Edit. 3. The lake really doesn't give up its dead easily because the water is so cold that bacterial action is inhibited. [50], As for other Great Lakes fish, populations have also been affected by the accidental or intentional introduction of foreign species such as the sea lamprey and Eurasian ruffe. Ice covers rocks on Lake Superior. A person adrift without a life raft stands little chance of survival. Notable production includes gold from the Hemlo mine near Marathon, copper from the Keweenaw Peninsula and the Mamainse Point Formation, iron from the Gogebic Range, silver at Silver Islet, and uranium at Theano Point. The Windigo is a vengeful spirit in myth up in the U.P. Id like to have a runaway monk go missing so dont take my idea! (Thanks to John B. The lake's outlet at St. Marys River has a relatively steep gradient with rapids. Lake Superior is, by surface area, the largest lake in the world. Sled Dogs The Lake Superior area is well worthy of interest to novelists! And Superior has been pounded by three 500-year to one 1,000-year storm events in the past eight years. Minnesota The average water temperature is 40 F (4.4 C) lower than the other Great Lakes, which are farther south. "At the beginning of October, Lake Superior is (1.6 inches) below the long-term average water level (1918 - 2020) and (12.2 inches) below the level of a year ago," according to a new release . The dense basaltsofLake Superior acted like a wall or brake for theglaciers 18,000 years ago, which is why there is adriftless area in Wisconsin today. Daniel Greysolon, sieur (lord) DuLhut (or Du Luth), opened the lake to active trading in 1679. The late 1800s was a busy period for Great Lakes commerce. It takes almost 200 years for the lake to refill with new water, according to the University of Wisconsin. You can buy the delicious meat pie just about everywhere. Lake Superior's size reduces the severity of the seasons of its humid continental climate (more typically seen in locations like Nova Scotia). NY 10036. The first steamboat to run on the lake was the Independence in 1847, whereas the first steamers on the other Great Lakes began sailing in 1816. The first people came to the Lake Superior region 10,000 years ago after the retreat of the glaciers in the Last Glacial Period. One of my favorite towns is Houghton/Hancock. Overall, the Great Lakes reached a 91 percent ice cover that year, which is the most the lakes have frozen since 1979. 1. Because of its large size (relative to watershed area) and the porous "dam" at its outlet, long-term lake-level fluctuations are much lower than in any of the other Great Lakesgenerally less than 1 yard (1 metre). One of the most well-known incidents occurred on November 10, 1975, when the Edmund Fitzgerald, a large cargo ship carrying iron ore, encountered a severe storm that killed the ship's 29 crew members. They used bows and arrows, paddled dugout canoes, fished, hunted, mined copper for tools and weapons, and established trading networks. Ontario It has a maximum length of 350 miles (563 km) and maximum breadth of 160 miles (257 km). There are so many fascinating things about Lake Superior that fuel the imagination. Exact dates for the shipping season vary each year,[42] depending on weather conditions that form and break the ice. My first Rock Harbor novel had a widow and her search dog trying to find the remains of the small plane that went down with her son and husband. In the winter of 1926 Lake Superior reached its lowest recorded level at 1.58 feet (0.48m) below datum. An official website of the United States government. They are believed to be the direct ancestors of the Ojibwe and Cree. The people of the Terminal Woodland period were evident in the area from AD 900 to 1650. Weather extremes fueled by. [35] The lake lies in this long-extinct Mesoproterozoic rift valley, the Midcontinent Rift. Its a powerful, tragic story, Gandulla said. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/place/Lake-Superior-lake-North-America, World Lake Database - Lake Superior, North America, The Canadian Encyclopedia - Lake Superior, Lakepedia - Lake Superior: The Largest Freshwater Lake in the World, Lake Superior - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Lake Superior - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Clear water laps the shore at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. JavaScript appears to be disabled on this computer. There is enough water in Lake Superior to cover all of North and South America with water one foot deep. Lewisville Lake is located 15 minutes north . mi. Divers understand the risks involved in diving at such extreme depths, but accidents can happen. When I was writing Haven of Swans, I stumbled across an article about how the mute swans were taking over the habitat of the native trumpeter swans. Even for the Thunder Bay area, a perilous swath of northern Lake Huron off the Michigan coast that has devoured many a ship, the Irontons fate seems particularly cruel. Since 2000, 156 people have died on state lakes. The vessel is largely intact, Gray said. Over 10,000 lives have been lost in her waters. A pasture in Ashland, Wisconsin. Today, tourism is another significant industry: the sparsely populated Lake Superior country, with its rugged shorelines and wilderness, attracts vacationers and adventurers. BRASILIA, Brazil The death toll from an accident in which a slab of cliff rock toppled onto pleasure boaters on a Brazilian lake has risen to 10, police said Sunday. Lake Superior Contains Three Quadrillion Gallons of Water We were easily able to confirm that this claim is indeed true. Lightfoot sings that "Superior, they said, never gives up her dead". At the mouth of the Michipicoten River, nine layers of encampments have been discovered. The deaths of four members of a Wisconsin family who died after their kayak capsized off the Apostle Islands was a harsh reminder of the hazards of paddling the unpredictable waters of Lake Superior. Ojibwa natives called Lake Superior Gitche Gumee which means Big Sea Water. The lake's average surface elevation is 600 feet (183m)[8][19] above sea level. The gravesite long eluded shipwreck hunters. After the arrival of Europeans, the Anishinaabe made themselves middle-men between the French fur traders and other Native peoples. Strong winds and high waves contributed to the deaths of two kayakers at Lake Superior following a two-day search, officials said. These items include lake glass, old lumber, pull tabs from beer and pop cans, and coal used in old factories. Marie, Michigan, and Sault Ste. In the late 1800s a small gold rush took place on its southern shore in Michigan. Lake Superior contains 10% of the planet'sfresh surface water. Marie. Lake Superior boasts extremely clear water, with an average underwater visibility of 27 feet (8.2 m). Now, the mystery has been solved, officials withThunder Bay National Marine Sanctuaryin Alpena, Michigan, said Wednesday. The lakes drainage basin is 49,300 square miles (127,700 square km), exclusive of its surface area of 31,700 square miles (82,100 square km). SS Edmund Fitzgerald, 1975. When launched on June 8, 1958, the Fitzgerald was the largest ship on North America's Great Lakes, and is the largest ship to have sunk there. This warm season fog occurs when when moisture in the warm air condenses as it flows over the cold lake. Largest of the Great Lakes of North America, largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area, International Lake Superior Board of Control, Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, Great Storms of the North American Great Lakes, List of shipwrecks of western Lake Superior, Great Recycling and Northern Development Canal, "Global Land One-Kilometer Base Elevation (GLOBE) v.1", "Tunnel Valleys, Glacial Surges, and Subglacial Hydrology of the Superior Lobe, Minnesota", "Great Lakes: Basic Information: Physical Facts", Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, "Superior Pursuit: Facts About the Greatest Great Lake", "Global Warming Is Shrinking the Great Lakes", "Lake Superior Warming Faster than Surrounding Climate", "Extensive Great Lakes Ice Coverage to Limit Severe Weather, Pose Challenges to Shipping Industry", "After Achieving 95 Percent Coverage, Lake Superior's Ice Breaking Up", "Environmental Climatology of Lake Superior", "NOAA Technical Memorandum ERL GLERL-29: Evaporation from Lake Superior", Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, "Ontario Amethyst: Ontario's Mineral Emblem", "Century-Old Shipwreck Discovered: Ore Carrier Went Down in Lake Superior on Its Second Voyage", "Increasing Stoichiometric Imbalance in North America's Largest Lake: Nitrification in Lake Superior", "Great Lakes Sensitivity to Climatic Forcing: Hydrological Models", "Rockin' the Rift, The Billion-Year-Old Split that Made Us", Lake Superior NOAA nautical chart #14961 online, Parks Canada - Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area, Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers, Great Lakes Basin Soil Erosion and Sediment Control Program, Great LakesSaint Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lake_Superior&oldid=1138275251, Articles with incomplete citations from February 2020, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles using infobox body of water without alt, Articles using infobox body of water without alt bathymetry, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, 1,729mi (2,783km) plus 997mi (1,605km) for islands, This page was last edited on 8 February 2023, at 21:08. Though presently isolated, prehistorically the Caspian has been repeatedly connected to and then isolated from the Mediterranean via the Black Sea. Lake Superior Circle Tour Konnie LeMay The average depth is 483 ft (147 m), and the max depth is 1,333 ft (406 m). 1334 Hotel Reviews. The lyrics of The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald grabbed hold of my imagination in my twenties and never let go. Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area[a] and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh water. As with many lakes, Lake Superior is home to many species of birds, including varieties of hawks, loons, owls and woodpeckers. (Though Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and deeper than Lake Superior, Crater Lake's elevation is higher and consequently its deepest point is 4,229 feet (1,289m) above sea level. Pierre Espirit Radisson and Mdard Chouart des Groseilliers gathered a valuable cargo of furs during their extensive travels on the lake (165960). Michigan Tech brings culture and interest to the town as well. Among the scenic places on the lake are Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Brockway Mountain Drive on the Keweenaw Peninsula, Isle Royale National Park, Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, Pukaskwa National Park, Lake Superior Provincial Park, Grand Island National Recreation Area, Sleeping Giant (Ontario) and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. - Concrete Contractors of Raleigh, N.C. Frank Sanders | Is a Maritime Career Waiting for You? That story turned my whole novel around. On the fateful night, the Ironton and another schooner barge, the Moonlight, were being towed northward from the Lake Erie town of Ashtabula, Ohio, by a steam-powered ship a common practice then, much as a train engine pulls freight cars on a railroad. The Associated Press obtained details of the discovery ahead of the announcement. 2. 20 incredible facts about the mighty Lake Superior. Lab-grown minibrains will be used as 'biological hardware' to create new biocomputers, scientists propose, Ancient Roman 'spike defenses' made famous by Julius Caesar found in Germany, 'Building blocks of life' recovered from asteroid Ryugu are older than the solar system itself, New Moai statue that 'deified ancestors' found on Easter Island, The ultimate action-packed science and technology magazine bursting with exciting information about the universe, Subscribe today and save an extra 5% with checkout code 'LOVE5', Engaging articles, amazing illustrations & exclusive interviews, Issues delivered straight to your door or device. We've received your submission. Lake Superior has been an important link in the Great Lakes Waterway, providing a route for the transportation of iron ore as well as grain and other mined and manufactured materials. In the winter there are ice volcanoes that look like an ordinary hill of snow, but inside is a hardened cone that erupts with a mixture of ice, water, and sleet. In the summer, the sun sets more than 35 minutes later on the western shore of Lake Superior than at its southeastern edge. Duluth-Superior, at the western end of Lake Superior, is the most inland point on the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the most inland port in the world. depth (ft) To depth map To fishing map Go back