The upper falls are more that 200 ft wide and drop about 50 ft.
The lower falls are a series of five smaller cascades.
Our next stop was the Whitefish Point and a visit to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.
From the beach we saw cargo ships heading to Sault Ste. Marie, MI
We continued our journey eastward to Sault Ste. Marie to visit the Soo Locks. The Soo Locks allow ships to travel from Lake Superior into the other lakes. They by-pass the rapids on St. Mary's River. The water level from Lake Superior drops 21 ft before coming out of the locks, into the river and ultimately to Lake Huron.
(Photo from Wikipedia)
The Soo Lock system is owned and operated by the Army Corp of Engineers. Passage is free to all vessels.
These are the ships we saw passing Whitefish Point now in or through the locks.
The ship in the first picture is about 730 ft long. It is similar to the ones that we saw in the Welland Canal.
When we first got to the area of the canals, we saw this ship leaving. We were told that it is the largest of the ships in the great lakes. It is 1013ft long and 105 ft wide. It would not be able to go through the Welland Canal.
The smaller boat in the picture is used to deliver food, etc to the ship so that they do not have to "land."
We look a 2-hr boat tour of the Soo Canal.
We go in the locks and the gates close.
Then the water goes up.
Obviously when we return we start up and go down.
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