Detroit River
The Detroit River in winter
Detroit River steamers. View of Detroit on the Canadian shore
The Detroit River (in French Rivière Détroit ) is a system for the Great Lakes belonging river in North America.
Along with the St. Clair River and Lake St. Clair is the Detroit River drainage of Lake Huron into Lake Erie. Since the construction of the St. Lawrence seaway he is a part of the shipping route between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.
The Detroit River forms over its entire length, the border between Canada ( Ontario) and the United States ( Michigan). Its name comes from the French Rivière du Détroit, with the word " Détroit " originally referred to a strait.
Geography
The approximately 44 -km-long Detroit River begins at the Windmill Pointe Lighthouse on the island shared by the Iceland Peach / Peche Iceland outflow of Lake St. Clair and ends at Bar Point at its mouth in Lake Erie. The waterway begins, however, already at Windmill Point Light and ends on the Detroit River Light and thus has a length of 51 km. The waterway is designed for large ships to at least 8.23 m (27 ft) depth dredged, even across the Lake St. Clair and the western end of Lake Erie shipping is bound to fairways.
The width between 600 m and 4 km River exits Lake St. Clair initially in a westerly direction, then describes a wide berth to a large extent in a straight line to the south flow into its second half in Lake Erie. The Detroit River has. Between its beginning at an altitude of 175 m above sea level and its end a slope of one meter and a small, largely constant flow
At its north shore is Detroit ( Michigan), opposite him Windsor ( Ontario). The two cities are connected by the Ambassador Bridge, the Detroit - Windsor Tunnel and Michigan Central Railway through the tunnel - the only cross-connections across the river. There are also the only border crossing where you have to drive north to get from Canada to the U.S. though (Fort Erie, Ontario is partly in the south part of the American Niagara County, but the Peace Bridge over the border to the USA is located in east-west direction ).
History
During Prohibition in the United States ( satisfactory yield in winter) river played a large role in the smuggling of alcohol in the United States.
Environment
The land on both sides of the river is occupied mostly by villages, commercial and industrial. For decades, their sewage ran in the Detroit River and continues into Lake Erie, so that the river and the lake waters were regarded as dead. However, great efforts have been made to eliminate pollution and to restore the river and its banks in recent years.