GREAT LAKES 



GREAT SALT LAKE 



Niagara, the Welland Ship Canal (see WEL- 

 LAND CANAL). Should the traveler desire, he 

 could continue his journey to the Atlantic 

 Ocean by way of the Saint Lawrence River. 

 Passenger boats often make the trip down the 

 rapids of that great stream, but freight is 

 carried through canals that have been built 

 around the rapids. Buffalo, south of Niagara 

 Falls, is connected with Albany, N. Y., by the 

 famous Erie Canal (which see), and the 

 Canadian government is now building a canal 

 from Lake Saint Clair to Lake Erie. 



The Great Lakes offer to the summer tour- 

 ist trips of great variety and interest, and there 

 have been built along their shores numerous 

 thriving resorts. The lakes are diversified by 

 many beautiful bays and islands, famous 

 among which are Georgian Bay, an arm of 

 Lake Huron, and Mackinac Island, at the 

 northwest extremity of that lake (see GEOR- 

 GIAN BAY; MACKINAC ISLAND). 



The Great Lakes Commerce. The Great 

 Lakes form a highway of immense commercial 

 importance. On their waters may be found 

 one-half the tonnage in the United States 

 merchant marine, and every year there passes 

 through the Detroit River a greater tonnage 

 than that of the foreign boats which enter and 

 clear in the ports of both the Atlantic and 

 Pacific coasts. The shipping through the Sault 

 Sainte Marie Canal exceeds that through the 

 Suez Canal, the annual tonnage being about 

 58,000,000. The bulk of the freight carried 

 on the lakes consists of iron ore, coal, lumber, 

 grain, flour, package freight and copper. It is 

 generally admitted that the development of 

 the great ore deposits on the shores of Lake 

 Superior, near Duluth, and in Northern Michi- 

 gan and Wisconsin, is due to the cheap and 

 convenient means of transportation furnished 

 by the Great Lakes. These waters are also 

 important in supplying cheap shipping facilities 

 for the enormous wheat crops of the Cana- 

 dian Northwest. 



Shipbuilding on the lakes has also developed 

 to a remarkable degree within recent years, 

 the increase of steel construction showing a 

 percentage advancement in excess of that of 

 any of the great maritime nations since the 

 early period of steel ship-construction. Some 

 of the finest vessels afloat are built in the 

 Great Lakes shipbuilding yards. These great 

 inland seas give a shore line to eight states 

 of the Union, having a combined population 

 of over one-third that of the entire country. 

 Each year more than 24,000 vessels enter the 



six principal lake ports Chicago, Buffalo, 

 Cleveland, Milwaukee, Detroit and Duluth. 



A noble fountain symbolizing the five Great 

 Lakes, designed by Lorado Taft, stands on the 

 southern side of the Art Institute, Chicago. 

 See page 1311. 



GREAT SALT LAKE, one of the natural 

 wonders of the world, lying in a region of 

 great scenic beauty, in the northwestern part 

 of the state of Utah. It is seventy-five miles 

 long and about fifty miles wide, and covers an 

 area of about 

 1,750 square 

 miles, nearly one 

 and on e-half 

 times the size of 

 Rhode Island. 

 This area varies, 

 however. In win- 



ter more water GREAT SALT LAKE 

 comes to it and The route of the Lucin Cut . 



there is less on ' s shown. The small black 



_, area in the corner map gives 



evaporation. The the location of the lake in the 



amount of yearly state ' 



rainfall or snowfall and the amount of water of 

 tributary streams used for irrigation also affect 

 the area. 



One of the most remarkable features about 

 the lake is that though it has no connection 

 with any sea or ocean, and is formed and 

 maintained by rivers of fresh water, it is a 

 sea of salt, 4,218 feet above sea level. It is 

 five and a half times as salty as the oceans 

 of the world. At the present rate of use of 

 salt it has been estimated that there is 

 enough salt in solution in the waters of this 

 lake to supply the United States for nearly 

 a thousand years. 



The chief, rivers feeding Great Salt Lake 

 are the Jordan, the Weber and the Bear. The 

 latter is 400 miles long, but its mouth is only 

 ninety miles from its source. Those waters 

 contain so little salt it cannot be discovered 

 by taste. But Great Salt Lake has no out- 

 let, so the waters brought to it evaporate and 

 the solid matters which were dissolved in 

 them remain. That is why the lake is salt. 



Within this lake are several islands which, 

 like its shores, are whitened by salt. On these, 

 immense flocks of gulls, ducks, geese and peli- 

 cans breed each year. On Antelope Island, 

 the largest, alfalfa is being cultivated and cat- 

 tle are raised. There are no fish in the waters, 

 but the lake contains a small brine shrimp. 

 A tiny fly also lives there while it is still a 

 grub. 



