.....INTERESTING MICHIGAN FACTS.....
Volcanic activity and movement laid the foundation for Lake Michigan about 3 billion years ago.
Lake Michigan is the 2nd largest Great Lake. It is 307 mi. long, 30-120 mi. wide, and its deepest point is 923 ft. In size, it is equal to the states of Maryland, Massachusetts and Deleware combined!
Our state was named after Lake Michigan in 1805.
The Kalamazoo is one of five chief rivers flowing into Lake Michigan.
Our rare, unique dunes were created over 10,000 years ago as glaciers receded and winds blew sands along the shore.
The headwaters of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron is the Straits of Mackinaw which once was a 300-foot canyon with a river running through it.
Lakes Michigan and Huron have been stocked with more than 22 million yearling lake trout in the past seven years.
In 1892 a railroad car ferry service was begun across Lake Michigan. Today, only auto ferries operate. The SS Badger, which runs from Ludington-Manitowoc, will start up in May, 2007.
Michigan - “The Lake country” - Stand anywhere in the State and you are within 85 miles of a Great Lake!
Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake that is entirely within the U.S. borders. It is surrounded by Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. (Others have Canadian border).
The Lake has a cul-de-sac formation which means the water entering the lake circulates slowly, remains a long time (retention 99 yrs.), before it leaves the basin through the Straits of Mackinaw to Lake Huron.
There have been over 800 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes and ghost stories abound about ships lost to stormtossed waters or those that simply sailed off into oblivion - never to be heard from again!
Three major tributaries flow into Lake Michigan, the Fox Wolf, Grand and Kalamazoo. Steamboats plied the Kalamazoo river between Saugatuck and Allegan for many years.
The ghost town of Singapore, founded in the 1830’s near the mouth of the Kalamazoo river, now lies beneath the sands. There is an official State of Michigan marker that reminds us of the no longer visible story of the town that was a busy lumbering town until the 1870’s.
Michigan has 116 lighthouses and navigational lights. Only Lake Michigan has many that are painted “red” --many pure “red” -- which tell the mariner he is in fact on Lake Michigan. “Big Red”, the lighthouse at Holland Harbor, is a unique and interesting example of the all red lighthouse, because of its 3-story, twin-gabled building with a large square tower on top, reflecting the area’s Dutch influence.
Lake Michigan, approx. 300mi. long x 80mi. wide, elevation 577ft., avg. depth 279ft, deepest pt. 925ft., 1638 mi. of coastline, -- a magnificent Great Lake!
Pat Woods
Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake that is entirely within the U.S. borders. It is surrounded by Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. (Others have Canadian border).
The Lake has a cul-de-sac formation which means the water entering the lake circulates slowly, remains a long time (retention 99 yrs.), before it leaves the basin through the Straits of Mackinaw to Lake Huron.
There have been over 800 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes and ghost stories abound about ships lost to stormtossed waters or those that simply sailed off into oblivion - never to be heard from again!
Three major tributaries flow into Lake Michigan, the Fox Wolf, Grand and Kalamazoo. Steamboats plied the Kalamazoo river between Saugatuck and Allegan for many years.
The ghost town of Singapore, founded in the 1830’s near the mouth of the Kalamazoo river, now lies beneath the sands. There is an official State of Michigan marker that reminds us of the no longer visible story of the town that was a busy lumbering town until the 1870’s.
Michigan has 116 lighthouses and navigational lights. Only Lake Michigan has many that are painted “red” --many pure “red” -- which tell the mariner he is in fact on Lake Michigan. “Big Red”, the lighthouse at Holland Harbor, is a unique and interesting example of the all red lighthouse, because of its 3-story, twin-gabled building with a large square tower on top, reflecting the area’s Dutch influence.
Lake Michigan, approx. 300mi. long x 80mi. wide, elevation 577ft., avg. depth 279ft, deepest pt. 925ft., 1638 mi. of coastline, -- a magnificent Great Lake!
Pat Woods
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11/20/09/jay hernly
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