Chippewa County is a county in the eastern Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the population was 36,785. The county seat is Sault Ste. Marie. The county is named for the Ojibwe (Chippewa) people, and was set off and organized in 1826. Chippewa County comprises the Sault Ste. Marie, MI micropolitan statistical area.
Sault Ste. Marie is a city in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Chippewa County and is the only city within the county. With a population of 13,337 at the 2020 census, it is the second-most populated city in the Upper Peninsula, behind Marquette. It is the primary city of the Sault Ste. Marie, MI Micropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Chippewa County and had a population of 36,785 at the 2020 census. Sault Ste. Marie was settled by mostly French colonists in 1668, making it the oldest city in Michigan.
Sugar Island Township is a civil township of Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 653 at the 2020 census. The township consists of Sugar Island, several smaller islands, and the surrounding waters in the St. Marys River.
Newton Township is a civil township of Mackinac County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of 2020, its population was 430.
The St. Marys River, sometimes written St. Mary's River, drains Lake Superior, starting at the end of Whitefish Bay and flowing 74.5 miles (119.9 km) southeast into Lake Huron, with a fall of 23 feet (7.0 m). For its entire length it is an international border, separating Michigan in the United States from Ontario, Canada.
The Soo Locks are a set of parallel locks, operated and maintained by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, that enable ships to travel between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes. They are located on the St. Marys River between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, between the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan and the Canadian province of Ontario. They bypass the rapids of the river, where the water falls 21 ft (6.4 m). The locks pass an average of 10,000 ships per year, despite being closed during the winter from January through March, when ice shuts down shipping on the Great Lakes. The winter closure period is used to inspect and maintain the locks.
The Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge spans the St. Marys River between the United States and Canada connecting the twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. The bridge is operated by the International Bridge Administration under the direction of the Sault Ste. Marie Bridge Authority, a bi-national governing body consisting of four directors appointed by the Governor of Michigan and four appointed by the Canadian government-owned Federal Bridge Corporation.
MS Norgoma was a Canadian package freighter and passenger ferry, that could also transport automobiles on a limited basis. Originally constructed as a steam-powered ship in 1950, SS Norgoma primarily sailed the route from her home port of Owen Sound to Sault Ste. Marie, providing a five-day round trip, once a week, serving isolated communities along the north shore of Lake Huron. After conversion to a motor ship, Norgoma was transferred to the popular Manitoulin Island ferry route between Tobermory and South Baymouth along with her sister ship SS Norisle, replacing the smaller ferry, MS Normac, on that route.
The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, commonly shortened to Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians or the more colloquial Soo Tribe, is a federally recognized Native American tribe in what is now known as Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The tribal headquarters is located within Sault Ste. Marie, the major city in the region, which is located on the St. Marys River.
WSOO is a radio station in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The station airs a gold-based soft adult contemporary format during daytime hours, featuring music from the 1960s through the 2000s, and features paranormal talk programming in late night timeslots. WSOO has been owned and operated by Sovereign Communications since 2003, and is part of Sovereign's 7-station cluster in the Sault Ste. Marie and Newberry market.
The Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority is the agency established to regulate the Peace Bridge, which crosses the Canada–United States border. This bridge is designed to handle vehicle traffic between Buffalo in the American state of New York and Fort Erie in the Canadian province of Ontario.
The Niagara Falls Bridge Commission is an international public agency which administers three international bridges across the Niagara River connecting the province of Ontario, Canada, and the state of New York, United States: the Lewiston–Queenston Bridge, Whirlpool Rapids Bridge and Rainbow Bridge. The NFBC is incorporated as a class D New York State public benefit corporation and is licensed to operate in Ontario under the Extra-Provincial Corporations Act. The commission is based in Lewiston, New York, and maintains a post office box address in Niagara Falls, Ontario. It is mostly self-supporting from tolls, leases, and commercial concessions.
The Sault Ste. Marie Canal is a National Historic Site in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and is part of the national park system, managed by Parks Canada. It includes a lock to bypass the rapids on the St. Marys River.
Fort St. Joseph is a former British outpost on the southernmost point of St. Joseph Island in Ontario, Canada, on Lake Huron. The fort consisted of a blockhouse, powder magazine, bakery building, Indian council house and storehouse surrounded by a palisade.
Aweres is a local services board in the Canadian province of Ontario. Located in the Algoma District, it encompasses and provides services to most of the geographic township of Aweres, including the communities of Island Lake and Heyden.
The Edison Sault Power Canal supplies the Saint Marys Falls Hydropower Plant, a Cloverland Electric Cooperative hydroelectric plant, in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Excavation of the power canal began in September 1898 and was completed in June 1902. The canal and hydroelectric complex were named a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1983.
The Sault Ste. Marie Railroad Bridge was originally built in 1887 to facilitate rail traffic crossing St. Marys River and the international border between Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. It runs parallel to the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge. It has nine Camelback spans and carries a single line of track.
Sault Ste. Marie is a city in Ontario, Canada. The third-largest city in Northern Ontario after Sudbury and Thunder Bay, it is located on the St. Mary's River on the Canada–US border. To the southwest, across the river, is the United States and the Michigan city of the same name. The two cities are joined by the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge, which connects Interstate 75 on the Michigan side to Huron Street on the Ontario side. Shipping traffic in the Great Lakes system bypasses the Saint Mary's Rapids via the American Soo Locks, the world's busiest canal in terms of tonnage that passes through it, while smaller recreational and tour boats use the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie Canal.
Due to its unique geography, being made of two peninsulas surrounded by the Great Lakes, Michigan has depended on many ferries for connections to transport people, vehicles and trade. The most famous modern ferries are those which carry people and goods across the Straits of Mackinac to the car-free Mackinac Island but before the Mackinac Bridge was built, large numbers of ferries carried people and cars between the two peninsulas. Other ferries continue to provide transportation to small islands and across the Detroit River to Canada. Ferries once provided transport to island parks for city dwellers. The state's only national park, Isle Royale cannot be reached by road and is normally accessed by ferry. The largest ferries in Michigan are the car ferries which cross Lake Michigan to Wisconsin. One of these, the SS Badger is one of the last remaining coal steamers on the Great Lakes and serves as a section of US Highway 10 (US 10). The Badger is also the largest ferry in Michigan, capable of carrying 600 passengers and 180 autos.
The Sault Canal Emergency Swing Dam is an all-metal structure built by the Dominion Bridge Company in 1896. It sits along the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie Canal, to protect against the rush of water that would occur if something ever damaged the Sault locks. It operates by swinging over the canal and dropping wicket gates into the water. The Emergency Dam was put to the ultimate test on June 9, 1909, when the freighter Perry G. Walker crashed into the upstream lock sending a torrent of water crashing into the downstream lock. The Perry G. Walker and another ship the "Assiniboia" were sent back into the St. Marys River and another ship that was heading upstream out of the locks the "Crescent City" hit the channel wall. The swing dam proved its worth by slowing down the torrent of water.
