Straits Of Mackinac

Information about Straits Of Mackinac

The Straits of Mackinac, spanned by the Mackinac Bridge, seen from the southern shore

View of the Straits from Mackinac Island

The Straits of Mackinac (pronounced IPA: /ˈmÃ¦kɨnɔː/, like MACK-in-aw, note the silent "c") is the strip of water that connects two of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, and separates the Lower Peninsula of Michigan from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is a shipping lane connecting, for instance, the steel mills of Gary, Indiana to the iron mines of Minnesota. Before the railroads reached Chicago from the east, it served as part of the path for immigrants into the Midwest and Great Plains. It is five miles (8 km) wide at its narrowest point where it is spanned by the Mackinac Bridge. Before the bridge was built, car ferries were used to cross the straits. Today passenger-only ferries carry people to Mackinac Island which does not permit cars. Before icebreakers and year-round shipping on the Lower Great Lakes, the Straits would freeze over in winter.

Islands in the Straits of Mackinac include the two populated islands, Bois Blanc Island and Mackinac Island, and the two uninhabited islands, Round Island and St. Helena Island. At 11 miles (18 kilometers) in length, Bois Blanc is by far the largest island in the Straits.

Geology and history

The Straits were an important Native American and fur trade route. Located on the southern side of the Straits is the town of Mackinaw City, Michigan, the site of Fort Michilimackinac, a reconstructed French fort founded in 1715, and on the northern side is St. Ignace, Michigan, site of a French Catholic mission to the Indians, founded in 1671. The eastern end of the Straits was controlled by Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island, a British colonial and early American military base and fur trade center, founded in 1781.

Straits of Mackinac today

The Straits are patrolled by a detachment of the United States Coast Guard based at Graham Point, St. Ignace. A shipping channel through the winter ice is maintained by the Coast Guard's Great Lakes icebreaker, USCGC Mackinaw, based in Cheboygan, Michigan near the eastern edge of the Straits. This new vessel went into service during the 2005-06 ice season.

Most of the Straits have been set aside by the U.S. state of Michigan as the Straits of Mackinac Shipwreck Preserve, a riparian public space dedicated to those personnel who were lost aboard the boats and ships that sank in these once-dangerous shipping lanes.

Lighthouses in the Straits of Mackinac include:

The Old Mackinac Point Light, in Mackinaw City, Michigan, which is open to the public.
The Round Island Light on Round Island, which is not open to the public but which can be viewed from the Mackinac Island ferry channel.
The St. Helena Island Lighthouse, which is not open to the public but is visible from a rest area on U.S. Highway 2 at Gros Cap, Michigan west of St. Ignace, Michigan.
The Bois Blanc Island Light, which is not open to the public, on the northern shore of Bois Blanc.

Satellite photograph of icebreaker paths through the ice in the Straits. The Mackinac Bridge is the vertical line in the center, connecting the landmass of the Upper Peninsula above to lower Michigan below. The icebreaker paths run right-to-left, connecting the open water of Lake Michigan with the open water of Lake Huron between Mackinac Island and Round Island.

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Coordinates:

This chart shows concisely the most common way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is applied to represent the English language.

See International Phonetic Alphabet for English for a more complete version and Pronunciation respelling for English for phonetic
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Great Lakes are a group of five large lakes in North America on or near the Canada–United States border. They are the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth. The Great Lakes–St. Lawrence system is the largest freshwater system in the world.
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Coordinates Coordinates:

Basin countries United States
Max length 307 mi (494 km)
Max width
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Coordinates Coordinates:
Lake type Glacial
Primary sources St.
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Lower Peninsula of Michigan is surrounded by water on all sides except its southern border, which it shares with Ohio and Indiana. Geographically, the Lower Peninsula has a recognizable shape that many people associate with a mitten.
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The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the northern of the two major land masses that comprise the U.S. state of Michigan. It is commonly referred to simply as the Upper Peninsula, the U.P., or Upper Michigan, and more casually as the land "above the Bridge".
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Steel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.02% and 1.7 or 2.04% by weight (C:1000–10,8.67Fe), depending on grade. Carbon is the most cost-effective alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used such as manganese and
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City of Gary, Indiana

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Nickname: City in Motion, City of the Century, GI, Magic city of Steel, The Steel City
Location in the state of Indiana, USA
Coordinates:
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State of Minnesota

Flag of Minnesota Seal
Nickname(s): North Star State,
The Land of 10,000 Lakes, The Gopher State
Motto(s): L'Ã‰toile du Nord (French: The Star of the North)

Capital Saint Paul

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Midwestern United States (or Midwest) refers to the north-central states of the United States of America, specifically Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
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Great Plains are the broad expanse of prairie and steppe which lie east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming, and
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Mackinac Bridge (pronounced IPA: /ˈmÃ¦kɨnɔː/, with a silent "c"), is a suspension bridge spanning the Straits of Mackinac to connect the non-contiguous Upper and Lower peninsulas of the U.S. state of Michigan.
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Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are designed to carry wheeled cargo such as automobiles, trailers or railroad cars. This is in contrast to lo-lo (lift on-lift off) vessels which use a crane to load and unload cargo.
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Mackinac
Native name: Michilimackinac<nowiki />

Geography
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Location Lake Huron
Coordinates <nowiki /> <nowiki />

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icebreaker is a special purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters. Although this article mainly discusses icebreaking ships, the term can refer to smaller vessels (e.g.
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island (IPA: /aɪ.lɪnd/) or isle (IPA: /aɪ.ʌl
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Bois Blanc Island, Michigan
Aerial view of the Straits of Mackinac. Bois Blanc Island, the largest of the archipelago, can be seen at right.
Country United States
State Michigan
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Round Island is an uninhabited island in Mackinac County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located in the Straits of Mackinac, which connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. The Native Americans called the island "Nissawinagong."

The island has an area of only 378 acres (1.
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St. Helena Island Light complex are the sole surviving structures on St. Helena Island, in Mackinac County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The lighthouse on the island's southeastern point was built in 1872-73 and went into operation in September 1873.
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indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples. They are often also referred to as Native Americans, First Nations
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fur trade is a worldwide industry which involves the collection and sale of animal fur.

Russian fur trade

Before the colonization of the Americas, Russia was a major fur supplier of Western Europe and parts of Asia.
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Village of Mackinaw City
Location of Mackinaw City within Michigan
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Michigan
Counties Emmet, Cheboygan
Village ?
Government
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Fort Michilimackinac was an 18th century French, and later British, fort and trading post in the Great Lakes of North America. Built around 1715, it was located along the southern shore of the strategic Straits of Mackinac connecting Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, at the northern
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8th century - 9th century - 10th century
850s 860s 870s - 880s - 890s 900s 910s
885 886 887 - 888 - 889 890 891

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Subjects: Archaeology - Architecture -
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St. Ignace, Michigan

Seal
Motto:
Location of St. Ignace, Michigan
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Michigan
County Mackinac
Area
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Christianity

Foundations
Jesus Christ
Church Theology
New Covenant Supersessionism
Dispensationalism
Apostles Kingdom Gospel
History of Christianity Timeline
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Old Testament New Testament
Books Canon Apocrypha
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Fort Mackinac was a military outpost garrisoned from the late 18th century to the late 19th century on Mackinac Island in the U.S. state of Michigan. Built by the British during the American Revolutionary War to control the strategic Straits of Mackinac between Lake Michigan and
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