| History
and Facts |
| |
| History: |
| French explorers discovered
and named Lake Saint Clair on August 12, 1679. Among the party of
34 men were voyageur Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, and
Roman Catholic Friar Father Louis Hennepin. Aboard the Griffon,
the first sailing vessel on the Upper Lakes, the group sailed from
Niagara Falls are on August 7, 1679, and entered the Detroit River
on August 11th. They reached Lake Saint Clair the following day
and name it Lac Sainte Clair in honor of Sainte Claire of Assisi
whose feast date fell at that time. It was Sainte Claire who established
the order of Franciscan nuns, the order of the Poor Claires.
Government officials and mapmakers later changed the
spelling to the present form of Saint Clair. This led to some confusion
as to the true origin of the name the lake. And with that said the
French sent hundreds of explorers, trappers and priests to this
new territory in search of new lanes, beaver and muskrat pelts to
send home, and souls to save. |
 |
|
Dates
in Time: |
| |
|
| Over
12,500
Years
Ago |
Ancient Life of the Great Lakes |
 |
|
| 1253 |
Story of Clara d'Assisi |
|
|
| 1859 |
A History
of the South Channel Lights |
|
|
Early
1800's
to the late
1900's |
Let
the Lower Lights Be Burning:
A History of the Lighthouses at the St. Clair Flats |
Let
the Lower Lights Be Burning:
A History of the Lighthouses at
the St. Clair Flats
|
|
|
| Facts: |
| Lake St. Clair, a lake in central North America,
astride the border between southeastern Michigan and southern
Ontario. The nearly circular lake is 42 km (26 mi) long and has
an area of 1114 sq km (430 sq mi). A heavily trafficked component
of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, the lake is connected with Lake
Huron to the north by the Saint Clair River and with Lake Erie
to the south by the Detroit River. Although the lake's
commercial fisheries have been closed because of industrial pollution,
it remains a popular summer resort. |
