World United States Michigan Sault Ste Marie

Ginny's Journeys Ginny's Adventures 2009

Soo Locks Sep 12, 2009

Sault (pronounced soo) Ste. Marie means “Falls of Saint Marie”. The waterfalls between Lake Superior and St. Mary’s River were well-known from the time of the Native Americans and French fur-traders, and then American explorers. These weren’t high waterfalls, but a wide area of water falling over rocks for about 1/4 mile, making passage from Lake Superior to the River and Lake Huron only possible by going around it (on what is now Portage Road). But the falls made for excellent fishing in canoes at the right times of the year and what remains still does.

Once copper and other ores were discovered and mined on the western end of Lake Superior, better methods of transporting the heavy ore were necessary, so locks were built – who invented them and where and when? Anyway, the visitor center at the locks tells the history of the area by displays, pictures, and a film. They have a board showing when freighters will be going through the locks and a park and platform from which the lock operation can be watched. I was fortunate to get there when a freighter was going down from Lake Superior to Lake Huron, so I watched it come in to the Poe Lock (say that out loud), get lowered 21 feet, then leave into the St Mary’s River.

I went on a dinner cruise on a tour boat that went down the St. Mary’s River for a little ways, then up through the Canadian lock to a steel mill now owned by a company from India, and back through the MacArthur lock. The Canadian lock is only used for pleasure boats now because it is small and slow. There are 4 locks on the American side but only two are currently being used. The other two will be enlarged (into one lock?) starting this winter. These locks are very busy, so even though lock maintenance and improvements are expensive, it is said that they save a tremendous amount of transportation money. As an example, the steel mill makes steel cylinders that need to be transported to factories. A truck can only carry two of the cylinders, but a barge can carry 250 of them! While on this tour, we heard all about how steel is made from limestone, coal, and tagamite(?) – I can’t say I learned about it because I didn’t retain much or care to listen to much of it! Just only that this was an old steel mill bought recently by an Indian company and they are making a go of it.