. He’s still waiting.
36. Babe Ruth hit his first major league home run at Hanlan’s Point Stadium in Toronto. It landed in Lake Ontario and is believed to still be there.
37. A lake on Saturn’s moon Titan is named after Lake Ontario.
[Some comments argue if the measure of the size of a lake is its surface area or its volume of water. Another discussion concerns the difference between an inland sea and a lake.]
Roger Allen: I would like to add this small, and little-known fact: learned from the journals and other writings of the very earliest explorers of this great waterway, including the earliest French, and British trappers, as well as the first cartographer of this heretofore unknown landmass that stood between them and the shores of the "South Seas", they had no idea that what they perceived as a "small river" that flowed into the ""Great Lake," was eventually discovered to be what we now know to be "The Great Mississippi", given the name at first of the "Misissiquoi" (pardon my spelling, for I'm on my phone), which later explorers traveled all the way from the Gulf to the Lake!!
Charlie Hinson: So why do you say Superior is a sea rather than a lake?
David May: Charlie Hinson actual, it is and it isn’t, and the same applies to all of the Great Lakes. The article is interesting: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/great-lakes-inland-seas
Katrina Rose posted the same list.
[The claim about an "inland sea" caused a lot of argument in the comments.]
Jim Adams: I was initially confused by all the other lakes being able to fit into Lake Superior because it just didn’t pass the eye test. Learning it was because of the depth of Superior then made sense. Very interesting. [That is, the comparison is in terms of volume not surface area. That clarification helped also.]
Lorain Port and Finance Authority posted two images with the comment:
Here's an interesting guide that shows how the "Big Boats" can get into serious trouble when waves on the Great Lakes get angry. This is because the distance between waves is much shorter in the Great Lakes than out in the ocean.It's estimated that over 6,000 ships and 30,000 lives have been lost in the Great Lakes.
Lorain Port and Finance Authority shared
Malcolm Staton: yep, 40 foot waves with a full load of taconite makes for a tragic ending. Especially in November when companies want to "get that last load out" before shipping season shuts for winter.
Aaron Joseph Rosenbaum: And, Lake Erie, being the shallowest, is the most unpredictable.
Sarah Stilgenbauer: This is really interesting, thanks for sharing.
Our short wave intervals are part of what makes great lake surfing spicy, so it makes sense that they can do enormous damage to these ships.
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| Comments on the above share |
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| Dave Gunderson posted https://ia800207.us.archive.org/11/items/cu31924092558588/cu31924092558588.pdf [The report has a 1909 date. This map is on page pdf page 187.] |
At the interesting turn of the century, there were a lot of big, wood grain elevators on the Chicago River. And this is long before the Seaway was built, so Buffalo and the Erie Canal were still very important.
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| Report, p213 |
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| Report, p223 |
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| Report, p231 |
May 16, 2024: A half-billion dollars ANNUALLY is being considered to cleanup the Great Lakes.
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| CivilGEO Inc. Software posted New legislation for Great Lakes cleanup advances to Senate floor It now goes in front of the full chamber to vote on legislation that could provide up to $500 million annually to clean up toxic pollution, prevent farm and urban runoff, restore habitat and confront invasive species in the Great Lakes. [This post is why I added the "asian carp" label to these notes. I wonder if they plan on doing something more about the Zebra Mussels, Sea Lampreys, etc. See Invasive Species for more information.] |
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