63 Lake Huron Facts: A Vital Shipping Route From Past!

With a surface area of 23,010 sq. mi (59,596 sq. km), Lake Huron is a prominent lake known as one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the third-largest freshwater lake on earth.

It's the fourth largest lake in the world. The surface area of the Great Lakes, when combined, is 94,250 sq. mi (244,106 sq. km), making it the largest surface of freshwater in the world.

Of all the great lakes, Lake Huron has the longest shoreline, expanding to roughly 3,827 mi (6159 km), and also has an underwater forest that has 7,000-year-old trees! Lake Huron boasts about 30,000 different islands.

Among all these is its largest, Manitoulin Island, which is on Georgian Bay.

Georgian Bay has an island known as Flowerpot Island in the Canadian region of Ontario and is in the Fathom Five National Marine Park.

Flowerpot Island in the Fathom Five National Park previously featured three sea-stack, but the movement caused in Lake Huron broke one limestone formation. Out of the two remaining sea stacks, one stands at 23 ft (7 m) high in a standing position, and the other is 39 ft (12 m) tall.

Lake Huron is regarded as one of the earliest lakes to be noticed by the Europeans. The French explorers Samuel de Champlain and Étienne Brûlé traveled to Ottawa and Mattawa rivers and came to Georgian Bay in 1615.

Lake Huron is one of the prominent islands as it provides a place for recreation, livelihood, and food to almost three million people living in Canada and U.S. This big lake provides clean drinking water to the population of Ontario, around 1.4 billion people.

Between Michigan's higher and lower peninsulas, Mackinac Island is located in Lake Huron. The state park of the island covers most of the prominent island with woods, trails, and a limestone-shaped arch rock formation. Cars are banned on this island. You can only reach the island by boat or plane.

Keep reading to find out all that Lake Huron offers.

The Geology Of Lake Huron

Lake Huron has a surface area of 577 ft (176 m) beyond sea level. The average depth of Lake Huron is 195 ft (59 m), and the maximum depth of the lake is 750 ft (229 m).

It has a length and breadth of 206 mi (332 km) and 183 mi (245 km), respectively. Lake Huron is the third-largest in terms of volume, with 850 cubic mi (3543 cubic km) of water.

Lake Huron is considered as a linkage between the higher lakes, which are Lake Michigan Huron and Lake Superior. Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, are two lakes connected by the Strait of Mackinac and the two lakes are said to be one.

The St. Marys River connects Lake Superior and Lake Huron. Lake Huron also serves as a linkage between lower lakes, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, and a waterway made by the St. Clair River and the Detroit River connects Lake St. Clair with Lake Erie.

When accumulating Lakes Huron and Michigan, at 45,300 sq. mi (117,000 sq. km), is measured as the world's largest freshwater lake.

At an altitude of 21 ft (6.4 m) higher, Lake Superior channels into the St. Clair River, which then goes into Lake Huron. After that, the water flows to the south at Port Huron, Michigan, and Sarnia, Ontario.

This great lake has given shelter to many rare and endangered species of flora and fauna. The lake has a heavily forested area, and we celebrate it for its beaches, wetlands, huge river system, and dunes.

Many people believe that the lake has a water monster, 'Mishebeshu' (great lynx), a source of Ojibwe legends. They say the beast has an underwater den near the mouth of the Serpent River that flows into the particular lake.

The eminent characteristic of the lake is Manitoulin Island. Manitoulin Island has the title of the world's largest lake island and is situated near the North Channel and Georgian Bay, which is a large bay in Lake Huron.

Although Georgian Bay is not technically a lake, it lists among the world's 20 largest lakes. The borders of Ontario, Canada enclose the Georgian Bay.

The Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island divide Georgian Bay and connect to the rest of the lake.

The Bruce Peninsula is the main area for both flora and fauna and is a national park in Ontario, Canada. Located in a Canadian town on the coast of Georgian Bay near Ontario, Wasaga Beach is located, which is the world's longest freshwater beach.

The color in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron is blue because of the sediment load to the surface when a powerful wind beats the lakes. Algae get to build on the surface of Lake Erie and Lake Huron when winds are tranquil, giving it a green color.

Featuring sandy beaches and aquamarine waters, Lake Huron is a brilliant spot for swimming. Saginaw Bay is considered one of the most amazing and perfect fishing spots on Lake Huron.

The lake gives rise to lots of northern pikes. The northern pike is known for finding its way into the Bay.

Saginaw Bay in Lake Huron has a significant population of largemouth and smallmouth bass. This eastern shore part on Lake Huron gives rise to huge northern pike.

Pike grow to magnificent sizes in Lake Huron and it's possible to catch them by ice fishing. Another species found in the lake is sea lamprey, although these are a relatively new species as prior to 1973 there was no trace of this fish in Lake Huron.

They were first noticed in Lake Ontario in the year 1830. Niagara Falls acts as a native hurdle, stopping sea lamprey's movement into Lakes Erie, Lake Huron, Michigan, and Lake Superior.

The native places where sea lamprey was typically found include the Atlantic coast of North America, Newfoundland to northern Florida, from the Atlantic coast of Europe, the Baltic, western Mediterranean, and Adriatic seas. Today though, sea lampreys are known to be found in all the Great Lakes.

Lake Superior, another of the Great Lakes of North America, has the longest lake retention time. This basically means how long water stays in the same body of water in a particular lake.

Lake Superior's retention rate is 191 years, which is considered the longest in the Great Lakes network. The retention time of Lake Huron is 22 years in comparison.

The lake once had the worst storm, which was the first for great lakes on Nov 3, 1913. The storm generated ocean-like waves of more than 35 ft (10.6 m).

We have noticed several threats to the Lake Huron ecosystem in recent years, including non-native invasive species, the decline of habitat, poor health of seashore, chemical diseases, and aquatic food web changes.

The Lake Levels At Lake Huron

As Lake Huron and Lake Michigan are linked with each other, the water levels of these great lakes fall and rise simultaneously. But according to the data, in the past few years, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan are falling speedily.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers has calculated that the decreasing water levels on Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are approximately 17 in (43 cm) since July 2020.

Fun facts about Lake Huron include that just an inch of water on Lake Michigan and Lake Huron constitutes a whopping 800 billion gal (3 trillion l) of water!

The last high record of the lake was in 1986, and the lake fell to 576 ft (176 m) in January 2013.

According to recent data from the Detroit office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, there has been a decline of 14 in (35 cm) from this exact time last year in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, along with all other lakes having lower levels.

For example, Lake Superior has fallen by approximately 6 in (15 cm).

The History Of Lake Huron

Lake Huron is named after the Huron people, made up of five Native Indian tribes who were known to inhabit the Iroquoian Island of Lake Huron. An average of 25,000 Huron, including farmers, hunters, fishers, and gatherers, used to live in villages on the southern coast of the Georgian Bay.

French explorers initially called Lake Huron 'La Mer Douce', translated as sweet/fresh-water sea. Lake Huron was usually included on nearly all initial maps as 'Lac des Hurons'.

In 1812, conflict between the United States and Great Britain was played out at St. Joseph Island, located on the North Channel of Lake Huron. Fort St. Joseph which was originally built by the British played an important strategic role in the fight between the U.S. and Great Britain.