20 fascinating facts about Lake Erie

Lake Erie is the second smallest Great Lake by surface area, and the smallest by volume. Because of this, the water of Lake Erie also has the shortest residence time. Water in this lake replaces itself every 2.6 years, as opposed to Lake Superior, which takes two centuries.

Being the most shallow lake, having the smallest volume, and being the most southerly means that Lake Erie is also the warmest of the Great Lakes.

Because of its depth, Lake Erie is also the most likely Great Lake to freeze over. This doesn’t happen often (the last time was in 1996), but when it does, it is possible to drive over the lake from Canada to the U.S.

The lake is named after the Erie Tribe, an Iroquoian people.

The lake has a tail-like shape, which is reflected in its name. “Erie” is thought to derive from the Iroquoian word, erielhonan, meaning “long tail.”

The Lake Erie basin was the last to be explored by Europeans, as Iroquioan tribes that inhabited the Niagara River area did not allow explorers or traders to pass through

The Erie Canal, completed in 1825, was an important gateway to the west. The canal connected Lake Erie to the Hudson River, a distance of about 580 km.

The lake had a pivotal role to play during the War of 1812. During the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813, the U.S. Navy defeated the British to gain control of the lake and reclaim Detroit.

In 1857, an eccentric balloonist named John Steiner attempted an ambitious balloon trip across Lake Erie from the U.S. to Canada. He was unable to land his balloon on Canadian shores and was forced to jump into the water to be rescued by boat.

Within the Lake Erie basin are 17 metropolitan areas with populations exceeding 50,000 people. In 2004, New York Times reporter Denny Lee wrote that the lake is “where the Rust Belt meets the water.”

Because of its central location, Lake Erie was known for its rampant pollution during the 1960s and 70s, as factories and farms dumped industrial waste, sewage, and agricultural runoff into the water. The pollution was once so foul that it made a cameo in Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax, which originally contained the line “I hear things are just as bad up in Lake Erie." This line was changed years later when water conditions improved.

One of the lake’s tributaries, the Cuyahoga River, famously caught fire in 1969 due to its thick, oily sheen.

Photos of this Cuyahoga River catching fire spurred the Clean Water Act in 1972 aimed at regulating industrial dumping of waste into the water and restoring the ecosystem.

In 1999, Lake Erie experienced a mayfly invasion. Because mayflies can only inhabit pristine waters, scientists heralded this as a positive sign the lake was being restored.

Lake Erie has its own version of the Loch Ness monster. Sightings of “Bessie” were first recorded in 1793, and some theorize that “sightings” of the “Lake Erie Chomper" could be a bowfin, a type of large, biting fish.

The Cleveland Monsters, an AHL hockey team, takes Bessie as their namesake.

Because of its nutrient rich soil, the Lake Erie basin supports a large concentration of concord grape vineyards.

A federal grain mill on the lakeshore in Port Colborne, Ont., offers a strange optical illusion. As you drive toward the mill, the trees become closer while the mill appears to recede rapidly in the distance. This optical illusion has to do with your ability to see the horizon line, which when first approaching the mill, is not visible.

It is estimated that between 1,400 and 8,000 ships and Indigenous watercraft can be found at the bottom of Lake Erie, and there are a confirmed 270 shipwreck locations. Because it is a relatively shallow lake, Lake Erie is a popular spot for shipwreck divers.