These regions lie within the basin of the great St. Lawrence River,
beyond all doubt the most important waterway of North America, more
important even than the Mississippi. The main origin of the St.
Lawrence in the west is Lake Superior, the largest sea of fresh water
in the world, which is connected with Lake Nipigon on the north. The
waters of Lake Superior are carried over the Sault Ste. Marie rapids
into Lake Huron and find a huge backwater in Lake Michigan.[9] Out of
Lake Huron again they flow past Detroit into Lake Erie. From Duluth,
at the westernmost extremity of Lake Superior, to Buffalo, on the
easternmost point of Lake Erie, including all Lake Michigan and Lake
Huron, with its bays and channels, a steamer can pass with just the
one difficulty (easily surmounted) of the rapids at Sault Ste. Marie
between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. But after you have left Lake
Erie on the east you find yourself in the Niagara River, which at the
Niagara Falls plunges several hundred feet downwards into Lake
Ontario. From Lake Ontario to the sea along the St. Lawrence there is
uninterrupted navigation, though there are rapids that require careful
steering both with steamers and boats. Quebec marks the place where
the St. Lawrence River suddenly broadens from a river into a tidal
gulf of brackish or salt water. Ocean steamers from all over the world
can come (except during the height of the winter, when the water
freezes) to Quebec.
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