Sault Ste. Marie

Living the Dream, One Trip at a Time

6/1/26

Our visit began at the Soo Locks, the engineering marvel that allows ships to move between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes (despite a 21-foot difference in water level).

The Soo Locks are located in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, where we were able to watch, not one but two giant freighters squeeze through one of the Soo Locks.

The massive freighters (1000+ feet) entered the locks; the gates closed; the water surged; the ship slowly rose; and off they went.

It feels kind of magical… the ships entered at one elevation and left at another, all through the simple but brilliant manipulation of gravity and water.

The Soo Locks Visitor Center helped us appreciate just how important these locks are.

Nearly all the iron ore used by American steel mills passes through here. What seemed at first like a tourist attraction is actually one of the most important transportation choke points in North America.

Taconite is a low-grade iron ore — a hard rock that contains tiny particles of iron mixed with other minerals. It became very important around Lake Superior because the richer, easier-to-use iron ore was gradually used up. Instead of mining big chunks of high-quality ore, companies began mining taconite, crushing it, separating out the iron, and turning it into small round pellets that could be shipped to steel mills.

Suddenly those giant freighters weren’t just impressive—they were essential. This time in our current events reminds me that the Soo Locks are a Great Lakes chokepoint, much like the Strait of Hormuz is a global oil chokepoint.

Our final stop was the Valley Camp Museum Ship. The Valley Camp is actually a retired Great Lakes freighter that now serves as a floating museum.

Walking its decks provided a glimpse into the lives of the sailors who spent weeks at a time navigating the inland seas. The exhibits, although very dated, told a comprehensive story of Great Lakes shipping.

A moving section focused on the Edmund Fitzgerald, the legendary ore carrier lost in a Lake Superior storm in 1975.

We listened to the Gordon Lightfoot song as soon as we got back in the car!

Standing inside a ship while learning about another ship that never made it home… kind of an eerie feeling. The Great Lakes can appear calm and inviting, but the exhibits are a reminder that these waters have demanded respect from mariners for centuries.