Minnesota Pilgrimage 2012 - Day 10

Sault Ste Marie, MI - August 10, 2012  The importance of Sault Ste Marie to the economy and security of America became clear as we explored several of the many options available to the visitor to this town.

Lake Superior flows into Lake Huron with a descent of about 28 feet which occurs in the flow of the St. Mary River in the form of a series of rapids.  When the transport of goods between the lakes became increasingly important, to overcome the impediment of the rapids, the first lock was built in the late 19th century.  Additional locks were added both on the American side and the Canadian side, and now huge freighters filled with grain, coal and taconite make their way daily through these locks.

We took a tour by boat around the Sault Ste Marie area including a trip through both the American locks on the way out and the Canadian lock on the way back.  As we traveled, the guide explained the above-mentioned history and the important role played by the locks during the World Wars.

Later we visited a museum devoted to the history of the St. Mary River which included tales of the building of the locks and the hydroelectric generating station also located there because of the 28 foot difference between the upper river and the lower river.  The museum also covered the history of the French and Indian war and the War of 1812  over the territory surrounding the Great Lakes -- a conflict between the French (first settlers) and the British, and later the Americans, finally resolved by the Treaty of Ghent.  This is one of the classes in American history that I must have slept through, so it was good to be reminded.

The final stop in the day was to visit the Valley Camp -- a retired freighter converted into a museum.  The scale of the ship's equipment was huge, with a steam engine originally stoked by hand-shoveled coal.  The wheel house at the bow of the ship was connected to the rudder in the stern by a drive shaft which traversed at least the length of a city block, connecting to a steam-powered "power steering" device which executed the pilot's instructions.

The museum was a repository of the lore of the life on lake vessels, including the dangers of shipwrecks.  One corner of the hold contained a memorial to the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, heralded by the ballad by Gordon Lightfoot. Coincidentally, as we passed through the Soo Locks, just leaving the second lock, was the Arthur M. Anderson -- the freighter that was following the Edmund Fitzgerald and which both radioed the information about the loss of radar contact and stood by in the storm to look for survivors.  None were found -- 29 seamen perished.

Tomorrow we're heading southward through the State of Michigan with the intent to see some lighthouses.