ERIE 



2070 



ERIE 



the lake is quickly stirred by storms and is 

 noted for the violence and height of its waves. 

 The whole of the northern shore is Canadian 

 territory; the southern belongs to the United 

 States. The international boundary divides the 

 lake into two nearly equal parts. 



As a commercial highway the lake is of great 

 importance. More tonnage is carried in ves- 

 sels across Lake Erie in the three months dur- 

 ing which grain is being moved from the north- 

 west of America than passes through the Suez 

 Canal in an entire year. The old Welland Canal 

 affords passage for small vessels into Lake 

 Ontario, and when the new canal is completed 

 the largest vessels will be able to pass through 

 it. The New York State Barge Canal (which 

 see) connects Lake Erie with the Hudson 

 River. The principal ports are Buffalo, the 

 great wheat depot for the East ; Toledo, Cleve- 

 land, Erie and Ash tabula. Navigation is 

 almost entirely suspended during winter. There 

 are numerous islands in the lake, evenly di- 

 vided between the United States and Canada. 

 The fisheries of Lake Erie are important, the 



the Lawrence, named in honor of the brave 

 captain of the Chesapeake. The Lawrence bore 

 the brunt of the battle until only Perry, his 

 twelve-year-old brother, and eight of the crew 



LAKE ERIE 



lesser whitefish being the most valuable food 

 fish. The value of the annual catch is esti- 

 mated at more than $1,000,000. 



Battle of Lake Erie. In the War of 1812 

 between Great Britain and the United States 

 a naval engagement was fought on September 

 10, 1813, off Put-in-Bay, near the western end 

 of Lake Erie. After the battle was over, the 

 American commander, Oliver Hazard Perry, 

 wrote on the back of an old letter a message 

 which has become famous: "We have met the 

 enemy and they are ours two ships, two brigs, 

 one schooner and one sloop. Yours with great 

 respect and esteem, O. H. Perry." 



The British had six vessels, under the com- 

 mand of Robert Barclay, a veteran of Trafalgar, 

 while Perry commanded nine. The British at 

 first concentrated their fire on Perry's flagship, 



BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 



Reproduction of a famous painting by W. H. 

 Powell, now hanging above the landing in the 

 staircase in the Senate wing of the Capitol, 

 Washington, D. C. 



were left alive. As the flagship was completely 

 disabled, Perry, with his flag in hand, jumped 

 into an open boat, and was rowed across, under 

 heavy fire, to the Niagara. The engagement 

 then became general, and three hours and fif- 

 teen minutes after the first gun was fired the 

 British squadron surrendered. The Americans 

 lost 123 men in killed and wounded; the 

 British, 135. Perry's victory was important 

 because it gave the Americans control of the 

 lower end of the Great Lakes, compelled Proc- 

 tor to withdraw from Detroit, and opened the 

 way for General Harrison's invasion, which 

 ended at the Battle of the Thames. T.E.F. 



ERIE, PA., the only lake port of the state, 

 an important railway and industrial center and 

 the county seat of Erie County. It is situated 

 on Lake Erie, on the northwestern boundary 

 of the state, eighty-eight miles southwest of 

 Buffalo, N. Y., ninety-five miles northeast of 

 Cleveland, O., and 148 miles north of Pitts- 

 burgh. The city is served by the Bessemer & 

 Lake Erie, the New York, Chicago & Saint 

 Louis, the Pennsylvania and the New York 

 Central railways. Large steamboats ply regu- 

 larly between Erie and other ports on the 

 Great Lakes, and interurban lines connect with 

 cities as far east as Buffalo, west to Cleveland 

 and south to Meadville, thence west to Lines- 

 ville. A Federal estimate in 1916 gave the 

 city 75,195 people, an increase of 8,670 since 

 1910. The area of the city exceeds seven and 

 one-third square miles. 



Commerce and Industry. Extensive coal 

 and coke districts in the vicinity and a supply 

 of natural gas increase the commercial and 



