The Great Lakes - Part Two
Lakes Michigan and Huron are basically a single lake,
Sometimes called Lake Michigan-Huron, combined doth make
Total area of 45,300 square miles (117,000 km2)
Have the same surface elevation of 577 feet (176 m),
Connected by 295-foot deep
dire Straits of Mackinac Islands splayed like a rake.
Approximately 35,000 islands extant
throughout oceanic like sea
largest among them is Manitoulin Island
in Lake Huron perhaps,
The largest island in any inland body
of water in the world.
The second-largest island is Isle Royale in Lake Superior.
Both of these islands are large enough to contain
multiple lakes themselves — Manitoulin Island's
Lake Manitou is listed in the Guinness Book
of World Records as the world's largest lake
located on a freshwater island.
Connection to the ocean:
The Saint Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway
connect the Great Lakes to ocean-going vessels.
The move to wider ocean-going container ships —
which do not fit through the locks on these routes —
has limited container shipping on the lakes.
Most Great Lakes trade is of bulk material
and bulk freighters of Seawaymax-size or less
can move throughout the entire lakes and out
to the Atlantic. The Great Lakes are also connected
to the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Illinois River
(from the Chicago River) and the Mississippi River.
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