Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest Great Lake by volume and depth, and the third-largest by surface area. It is connected to Lake Huron through the Straits of Mackinac, and together they form the largest freshwater lake in the world by area.

Lake Michigan is special because it is the only Great Lake that lies entirely within the United States. The other four Great Lakes are shared between the U.S. and Canada. It touches the U.S. states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Important cities along its shores include Chicago, Illinois; Gary, Indiana; Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wisconsin; and Muskegon, Michigan.

The name "Michigan" comes from the Ojibwe words michi-gami or mishigami, which mean "great water." The lake has many beautiful bays, such as Green Bay, Grand Traverse Bay, and Little Traverse Bay, making it a popular place for people to visit and enjoy nature.

History

Further information: Lake Chicago, Lake Algonquin, Lake Chippewa, and Nipissing Great Lakes

The Lake Michigan area was home to many early Native American groups, including the Hopewell Native Americans. Later, groups such as the Ojibwe, Menominee, Noquet, Sauk, Meskwaki, Ho-Chunk, Miami, Odawa, and Potawatomi lived there. In the 1600s, European explorers arrived. The French explorer Jean Nicolet was likely the first European to see Lake Michigan.

The lake became an important route for trade and travel. Later, it helped cities like Chicago grow. In 1985, a scientist named J. Val Klump became the first person to reach the deep bottom of Lake Michigan using a special underwater vehicle. Scientists have noticed that the lake's temperature has been getting warmer each decade since 1980, which may affect the plants and animals that live there.

Hydrology

The Milwaukee Reef runs under Lake Michigan, splitting it into northern and southern parts. Water in each part flows clockwise, coming from rivers and winds. West winds push surface water east, affecting the climate of western Michigan. Summer water temperatures differ by about 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit between the Wisconsin and Michigan shores.

Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are often considered the same body of water, called Lake Michigan-Huron, and together they are the world’s largest freshwater lake by surface area. The Mackinac Bridge is usually seen as the boundary between them. Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake entirely within the United States. It covers 22,404 square miles, with most of it in Michigan, and parts in Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois. It is 307 miles long and 118 miles wide, with a shoreline stretching 1,640 miles. The lake’s average depth is 279 feet, and its deepest point reaches 923 feet. It holds 1,183 cubic miles of water. Green Bay is its largest bay, and Grand Traverse Bay is another big bay. The deepest area, called the Chippewa Basin, lies in the northern part of the lake.

Most islands in Lake Michigan are in the northern part of the lake. Photo taken from the International Space Station on April 10, 2022.

Lake Michigan connects to the Gulf of Mexico through the Illinois Waterway, using the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. Pleasure boats can also enter the Great Lakes via the Erie Canal in New York. Water levels in Lake Michigan change through the year, usually highest in summer and lowest in winter. Records show that levels can vary significantly, influenced by weather patterns like snowpack and dry summers.

Lake Michigan provides drinking water to millions of people around its shores. The Great Lakes are managed by a group of leaders from the U.S. states and Canadian provinces that border them. Despite efforts, pollution remains a problem, with some industries contributing to contamination.

Shoreline

Beaches

Lake Michigan has many beautiful beaches. People often call this area the "Third Coast" of the United States, after the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The sand is soft and can make a squeaking sound when you walk on it, thanks to tiny pieces of quartz in the sand. Some beaches have tall sand dunes covered with green grass and small flowers. The water is usually clear and cool, between 55 and 80 °F, even in summer. In summer, warmer water flows to the Michigan shore because of the winds.

The sand dunes on the east shore of Lake Michigan are the largest freshwater dune system in the world. These dunes can rise hundreds of feet above the lake. You can see big dune formations in many parks along the Indiana and Michigan shoreline, like Indiana Dunes National Park and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Smaller dunes can be found on the western shore in Illinois and Wisconsin. Lake Michigan beaches in Northern Michigan are the only place where you can find Petoskey stones, the state stone of Michigan.

Cities

View of Lake Michigan from Indiana Dunes National Park

About twelve million people live along Lake Michigan's shores, especially in the Chicago and Milwaukee areas. Many towns in northern Michigan and Door County, Wisconsin, depend on tourism, with lots of visitors enjoying the lake during the summer. Some people have homes along the lake for vacation and live somewhere else during the winter. The southern tip of the lake near Gary, Indiana, has many factories.

Cities along Lake Michigan include:

Illinois

Indiana

Michigan

Lake Michigan basin

Wisconsin

The Milwaukee lakefront

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Silhouette of Chicago at the horizon

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Chicago's Oak Street Beach

Parks

The National Park Service cares for the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and Indiana Dunes National Park. Parts of the shoreline are inside the Hiawatha National Forest and the Manistee National Forest. There are many state and local parks along the lake or on islands in the lake, such as Chicago Park District Beaches, Indiana Dunes State Park, and many others.

Big Sable Point, Michigan in Ludington State Park

Lake view from the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, with people climbing uphill

Sleeping Bear Dunes from the Empire Bluffs Trail near Empire, Michigan

Eichelman Park in Kenosha, Wisconsin, with Lake Michigan in the background

Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline from Portage, Indiana

Sunset at Nordhouse Dunes

Human activities

Fishing

Lake Michigan has many kinds of fish, such as lake whitefish, lake trout, yellow perch, walleye, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and bowfin. However, changes like new water routes and catching too many fish caused some native fish to disappear. To help control other fish, new species like brown trout, steelhead, coho, and chinook salmon were added. Today, people enjoy fishing for these fish, and the lake is restocked every year. But other unwanted fish and creatures have also come in, changing the lake’s water and affecting its fish.

Shipping

Like the other Great Lakes, Lake Michigan is used to move large amounts of goods by ship. In recent years, mostly iron ore, grain, and potash have been moved this way. These materials help make steel and other products. Some liquid goods and containers are also moved, but bigger ships can’t always pass through the locks on the Saint Lawrence Seaway.

Ferries

Two ferries cross Lake Michigan. From May to October, the historic ship SS Badger travels between Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and Ludington, Michigan. Another ferry, Lake Express, started in 2004 and carries people and cars between Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Muskegon, Michigan.

Tourism and recreation

Tourism and fun activities are important for the Great Lakes area. Small cruise ships sail on Lake Michigan, and people enjoy many water sports like yachting, kayaking, diving, kitesurfing, and lake surfing. Passenger steamers have sailed here since the mid-1800s, and ferries take visitors to islands like Beaver Island and Bois Blanc Island. Two car ferries, SS Badger and Lake Express, run from April to November. The Great Lakes Circle Tour is a scenic road system that connects all the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. Lake Michigan is also a good place to see ice volcanoes in winter.