We enjoyed our stay in Sault Ste. Marie, MI, not to be confused with Sault Ste. Marie, Canada, which is right across the river. From the George Kemp Marina we had the perfect view of the freighters that were entering and exiting the Soo Locks. It was also an easy walk to restaurants, grocery, bus stop to go to Walmart and other big box stores and the Soo.
The Soo Locks are a set of parallel locks that enable ships to travel between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes. The water falls 21' from Lake Superior into the St. Mary's River and according to Wikipedia, the locks pass an average of 10,000 ships per year, despite being closed from January through March. The first locks were opened in 1855, shortly after the Erie Canal which was constructed in 1824. The current configuration consists of 2 parrell lock chambers, each running east to west. The MacArthur Lock is 800' long. This is large enough to handle ocean-going vessels that must pass through the smaller locks in the Welland Canal. The Poe Lock was 800' also but was re-built in 1968 to 1,200'. It can take ships carrying 65,000 tons of cargo. The Poe is the only lock that can handle the large lake freighters used on the upper lakes. A new lock, is under construction and will be completed by 2030 which replaces the Davis and Sabin locks. It's estimated that 500,000 people visit these locks per year. There is also one lock on the Canadian side that is 253' long and is used for recreational and tour boats. Even with Covid restrictions they let Americans pass through the Canadian Lock because you don't get off your boat and you go right back into US waters. The only problem at this time of year is they are still on off-season hours and it doesn't open until 11:00 am. Captains's Choice will use the US locks, 11 am is too late of a start for us!
Mark kept talking about how it would be neat to see the SS Arthur M. Anderson in our travels. Sunday night he said it would be going through the locks, couldn't be positive on the time but would I be interested in getting up at about 4 am to watch for it. I said "no". First thing he did when we got up Monday was to check AIS to see if it had come through, luckily it was in the lock right then. I then asked, "what is the reason again why you want to see this particular ship"? Being the history buff he is (I am not) he said the Arthur Anderson was the last ship to see and be in contact with the SS Edmund Fitzgerald before the Edmund Fitzgerald sunk November 10, 1975. Arthur M. Anderson was also the first rescue ship on the scene searching for survivors. As it passed by we could feel the history of what that ship represents.
One of the nicest things about being up in this north country at this time of year is the extra daylight, we are getting 28 minutes more of daylight here than in Buffalo, NY. The winds though - they've been howling!
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