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We are getting some of that here too
How "great" are The Great Lakes?
- Thread starter Craigerrr
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Wow wow wow pretty cool all the great lakes sure are great pretty amazing photos from an outsider.
Yeah I just woke up to one inch of snow in the grass! None on pavement, it all melted on roads and sidewalks. But a little odd, I mean since spring was already sprung to some extent. I heard they can expect even more, like 3 inches or so, down in Indiana. Weird.
As for lake-effect snow.... I lived in Houghton, MI for 4 years while attending Michigan Tech. They are just off Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula and known for crazy lake-effect snow, almost as bad as Oswego, NY which I have also visited in winter. Anyway, I love telling the story of how my car was 100% buried for 3 months, after multiple blizzards, and only when I decided it was time to go home to visit parents for Easter did I dig it out, and it took me 3 whole days to dig a path out of there. My back was SORE! I was living in a big house with 5 others and we did have a very long driveway. But yeah, even with a so-called "yooper scooper" to dig out, took me 3 days, as the walls of snow all around the car were literally about 4.5-5 feet high. Fun times.
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Small world! My wife spent a year at Michigan Tech too.
I remember visiting in the winter ('99/'00), and yeah, things like sidewalks and road signs(!) didn't exist, because they were buried under the snow.
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Lake Ontario is the smallest of all the Great Lakes, and the 13th largest lake in the world
In the Huron language, the name Ontarí'io means "great lake"
Surface area 7,340 sq mi (18,960 sq km)
Shore length 634mi
Average depth 283ft (86m)
Max depth 802ft (244m)
The last time Lake Ontario froze over was 1934
As of 2012 nearly 50 people have successfully swum across the lake.
Marilyn Bell was the first in 1954, she was 16 at the time.
In the Huron language, the name Ontarí'io means "great lake"
Surface area 7,340 sq mi (18,960 sq km)
Shore length 634mi
Average depth 283ft (86m)
Max depth 802ft (244m)
The last time Lake Ontario froze over was 1934
As of 2012 nearly 50 people have successfully swum across the lake.
Marilyn Bell was the first in 1954, she was 16 at the time.
By surface area, by volume it's Erie
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Come on buddy! Time and place! How long do ya think it took Champlain to make that same trip? I'm thinking 15 MONTHS! I think that qualifies for "Great"....And then there's this:
I think Erie got snow today....seen on a tee shirt there "Erie PA - Land of 10,000 Flakes"
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I know! That photographer really made that 6 pack look good!
That's not a photo, it is a CGI image. Like most car ads. Looks better than reality, no?
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Lol...OMG...don't tell me we're headed down that " You guys are "real" aren't you? " rabbit hole again!
You know, rather morbid but my neighbor and her friend (a guy I used to work with) went to the shores of Lake Superior a couple of years ago to take photos (photographers) during late October. Lake October/early November is when the waves are biggest, and it’s beautiful. Anyway, they were standing on the bluffs and the man was getting a rope to tie around himself to tie himself to his car, just in case, and a 30’ wave swept them away.
Some people witnessed it, but they couldn’t help as they both were in the water and it was a long way down. The waves were still crashing.
They found Bob’s body a few weeks later, washed up at a hotel along the shore. They never found her body. It’s been more than 3 years. https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/content/news/Body-found--459121783.html
Lake Superior is beautiful, but dangerous.
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Georgian Bay is part of Lake Huron and is home to the 30,000 Islands.
These islands represent the world’s largest freshwater archipelago. Part of the Canadian Shield, the islands are thought to be the eroded roots of an ancient mountain range called the Grenville Mountains. THere is a boat cruise among these islands, a number of years ago my wife and I took this cruise in the evening, the sunset was brilliant. The cruise was three hours, about 48 kilometers (30 miles).
These islands represent the world’s largest freshwater archipelago. Part of the Canadian Shield, the islands are thought to be the eroded roots of an ancient mountain range called the Grenville Mountains. THere is a boat cruise among these islands, a number of years ago my wife and I took this cruise in the evening, the sunset was brilliant. The cruise was three hours, about 48 kilometers (30 miles).
Noticed today that they have started bringing the water level on the Erie Canal back up (the drain atleast 3/4 of the water every winter) which means boating season is right around the corner. While the canal isn't part of the great lakes itself it's been integral to the history and development of the region. In the early 19th century ships from the Atlantic could enter the great lakes via the St. Lawrence river and could easily sail through Lake Ontario but upon sailing through the Niagara river they would soon encounter a little obstacle. Lake Erie is at 570' in elevation and Ontario is at 245' so the waters drop 326' over the 36 miles of the Niagara river, 170' of that in a single drop. With the falls, rapids below them and swift current above them much of the river isn't navigable. There were portage routes established on both the American and British (Canadian) sides that would detour over land roughly 15 miles around the falls and rapids.
Looking to make trade and shipping to the Great Lakes easier, construction of the canal began in Rome NY in 1817 and the first 15 miles connecting Rome to Utica opened in 1819 effectively connecting the Mohawk river that flows into the Hudson and then Atlantic (but wasn't completely navigatable) with Oneida lake, the largest lake completely in New York which eventually drains into Lake Ontario. From there construction continued both east and west simultaneously. The eastern portion utilized the Mohawk Valley although no portions of the river were used in the original canal. The eastern terminus was to be at Albany NY on the Hudson but the western terminus was debated for several years after construction began.
Two communities competed and lobbied to be the western terminus of the canal. The tiny village of Buffalo on Lake Erie and a few miles upstream on the Niagara River the much larger village of Black Rock. Both communities had local business interests heavily invested in getting the canal but both had major obstacles. There are actually no natural harbors on the eastern shoreline of Lake Erie so Buffalo would have to construct one. They took a big gamble and at great expense and difficulty enlarged the mouth of Buffalo Creek and created a harbor there. Black Rock has a natural warf in the form of a rock outcropping 100 feet from shore (where the community gets it's name and had a harbor protected by Bird and Squaw islands.
Modern day picture including the Peace Bridge in the foreground:
Black Rock's problem was the current was too swift there for sailing ships to navigate from the harbor into the lake. Local businessman proposed using his team of 14 oxen that he dubbed the "horn breeze" to tow ships into the lake. Ultimately though with the support of governor DeWitt Clinton and on the virtue of their perseverance through battling difficult weather conditions Buffalo won out. When the canal opened in 1826 Clinton voyaged down the canal and Hudson from Buffalo to New York City and in a ceremonial "wedding of the waters" poured a jug of Lake Erie water into New York harbor. On the return trip water from New York was emptied into Lake Erie. Buffalo became a boomtown and by the start of the 20th was one of the richest cities in America while Black Rock was eventually incorporated into the city of Buffalo. The canal shaped the settlement of New York state with communities popping up all along it. I live just outside of the village of Fairport which is just one of many "ports" in NY that are miles from any natural body of water.
The canal was 363 miles making it the largest canal it's day and cost nearly $115 billion in today's dollars. It contained around 85 locks including guard locks where it entered or crossed another waterway as a way to control the water level and prevent flooding. This is a guard lock currently in use where the canal meets the Genesee River, during boating season they are always in the up position
A series of 5 locks was needed to climb the Niagara escarpment, the city that formed there is called Lockport (bet you can't guess why) and is just north of my hometown. Schools in the area often take field trips on the boat tour there. Today only about half of the original canal exists as much of it has been rerouted and filled in. I-490 in Rochester is constructed over much of the original canal route through the city as the canal detours around the city to the south. The Mohawk river today is largely canalized and is largely part of the canal instead of running parallel to it. The canal no longer passes through Buffalo instead terminating on the Niagara river in the city of Tonawanda. In recent years though Buffalo been doing more to celebrate it's canal heritage. They restored the original commerical canal slip and have been revitalizing the area creating "Canalside" a large park and concert venue that includes a large ice skating and curling rink. Here's one last picture of the slip as it looks today
Today the canal is pretty much just used for recreational boating and commerical tours, although the Genesee Brewery did barge massive 60 foot tanks down it a few years ago during their modernization project. There are still plenty of people that float from New York to Buffalo and beyond using the canal every year.
Sorry for the mega-post just thought it was worth celebrating the impact the canal has had in shaping the entire region and making places like Buffalo, and by extension Chicago into major economic hubs through the 19th and 20th centuries
Looking to make trade and shipping to the Great Lakes easier, construction of the canal began in Rome NY in 1817 and the first 15 miles connecting Rome to Utica opened in 1819 effectively connecting the Mohawk river that flows into the Hudson and then Atlantic (but wasn't completely navigatable) with Oneida lake, the largest lake completely in New York which eventually drains into Lake Ontario. From there construction continued both east and west simultaneously. The eastern portion utilized the Mohawk Valley although no portions of the river were used in the original canal. The eastern terminus was to be at Albany NY on the Hudson but the western terminus was debated for several years after construction began.
Two communities competed and lobbied to be the western terminus of the canal. The tiny village of Buffalo on Lake Erie and a few miles upstream on the Niagara River the much larger village of Black Rock. Both communities had local business interests heavily invested in getting the canal but both had major obstacles. There are actually no natural harbors on the eastern shoreline of Lake Erie so Buffalo would have to construct one. They took a big gamble and at great expense and difficulty enlarged the mouth of Buffalo Creek and created a harbor there. Black Rock has a natural warf in the form of a rock outcropping 100 feet from shore (where the community gets it's name and had a harbor protected by Bird and Squaw islands.
Modern day picture including the Peace Bridge in the foreground:
Black Rock's problem was the current was too swift there for sailing ships to navigate from the harbor into the lake. Local businessman proposed using his team of 14 oxen that he dubbed the "horn breeze" to tow ships into the lake. Ultimately though with the support of governor DeWitt Clinton and on the virtue of their perseverance through battling difficult weather conditions Buffalo won out. When the canal opened in 1826 Clinton voyaged down the canal and Hudson from Buffalo to New York City and in a ceremonial "wedding of the waters" poured a jug of Lake Erie water into New York harbor. On the return trip water from New York was emptied into Lake Erie. Buffalo became a boomtown and by the start of the 20th was one of the richest cities in America while Black Rock was eventually incorporated into the city of Buffalo. The canal shaped the settlement of New York state with communities popping up all along it. I live just outside of the village of Fairport which is just one of many "ports" in NY that are miles from any natural body of water.
The canal was 363 miles making it the largest canal it's day and cost nearly $115 billion in today's dollars. It contained around 85 locks including guard locks where it entered or crossed another waterway as a way to control the water level and prevent flooding. This is a guard lock currently in use where the canal meets the Genesee River, during boating season they are always in the up position
A series of 5 locks was needed to climb the Niagara escarpment, the city that formed there is called Lockport (bet you can't guess why) and is just north of my hometown. Schools in the area often take field trips on the boat tour there. Today only about half of the original canal exists as much of it has been rerouted and filled in. I-490 in Rochester is constructed over much of the original canal route through the city as the canal detours around the city to the south. The Mohawk river today is largely canalized and is largely part of the canal instead of running parallel to it. The canal no longer passes through Buffalo instead terminating on the Niagara river in the city of Tonawanda. In recent years though Buffalo been doing more to celebrate it's canal heritage. They restored the original commerical canal slip and have been revitalizing the area creating "Canalside" a large park and concert venue that includes a large ice skating and curling rink. Here's one last picture of the slip as it looks today
Today the canal is pretty much just used for recreational boating and commerical tours, although the Genesee Brewery did barge massive 60 foot tanks down it a few years ago during their modernization project. There are still plenty of people that float from New York to Buffalo and beyond using the canal every year.
Sorry for the mega-post just thought it was worth celebrating the impact the canal has had in shaping the entire region and making places like Buffalo, and by extension Chicago into major economic hubs through the 19th and 20th centuries
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Wow! That is a cool history!
Thanks for sharing that @SabreSteve
Thanks for sharing that @SabreSteve
