20 incredible facts about the mighty Lake Superior

Perhaps the most famous Lake Superior shipwreck, the fated SS Edmund Fitzgerald freighter sank on November 10, 1975, killing all 29 crew members. The tragedy was memorialized by Gordon Lightfoot’s classic folk song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

Lake Superior is the cleanest and clearest of all the Great Lakes. On average, you can see underwater to a depth of about eight feet.

It’s also the coldest of the Great Lakes, with average temperatures at around 4 degrees Celsius. This past winter was so cold that Lake Superior almost froze completely (more than 95 per cent of the lake was covered in ice). It was the most ice the lake has seen in more than 20 years.

There was so much ice this winter that ice chunks could still be found floating in the water as late as June.

But ice can be a major attraction here. The Apostle Island Sea Caves, on the Wisconsin side of Lake Superior, draw thousands of tourists, eager to witness the network of massive drifts and icicles formed by the coldest winters.

The red sandstone caves and passageways that make up the Devil’s Island Formation were carved by Lake Superior’s powerful waves, and when the temperatures are cold enough, an ice bridge forms on the lake, making it possible to trek across and explore the caves by foot. This winter was the first time the caves were accessible since 2009.

Another popular Lake Superior attraction is the Agawa Rock Pictograph Site in Lake Superior Provincial Park, where granite cliffs display 35 red ochre images of abstract shapes, canoes, and wildlife dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries. It’s about a 15 to 20 minute hike to get up to the pictographs but the best views are from the water by kayak or canoe.

Lake Superior is North America’s largest freshwater lake, and the world’s largest freshwater lake by surface area. It holds 10 percent of the world’s total fresh surface water.

With an average depth of about 148 metres, Lake Superior’s waters could fill the rest of the Great Lakes and then Lake Eerie a few times over. Or, you could cover all of North and South America with one foot of water.

Lake Superior is known for its ultra-foggy conditions and ruthless storms, especially during the peak stormy season (October and November).

It’s hard to nail down just how many shipwrecks have happened in Lake Superior waters but some reports claim roughly 350 shipwrecks have been recorded and more than 1,000 crew members lost. Whitefish Point, Michigan, at Lake Superior’s extreme southeastern end, is the edge of the lake’s “Shipwreck Coast” (also known as the “Great Lakes Graveyard”) and is home to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.

Ontario, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan all share Lake Superior’s shores but the majority of the shoreline is forested and undeveloped (likely due to stormy weather and poor farming conditions). Its two biggest cities are Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Duluth, Minnesota.

The land around Lake Superior is rich with minerals and gemstones and has long attracted mining operations. It has been mined for copper, iron, silver, agates, amethyst, and more. There was even a small gold rush along the Michigan shores in the late 1800s.

There are more than 300 streams and rivers feeding into Lake Superior.

With frigid conditions and minimal nutrients in the waters, Lake Superior isn’t an ideal habitat for fish (it produces less fish than the other Great Lakes). Still, more than 80 species of fish have been recorded in its waters, including lake trout, walleye, coho, Atlantic salmon, and whitefish.

If unraveled into a straight line, Lake Superior’s shoreline would measure 2,938 kilometres. It’s actually a shorter distance to drive from Toronto to Saskatchewan.

There are several tales about the origins of Lake Superior’s name, but it’s said that the Ojibwe first named the lake “Gichigami,” meaning “great lake,” “great sea” or “big water.” It was later named “le lac supérieur” by French explorers, which actually means “upper lake” (above Lake Huron) but was anglicized by the British, later becoming Lake Superior—a fitting title for the massive body of water.

The lake is so deep that it can take 400 to 500 years for the water supply to completely renew. A single drop of water can remain in the lake for almost 200 years.

More than 60 native orchid species can be found in the Lake Superior basin, making it one of North America’s top destinations for orchid species (topped only by Florida).

In 2013, shipwreck hunters uncovered two more Lake Superior “ghost ships.” The Henry B. Smith freighter was found on the lake’s floor near Marquette, Michigan, more than 100 years after it sunk with a crew of 25 men. The same team later uncovered the sunken Scotiadoc freighter near Thunder Bay, Ontario.