St. Marys River (Michigan–Ontario)

View of the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge, the Canadian shore on the left

Rapids on the Saint Marys River

Saint Marys River in winter

The Saint Marys River ( U.S. name) ( official name in Canada: English St. Marys River; French Rivière Ste -Marie ) is a river, over its entire length, the border between the U.S. state of Michigan and the lying to the south of Canada Ontario provincial forms.

History and Geography

The Saint Marys River forms the outlet of Lake Superior, the largest of the five Great Lakes of North America. The river leaves the lake at the end of Whitefish Bay and flowing about 120 km south-east to Lake Huron at a gradient of nearly 8 m.

At the outflow of Lake Superior are rapids ( in French as Sault Sainte Marie called ) on the Saint Marys River. Further downstream in the Twin Cities Sault Ste. Marie ( Ontario) and Sault Ste. Marie ( Michigan) are the locks of the Soo Locks.

Larger tributaries of the Saint Marys River on the Ontario side are of the Garden River and the River Bar. More Canadian tributaries are: Fort Creek, Root River, Little Carp River, Big Carp River, Lower Echo River, Desbarats River and the Two Tree River. U.S. tributaries are: Gogomain River, Munuscong River, Little River Munuscong, Waishkey River and the Charlotte River.

Drummond Iceland, St. Joseph Iceland, Whitefish Iceland, Iceland Sugar and Neebish Iceland: In the river following islands lie.

History

Before the Europeans the Saint Marys River reached, the indigenous people used the river for fishing and trading activity. The French explorer Étienne Brûlé was the first European to about 1621, the rapids explored. 1641 followed him the Jesuit priest Isaac Jogues and Charles Raymbault and met the Ojibway. The rapids they gave the name of Sault Ste. Marie ( sault in Old French means " rapids ").

Fort St. Joseph was founded in 1796 on the Canadian side of the river to protect the trading post and to guarantee the British influence in the region. The fort fulfilled this task during the British -American War in 1812.

The first modern lock, known as American Lock, was established in May 1855 by Erastus Corning 's St. Mary 's Falls Ship Canal Company completed. Today there are four parallel locks on the U.S. side of the river, only two of which are, however, in constant operation. The lock system Soo Locks was part of the Great Lakes Waterway system in 1959.

Competitive pressure meant that in 1895, on the Canadian side of the lock, the Canadian Lock at Sault Ste. Marie Canal, was built. This is currently only used by pleasure craft.

Bridges

The Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge, a truss arch bridge that forwards the traffic over the river. To the west leads the Sault Ste. Marie International Railroad Bridge, a single-track railroad bridge over the Saint Marys River.