HURON, Lake, one of the Great Lakes on the boundary between the United States and Canada. Canada is on the north and east, Canada and Michigan on the south and Michi gan on the west. It receives the waters of Lake Superior through the Saint Mary's River, and the waters of Lake Michigan through Straits of Mackinac, and discharges its waters through Saint Clair River into Lake Saint Clair (q.v.). Its general direction is northwest and southeast. It length is about 250 miles, its average width about 155 miles and its area 22,322 square miles. This area includes Georgian Bay and North Channel. It is 581 feet above the sea, the same as Lake Michigan, 21 feet below the level of Lake Superior. The depth of the waters be yond the land shelf is from 200 to 750 feet; and along the coast, from 20 to 60 feet. The waters of the whole lake are remarkably clear, and in the northern part cold. In summer the temperature of the surface varies from to and of the bottom from 42° to 52°.
The chief arm of the lake on the east coast is Georgian Bay, which indents Ontario; and on the west, Saginaw Bay, in Michigan. Other indentations on the west coast are Thunder, Presque Isle and Hammond bays. A number of short streams flow into the lake from Michi gan, the largest of which are Thunder Bay, Au Sable and Black rivers. The lake receives from Canada a large amount of water from lakes Nipissing, Simcoe, Muskoka, and several other small bodies which discharge their waters through short rivers into Georgian Bay.
There are no large islands in the main body of the lake, but on the north and northeast shores are a number of small islands, composed chiefly of glacial deposits and limestone. Grand Manitoulin and Cockburn islands, together with several small islands, belong to Canada. Drum mond, Mackinac and Bois Blanc islands belong to the United States. The long group of islands in the northeast are separated from the main land of Ontario by North Channel. The greater part of the shore line is low and at one time the country on the west was well wooded. Regular terraces showing different water levels, deposits of fine sand and clay containing fresh water shells, extend inland fully 20 miles and at heights above the lake to 100 and 200 feet.
These wide beaches show that at one time this lake, as the other lakes, must have been much larger than at present. The area of the whole basin of the lake, including the surface of the water, is about 74,000 square miles. Some pic turesque cliffs along the southeastern coast rise to a height from 80 to 150 feet. The harbors are nearly all protected by breakwaters. The chief ports on the west coast are Cheboygan, Alpena, Tawas City, Bay City (at the head of Saginaw Bay) and Sandbeach. Mackinaw and Saint Ignace, at the entrance to the Straits of Mackinac, are important ports. A railroad line from Detroit to Mackinaw is almost parallel with the west coast. There is an abundance of fish in this lake; one kind, the whitefish, is most important.
Violent storms, to which the lake is subject, make navigation dangerous. During the sum mer months, from the first of May to Decem ber, there are but few storms. Lake Huron as a factor in commercial enterprises is most import ant; it is one of the great waterways of the world, and the shipping on its waters is growing in amount and importance. The great bulk of the iron ore from the Lake Superior district is now brought to the Cleveland and Pittsburgh districts; the wheat and flour from the North west comes east, and nearly all are carried over Lake Huron; and a large proportion of the products of the East which are sent to the Northward pass over this same lake. The Saint Marv's Falls Canal, "The Sault or 'Soo' Canal," has been the means of greatly increasing the travel and traffic on Lake Huron.
As early as the 17th century this lake was crossed by the French missionary, Pere Mar quette, who, in 1668, established a mission at Sault Sainte Marie, Saint Mary's Falls. In 1673 he was in charge of the mission at Mackinaw, from which place, on 17 May 1673, he departed with Joliet and others in search of the "Big River." For amount of shipping and tonnage see GREAT LAKES. Consult Morton, E. P., 'Lake Huron and the Country of the Algonquins' (Chicago 1913).