Superior Lakes

“ Nevertheless, a minute investigation of all their species has shewn that Lake Superior proper, and the fresh waters north of it, constitute in many respects a special zoological district, sufficiently different from that of the lower lakes and the northern United States, to form a natural division in the great fauna of the fresh-water fishes of the temperate zone of this continent.
We have shewn that there are types, occurring in all the lower lakes, which never occur in Lake Superior and northwards, and that most of the species found in Lake Superior are peculiar to it ”

“ Disturnell, an accurate authority, speaking of the Superior region, says: 'The traveler finds the whole district to within a few miles of Lake Superior, abounding in every resource which will make a country wealthy and prosperous. Clear, beautiful lakes are interspersed, and these have plenty of large trout and other fish. Water and water powers are everywhere to be found, and the timber is of the best kind—maple groves, beech, oak, pine, etc. ”

“ It is impossible for any thing, but actual observation, to estimate the unnumbered beauties, created by these sports of nature. I regretted exceedingly not to have been indulged with a stay at the Saut, long enough to have made an excursion by a canoe into Lake Superior. Some half dozen of our passengers, by a bold and determined push, and at the hazard of being left behind, ran up and cast a coup d’œil upon the face of those interesting waters. ”

“ Lake Athabasca, Great Slave, and Great Bear Lake continue across the continent, that great Lacustrine line, which, with Winnipeg, Superior, Huron, and Ontario, forms an aggregate of water surface half as large as Europe.
Of other lakes, the country is simply a vast network, beyond all attempt at name or number; of every size, from a hundred yards to a hundred miles in length, they lie midst prairie, or midst forest, lonely and silent, scarce known even to the wild man’s ken. ”

“ But Lake Superior is the largest of all the lakes, being no less than 360 miles in length, and 140 miles in breadth, with a circumference of 1116 miles; the line of coast formed by the margins of these lakes extends to upwards of 4000 miles, while they are all, nearly throughout their entire length and breadth, navigable for vessels of the largest description, their depth varying, except within a short distance of the shores, from 12 to 200 fathoms. ”

“ The development of the land behind Lake Superior was particularly spectacular and important, not only because of its general effect on the industrial world but also because out of it came the St. Mary's River Ship Canal. Nowhere in the zone of the Great Lakes has any region produced such unexpected changes in American industrial and commercial life as did the region of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota contributory to Lake Superior. ”

“ The lakes are something which you are unprepared for; they lie up so high, exposed to the light, and the forest is diminished to a fine fringe on their edges, with here and there a blue mountain, like amethyst jewels set around some jewel of the first water,—so anterior, so superior, to all the changes that are to take place on their shores, even now civil and refined, and fair as they can ever be. ”

“ Few countries in the world contain so many lakes as the United States, though these are principally confined to the northern portion. Of the five great lakes, as they are called, the largest bodies of fresh water on the globe, with perhaps the exception of the newly discovered and imperfectly known lakes in the interior of Africa, four, viz., Superior, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, lie on the northern border, partly in the United States and partly in British America, while Lake Michigan is wholly within the territory of the republic ”

“ The Lake of the Woods, then surrounded by a deserted wilderness of rock and forest, was carefully examined, and from it the party made their way in a north-easterly direction to Lake Superior, the whole route consisting of little more than a series of lakes, streams, and swamps, broken by an occasional portage or bar of land, over which the canoes had to be dragged. ”

“ On the lake shore, there are naked sand hills; and these are found all around the lake.
This world has undergone great changes since its original creation. In examining the western country, I came to the conclusion, that a large portion of it was once under water; and that the lakes formerly discharged their waters into the sea, through the Illinois and Mississippi rivers.
The lakes Michigan, Huron, St. Clair and Erie, are now about twenty-five feet lower than lake Superior. The falls of St. Mary, at the outlet of the upper lake, are nothing more than rapids. ”

“ Once on Lake Huron they expected to skirt the eastern coast of Michigan, stopping whenever they pleased, and thus gradually make their way to Whitefish Bay and Lake Superior. What they would do when Lake Superior was reached would depend upon how much time was left for the outing. ”

“ The first really serviceable delineation of the great lakes were the maps of Sanson and Du Creux, or Creuxius, in 1656 and 1660. Here we find Lake Erie given its due prominence; Huron is unduly large, but in its right position; and Michigan and Superior, though not completed, are placed with approximate accuracy. This truth of position, however, was disregarded by many a later geographer, till we reach a type of map, about the end of the century, which is exemplified in that given by Campanius in 1702. ”

“ II.—Fishes of Lake Superior compared with those of the other great Canadian Lakes. Besides the interest there is everywhere in studying the living [Pg 28] animals of a new country, there is a particular interest to a naturalist in ascertaining their peculiar geographical distribution, and their true affinities with those of other countries. It is only by following such a course, that we can hope to arrive at any exact results as to their origin. In this respect the fresh-water animals have a peculiar interest, as from the element they inhabit, they are placed under exceptional circumstances. ”

“ Many seas are tideless, and the waters of some are saline only in a very slight degree.
The waters of Lake Superior, the most northern of these lakes, after traversing nearly 400 miles, with an average breadth of over 100 miles and those of Lake Michigan, which extend over 350 miles, with an average breadth of 65 miles, join Lake Huron, and, after flowing about 250 miles, with an average breadth of 70 miles, pass into the river St. ”

“ Lake of the Woods, and at many places around Lakes Huron and Superior, have been discovered. The largest of these areas extends more or less continuously for one hundred and twenty miles along the west coast of Hudson bay, from near Baker’s foreland to a point forty-five miles north of Cape Eskimo, and from the bay shore for seventy miles inland on the course of Ferguson river. A smaller area crosses Dubawnt river between Schultz and Baker lakes, a third occurs on the Kazan river below Angikuni lake, a fourth was recognized in the basin of Ennadai lake. ”

“ The shore of Lake Superior, being but about fifty miles north of Mackinaw and dependent on a canal navigation, annually navigable sixty days less than the straits, on account of ice, to say nothing of breakage, it is perfectly obvious that there can be no competing city further north. ”

“ He had discovered Lake Huron, but this, again, was not the Western Sea. Other explorers, following in his footsteps, discovered Lake Michigan and Lake Superior; but still neither of these was the Western Sea. So, in La Vérendrye's day, men were dreaming of a Western Sea somewhere beyond Lake Superior. How far was it westward of Lake Superior? Who could tell? The Indians were always ready with a plausible tale, and many believed that the Western Sea would still be found at no great distance beyond the uppermost of the Great Lakes. ”

“ A healthier region does not exist on the earth, an assertion corroborated by the fact, that the inhabitants usually live to an advanced age, notwithstanding the many hardships. The common diseases of mankind are here comparatively unknown, and I have never seen an individual whose breast did not swell with a new emotion of delight as he inhaled the air of this northern wilderness."
The largest island in Lake Superior is Isle Royale. It is forty miles in length and from six to ten miles in width. ”

“ With the discovery of the rich mineral deposits, hundreds of prospectors began flocking into the North, men with capital hurried to the regions of the red metal, and, in the race after wealth, vessel-men did not wait221 to build ships on Superior but hauled their vessels bodily across the mile portage at Sault Ste. Marie. In 1855 was built the Falls Canal, and from that date, the commerce of Superior became an important factor in the traffic of the Lakes. All that was needed to make it the most important body of fresh water on the globe was the discovery of iron. ”

“ Croix; and to those who reside at Sandy Lake, Leech Lake, Rainy Lake, Red Lake, and the heads of the rivers Rouge, Mississippi, and De Corbeau. They are divided, like the Sioux, into many bands, the names of only seven of which I am acquainted with.
[1st.] I shall begin with those who reside on the south side of Lake Superior, and on Lakes De Sable and Sang Sue, with the adjacent country. They are generally denominated by the traders by the name of Sauteuxs, but those of the headwaters of the Chipeway and St. 351 Croix rivers are called Fols Avoin Sauteurs. ”

“ The United States fish commissioners, realizing [Pg 491] the value of Lake Superior as a reservoir for food fish, have projected the largest fish hatchery on the lakes, to be located at Lester's Park. It is to be under government and state control and will supply the lakes of Superior and Michigan with about 500,000,000 eggs yearly.
Duluth was organized and laid out as a village under the town site law of 1844; Richard Ralf, surveyor; Geo. E. Nettleton, J. B. Culver, O. W. Rice, Wm. Nettleton, and Robt. E. Jefferson, proprietors. The date of this organization is not known. ”

“ A considerable portion of the shore is rocky, and its alluvions are, in general, of too sandy and light a character for profitable husbandry. With an elevation of six hundred and forty-one feet above the Atlantic, and drawing its waters from territories situated north of the forty-sixth degree of north latitude, Lake Superior cannot be represented as enjoying a climate favorable to the productions of the vegetable kingdom. ”

“ Above the bare rocks, which are often fifty feet perpendicular, stretch the sparse underbrush, the stunted evergreens, and the moss-covered granite of the mountains, till they reach an elevation of a thousand feet. Frowning down upon the water stands the Point of Mamainse, a rallying-spot for the summer fogs and winter storms, a landmark to the voyageur, a barrier to the fiercest commotion of the lake, and the upper boundary of Tequamenon Bay, as the confined portion of Lake Superior near its outlet is called. ”

“ It dawns with their making. Unnumbered thousands of years ago, before the glaciers of the Ice Age crept over the continent; when prehistoric monsters, still living in a tropical world, roamed throughout what is now the Lake region; and when man, if he existed at all, was in his crudest form, the Great Lakes were still unborn. Where their ninety-five thousand square miles of surface now afford the world’s greatest highways of water commerce there were then vast areas of plain, of highland and plateau, rising at times to the eminence of mountains. ”

“ A wilderness of bowlders compels the winding about of the trail, but we hear and see Five Lake Creek, roaring and dashing along, for it has a large flow of water and its course is steep and rocky. We pass through groups of willows, wild currants and alders, enter a sparsely wooded meadow and in a few moments see the first of the Five Lakes. There is but little difference in their levels, though their sizes vary considerably. The first one is the largest. Here is a log cabin and two or three boats. These are owned by the Deer Park Springs resort, and are for their fishing and hunting patrons. ”

“ The low temperature of the water is the reason that bodies of persons drowned in Lake Superior very rarely rise to the surface or drift ashore. The tradition that Lake Superior never gives up its dead is as old as the navigation of the lake by white men, and it existed among the Indians before the arrival of white men. ”

“ In many of these ancient lake-basins the draining is not yet completed, the lowest parts being still marshes or ponds of water. The Mohawk and the Connecticut flow each through a bead-roll of small lake-basins, walled around by solid rock. Through their margins the rivers for untold ages have been deepening their channels until the lake-bottoms have become dry land, and the homes of men. The Great Lakes themselves have, from a like cause, been much reduced from their former dimensions. ”

“ We had come into Superior, where the clear, dry air exerts a peculiar effect upon one. Coming suddenly from the warm atmosphere of the Lower Lakes a person has difficulty in keeping his eyes open half of the time up there. We were off Keweenaw Point when the thrilling alarm was spread that “Dopey,” the sleepy youth, had fallen overboard. The aft steward brought the news forward. Billy had eaten a huge dinner and was taking a comfortable siesta standing, half leaning over the aft rail. ”

“ Star Lake, on Mount Madison, is but a puddle among the bare, slatey-coherent rocks of the Northern Peaks. The Lakes of the Clouds are real lakes, beautifully set, but barren in themselves, their shallow rocky bottoms allowing no growth of water-plants. Spaulding Lake at the head of the Great Gulf on Washington and Hermit Lake at the bottom of the Tuckerman Ravine are singularly alike, shallow, transparent, barren and beautifully set among spiring firs and spruces, each in the heart of a mighty gorge. ”