The Great Lakes contain 20% of the earth’s available fresh water.  They are America and Canada’s waterway to the North American Heartland. Nearly all the water in the Great Lakes flows to the sea through the St. Lawrence River.  Over 300 years of commercial shipping have traveled through the narrow straights of the Saint. Lawrence River.

To this day, millions of tons of cargo are shipped every month of the shipping season on the Great Lakes. Despite the modern engineering and technology of man, Mother Nature still has the final word. She has sent the mightiest ships of the Great Lakes to the bottom even in recent times.

The Saint Lawrence Seaway extends from the Bay of St. Lawrence in Canada through the 1000 Islands region, Lake Ontario, the Welland Canal, Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.  It is the longest inland waterway in the world at 2400 miles. The Lock System raises and lowers freighter 588 feet.

The Locks Welland Canal between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario limit the size of the freighters.  There are landlocked freighters called Lakers which are to large to fit through the locks at Welland and the St. Lawrence. Lakers can be upwards of 730 feet long. Canalers were limited to 230 feet, prior to the latest improvements to the St. Lawrence Seaway in the 1950’s.

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