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Lake Saint Clair
Sign in to saveAlso known as Lake St. Clair, Lake St Clair, Lac Sainte-Claire
lake bordering Ontario, Canada and Michigan, US
Key facts
- Location
- ( Great Lakes )
- Type
- Freshwater lake
- Primary inflows
- St. Clair River , Thames River , Sydenham River , Clinton River
- Primary outflows
- Detroit River
- Basin countries
- Canada, United States
- Max length
- 26 mi (42 km)
- Max width
- 24 mi (39 km)
- Surface area
- 430 sq mi (1,114 km )
- Average depth
- 11 ft (3.4 m)
- Max depth
- 27 ft (8.2 m)
- Water volume
- 0.82 cu mi (3.4 km )
- Residence time
- 7 days
- Shore length
- 130 mi (210 km) plus 127 mi (204 km) for islands
- Surface elevation
- 574 ft (175 m)
- Islands
- Gull Island , Harsens Island , Strawberry Island Fantasy Island and Peche Island
- Settlements
- Detroit
via Wikipedia infobox
~11 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Lake St. Clair (French: Lac Sainte-Claire) is a freshwater lake that lies between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Michigan. It was named in 1679 by French Catholic explorers after Saint Clare of Assisi, on whose feast day they first saw the lake.
It is part of the Great Lakes system (although not considered one of the five Great Lakes), and along with the St. Clair River and Detroit River, Lake St. Clair connects Lake Huron (to the north) with Lake Erie (to the south). It has a total surface area of about 430 square miles (1,100 km) and an average depth of just 11 feet (3.4 m); to ensure an uninterrupted waterway, government agencies in both countries have maintained a 30-foot-deep (9.1 m) shipping channel through the shallow lake for more than a century.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Lake Saint Clair” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.