René Robert Cavelier, the Sieur de La Salle, was the chief French
pilgrim and adventurer in the seventeenth century who explored the
Great Lakes and valley of the Mississippi, and secured for his country
the vast empire of Louisiana, stretching from Canada to the Gulf. His
explorations were made in 1669 and again in 1678, and like all the
discoverers of that early time he was hunting for the water way
thought to lead to the South Sea and provide a route to China. The
historian Parkman describes La Salle as one of the most remarkable
explorers whose names live in history; the hero of a fixed idea and
determined purpose; an untiring pilgrim pushing onward towards the
goal he was never to attain; the pioneer who guided America to the
possession of her richest heritage. Throughout the northwest his
memory is preserved in the names of rivers, towns, and otherwise, and
his maps and narratives gave the earliest geography of the Lakes and
the vast and prolific region obtained from France in the Louisiana
cession.
The Great Lakes on the northern border of the United States are the
largest bodies of fresh water on the globe. They carry an enormous
commerce, nearly a hundred thousand men being employed by the fleet of
lake vessels, which approximates two millions tonnage. At the head of
Lake Erie the waters of Detroit River pour in, draining the upper
lakes, this stream, about twenty-five miles long, flowing from Lake
St. Clair and broadening from a half-mile to four miles width at its
mouth. Lake St. Clair is elevated five hundred and thirty feet, but is
small, being about twenty-five miles in diameter, and shallow, only
about twenty feet deep. The navigation of its shallows is intricate,
and is aided by a long canal through the shoals at the upper end,
where the St. Clair River discharges, a strait about forty miles long,
flowing south from Lake Huron. This great lake is at five hundred and
eighty feet elevation, and in places seventeen hundred feet deep,
covering twenty-four thousand square miles, and containing many
islands. At its northern end, Lakes Superior and Michigan join it by
various straits and water ways beyond Mackinac Island. Westward of
Lakes Ontario and Erie, and between them and Lake Huron, a long
peninsula of the Dominion of Canada projects southward into the United
States, terminating opposite Detroit. Similarly, to the westward of
Lake Huron, and between it and Lake Michigan, the State of Michigan
has its lower peninsula projecting upward to Canada. The Canadian
projection, which is part of Ontario Province, is unfortunately
located, being almost surrounded by these expansive lakes, having
bleak, cold winds sweeping across them and seriously impeding its
agriculture. The surface has little charm of scenery and the
population is sparse. The trunk railways, however, find this an almost
direct route from Western New York to Detroit and Chicago, and various
roads traverse it, coming out on the Detroit River and the
swift-flowing St. Clair River, which are crossed both by car-ferry and
tunnel. At the outlet of Lake Huron, St. Clair River is less than a
thousand feet wide between Point Edward and Fort Gratiot, and here
and at Ports Sarnia and Huron the low and level shores are lined with
docks, elevators and other accessories of commerce. This river brings
vast amounts of sand down out of Lake Huron with its swift current,
which are deposited on the St. Clair Flats beyond its mouth, keeping
that lake shallow, and requiring the long ship canal to maintain
navigation. Below Lake St. Clair, the wider Detroit River presents
many fine bits of scenery, while the city of Detroit spreads for
several miles along the northwestern bank, and has Windsor opposite,
on the Canadian shore. Pretty islands dot the broadening stream below
Detroit, and the varying width, with the bluffs on the Canadian side,
and the meadows, fields and forests of Michigan, give lovely views.