On our last day of vacation, we bolted up to Sault (pronounced Soo) St. Marie to take a Lock Tour. We had no idea a priori whether this was a good use of our time but it toured out to be a blast. If you don’t want to go through the Locks, you can also just drive to the viewing platform about a mile up the road from the tour dock. Large ore carriers travel through the locks several times a day.
Sault St. Marie is the third oldest establishment in the United States being founded in 1688. Sault means to jump so this was a place to jump the St. Mary’s river.
The locks exist because Lake Superior is several hundred feet higher than Lake Huron. St. Mary’s River connects to the bodies of water. The tour takes you by some of the rapids that still exist. The first locks were actually built in 1797 were destroyed in the War of 1812. The US built its first lock in 1855. The locks are run by the Federal Government and are free to all passing ships.
The boat tour takes you through the locks, up around to a steel mill, back through the locks, over to the rapids, and the finally along the Canadian side of the river. The captain of our boat is one of only two female captains on the river. She was quite interesting to talk to.
If you are ever in the area, the tour is worth doing. If this interests you, check out the Soo locks visitor's center web site for more information.
I hope you have enjoyed this virtual travel diary as much as we enjoyed living it. Many thanks to Nina at Black Coffee at Sunrise for all her travel tips.
1 comment:
Thanks for the shout-out! I know what you mean about watching the freighters. Last year, I wrote an essay about shipwreck history on the Great Lakes and happened to stay in a cabin on the St. Mary's River during the research phase. I became obsessed with watching the ships pass and thinking about what it would be like to go down in 37ยบ water with 25-30' waves. Shudder!
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