Lake Michigan Totally Explained

Everything about Lake Michigan totally explained

Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America, and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is bounded, from west to east, by the U.S. states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. The word "Michigan" was originally used to refer to the lake itself, and is believed to come from the Ojibwa Indian word mishigami, meaning "great water." The lake is slightly larger than the country of Croatia.

Geography

Lake Michigan is the only one of the Great Lakes wholly within the borders of the United States; the others are shared with Canada. It has a surface area of 22,400 square miles (58,016 km²),
The Chicago skyline can be seen from the Indiana shore and lower Michigan (on a clear day), but when standing on the beaches in Wisconsin it's impossible to see across the lake, providing a view similar to that of the ocean.

Car ferries

People can cross Lake Michigan by the SS Badger, a ferry that runs from Manitowoc, Wisconsin, to Ludington, Michigan. The Lake Express is another ferry, established in 2004, which carries motorists across the lake between Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Muskegon, Michigan, at a much higher speed than the S.S. Badger.

Islands

Rock Island

Parks

The National Park Service maintains the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Parts of the shoreline are within the Hiawatha National Forest and the Manistee National Forest. The Lake Michigan division of the Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge is within the lake.
There are numerous state parks located on the shores of the lake or on islands within the lake.

Grand Haven State Park

Grand Mere State Park

Holland State Park

Hoffmaster State Park

Illinois Beach State Park

Indiana Dunes State Park

Ludington State Park

Muskegon State Park

Orchard Beach State Park

Peninsula State Park

Saugatuck Dunes State Park

Silver Lake State Park

Warren Dunes State Park

Lighthouses

Illinois lighthouses

Indiana lighthouses

Michigan lighthouses

Wisconsin lighthouses

History

Some of the earliest human inhabitants of the Lake Michigan region were the Hopewell Indians. Their culture declined after 800 C.E., and for the next few hundred years the region was the home of peoples known as the Late Woodland Indians. In the early seventeenth century, when western European explorers made their first forays into the region, they encountered descendants of the Late Woodland Indians: the Chippewa, Menominee, Sauk, Fox, Winnebago, Miami, Ottawa, and Potawatomi. It is believed that the French explorer Jean Nicolet discovered Lake Michigan in 1634 or 1638.
After Louis Jolliet, Jacques Marquette, and Robert de LaSalle explored the area in the late seventeenth century, Lake Michigan became part of a line of waterways leading from the Saint Lawrence River to the Mississippi River and thence to the Gulf of Mexico.

Geology

Geologically and hydrologically, Michigan and Huron are the same body of water (sometimes called Lake Michigan-Huron), but are geographically distinct. Counted together, it's the largest fresh water body in the world by surface area. The Mackinac Bridge is generally considered the dividing line between them. Both lakes are part of the Great Lakes Waterway. In earlier maps

of the region, the name Lake Illinois has been found in place of "Michigan".

Ecology

Lake Michigan is home to a variety of species of fish and other organisms. It was originally home to lake trout, yellow perch, panfish, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, carp, bowfin, as well as some species of catfish. In recent years overfishing has caused a decline in lake trout which ultimately caused an increase in the alewife population. As a result, coho and chinook salmon were introduced as a predator of alewives to decrease the alewife population. Lake Michigan is now being stocked with several species of fish. However, several invader species introduced, such as lampreys, threaten the vitality of fish populations.

Further Information

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