The Soo

Tuesday, September 9

God blessed us with another beautiful day that we eagerly took advantage of to visit "the Soo" - Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, home of the heavily used locks that raise or lower ships 21 feet so they can sail into  or out of Lake Superior.  They actually lie in the St. Mary River which connects Lake Huron to Lake Superior.

The rapids here meant all boats had to portage until these locks were built leaving only a narrow branch of rapids.

Now it is used by 10,000 ships a year!!!!!

Crossing the locks one hundred feet up is the international bridge that takes traffic back and forth between the twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie: one in Michigan and one in Ontario, Canada. Right along side that is the railroad bridge so this is one very busy point of transportation.

We enjoyed a two hour cruise

that took us through the McArthur Lock to Upper St. Mary's River and returned to Lower St Mary's River through the Canadian Lock used only by pleasure boats as it is no longer big enough for the tankers. It was amazing how fast the locks were able to raise and/or lower the water levels by 21 feet. It only took about 8 minutes!!

Here is a picture of Ken when we first entered the lock.  The building at the top of the picture is two stories high with a viewing area so people can watch the locks in action.

And this is a picture of him eight minutes later

And here is what it looks like when you watch the lock "doors"

 

 The trip was mainly one to show us a couple of the different locks and give us the experience of going up and then coming back and going down but we did also get some views of various points of interest along the shorelines of Michigan and Canada as well.  The Essar Algoma Steel Mill dominated the Canadian shoreline with its piles of raw coal, taconite, and lime all necessary in the creation of steel.

Along with some of the equipment necessary for transferring these items

And many rolls of the steel, finished

and ready to be shipped in barges such as this one

We also could see a pretty fountain floating on the water adding a bit of beauty near the shore

Along with several buildings created from the limestone removed from the water when the locks were being created. Each piece was carved to fit perfectly in the spot for which it was intended so they are an architectural things of beauty.

On our return trip through the Canadian locks, we passed through an area with parks on both sides of the locks.  When the locks are closed a walkway is created so people can move from one side to the other.

Near the point where we docked again was the very long Edison electric building that is still using wooden bearing on the turbines that help create electricity for the entire area.  It too was made of the same stone beautifully carved.

Right next door to the docks was the Valley Camp freighter that has been converted to a maritime museum

with a huge variety of exhibits including fish tanks representing fish found in this area,

two battered lifeboats as they were found from the Edmund Fitzgerald, and displays telling about the creation of 1000 foot freighters that can only be used in the Upper Great Lakes as they are too large to fit through the Welland Canal and go out then through the St. Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean.

In addition we could see the engine room, pilot house, galley, dining room for the captain and his men,

and the other rooms necessary for running the ship and sleeping.

We were lucky enough to be outside doing this when a freighter coming from Lake Superior completed its passage through the nearby locks

And another was making its way to the locks from Lake Huron 

We had the fun of watching them 

while standing aboard a freighter and see them pass each other and hear the men shouting greetings to each other as they continued each in their own direction

Soon after we returned to our car for the hour plus ride back to our motorhomes making a short stop first at the WalMart in the "big" city of Sault Ste. Marie to get some items we both needed.  Once again we ran out of time and energy to see all that we had hoped but pleased with all that we had done and with the gorgeous weather we had to do it in.