Eighth and last stop, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

The trip from Toronto to Montréal was a long two days. First, we had to traverse nearly the full length of Lake Ontario. Then we had to travel a similar distance along the Saint Lawrence Seaway from Lake Ontario to Montréal. Total distance was about 320 miles. As discussed in the previous entry, the trip was spectacular. Most of our group headed straight for the airport. We love Montréal, so we stayed over for two nights.

The highlight of our visit was our visit to Monte Royal (Mount Royal) a (little) mountain that rises all of 764 feet, just west of downtown Montréal. The name of the city is derived from the name of this baby mountain. The Chalet du mont Royal is located at the top of the mountain.

Here is an aerial view of the Chalet. what follows a pictures we took around the Chalet.   

  

The citizens of Montréal were kind enough to provide us with steps to get down from the dizzying heights. In the end, we were well rewarded for our efforts. It was a joy to spend a few days in one of our favorite cities. The natives were most tolerant of our fractured French. Actually, they are all bilingual.

As the plane flies, we got home in just a few hours. We were rewarded with one last look at the sights we had seen of the river.

The Saint Lawrence River from 30,000 feet

The Saint Lawrence River

 What's in a name? The word Ontario was given by the by the Iroquois tribe, and translates roughly to "beautiful lake" or "big body of water." This has been so for millennia before Europeans discovered America. The name was adopted by the United States and later by Canada. That name will not be changed with a sharpie or by Google.

Lake Ontario drains into the Saint Lawrence River. Some of the river is not navigable by ships, so canals were constructed in various places to bypass rapids. The name Saint Lawrence Seaway has been given to the combination of the river along with the constructed canals and locks. 

We only went as far as Montréal. Other than the northern lights, the journey down the Saint Lawrence River was the most spectacular part of our trip. Most of the surrounding land is wilderness with abundant wildlife. There are interspersed mansions and castles along the shores and on the islands. Most of our time was spent at the railing admiring the scenery as it went by. Upstream, the river separates Ontario Province from New York State. Further downstream, it separates Ontario Province from Quebec Province.

Snell Lock, Massena, New York

Snell Lock, from above

Snell Lock, from way above

Seventh Stop, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

We traversed the Welland Canal and crossed Lake Ontario overnight, arriving in Toronto the next morning. Toronto is a big, beautiful city that we have visited several times in the past. This visit would be more limited. We traveled in the city on a chartered bus which due to heavy traffic, had two speeds - slow and stop. We did get off the bus and explore some of the downtown architecture by foot. 

A vertical panoramic view

Sixth Stop, Niagara Falls, Canada

 Our ship, the Victory I, could not sail directly to Niagara Falls. That is always considered poor form.

AI generated. No ships were lost creating this picture

Instead, we sailed across Lake Erie from Cleveland to Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada. The Welland Canal begins on the Lake Erie side at Port Colborne, consists of eight locks, and ends at Port Weller on the Lake Ontario side. The canal provides a shipping route that bypasses the Niagara River and Niagara Falls. We took a one hour charter bus ride from Port Colborne to the Canadian side of the falls.

We had been to both sides of Niagara Falls in the past, but we had never taken the tour boat up close and soaking wet to the base of the falls. That was quite an experience - once.

We returned to the ship late afternoon. From there, we would navigate overnight the length of the Welland Canal to Port Weller at the Lake Ontario end of the canal.

Dinner with our travel group aboard the ship with assorted photo bombers

Locks along the Welland Canal

Fifth Stop, Cleveland! (home)

The sailing distance between Detroit and Cleveland is about 110 miles, which we did overnight. For many on the cruise, the highlight of the trip was visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I did stop by there for a little while, although we had been there many times before.

The Cleveland Orchestra ranks as one of the world's top ensembles

The Cleveland Orchestra is a local treasure, and we patronize it frequently, but it was not part of this adventure.

Nearby Oberlin, Ohio is home to Oberlin College. It was also a vital link of the Underground Railroad. Historians estimate that 30,000 to 100,000 slaves escaped their enslavement thanks to the Underground Railroad. This clever monument has been erected on the Oberlin campus.

Underground Railroad      Oberlin, Ohio

Fourth Stop, Detroit

 The distance we traveled was about 300 miles. It took two days. Meanwhile, we had great entertainment by excellent musicians, tours of the ship including the bridge, and fine food.

It was still dark the morning we arrived in Detroit

We were in Detroit only for the day, so we had to choose one place to go. We had been to the Detroit Institute of Arts in the past, so we chose to go to the Ford Museum since we had never been there.

The sheer number and diversity of displays was amazing. Of course, there were old Fords.

But wait, there's more! There were multiple presidential limousines-Lincolns of course.

Also made in Michigan, but not by Ford, is the Eames chair.

Henry Ford not just mass produced cars for everyone, he also attempted to put the people in their individual airplanes.

This was a project that never quite got off the ground.

And there was so much more. Time ran out, and we had to head back to the ship.

Third Stop, Sault Ste. Marie

Aerial view of Soo Locks. Soult Ste. Marie, Michigan is on the right.
Soult Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada is on the left.
photo by Army Corps of Engineers

After nature's display overnight, we arrived at Soult Ste. Marie early in the morning. The Great Lakes tour group promised that we would travel to all five Great Lakes. So, when we got to Soult Ste. Marie, we traversed the Soo Locks, entered Lake Superior, made a wide circle for 15 minutes, and then returned to the Lake Huron side of Soo Locks. Mission accomplished, I guess. I think I slept through it.

The sister cities are located on each side of the St. Marys River which flows from Lake Superior to Lake Huron. The recent history of Soult Ste. Marie closely relates to the mining of iron. A quick review of ancient history is in order. Let's go back 3 billion years.

Although the human species has been correctly credited with altering the world environment, some have spuriously opined that we are the only species that has altered the global environment. Our impact is puny compared to that of cyanobacteria. These bacteria were the first capable of photosynthesis, and are responsible for flooding the earth's atmosphere with oxygen for the first time. This changed everything. All complex life on earth depends on oxygen and could not exist without it. 

About 1 billion years ago when land and seas were in far different locations than today, an event referred to as the Midcontinent Rift occurred creating a new ocean basin where the Great Lakes sit today.  Underwater volcanic activity poured huge amounts of iron into the ancient oceans. Iron cannot rust without oxygen. When oxygen became plentiful, it reacted with iron dissolved in the ocean which sank to the seafloor as iron oxide. This created iron ore deposits. The region around Lake Superior is particularly rich in iron ore.

The first iron ore deposit discovered in this region was at the Marquette Range along the south shore of Lake Superior in 1844 by William Burt, a surveyor who noticed that a magnetic compass was disturbed by a force later identified as the presence of iron ore. Thus began the mining of vast amounts of iron ore from the shores of Lake Superior.

Transportation of the ore from Lake Superior to the steel mills and blast furnace facilities along the lower Great Lakes posed a seemingly insurmountable problem. Rapids in the Saint Marys River was an obstacle which totally prevented water transport out of Lake Superior. Various actions were taken, including unloading the ore and reloading it on ships below the rapids. The ore was loaded on animal drawn sleds. Long distance railroad was attempted, but was abandoned due to logistical and economic problems.

The solution was created when the first Soo lock was constructed in 1855. The first ship to pass through the lock in 1855 did so in less than one hour. This changed everything. In 1881, the U.S. Army took over the lock. Today, there are five locks on the U.S. side, maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

For me, the highlight of this stop was visiting the Museum Ship. The ship was built in 1917 in Lorain, Ohio by the American Shipbuilding Company. She was originally named the Louis W. Hill. The name was changed to the Valley Camp in 1955 after it was sold. It was sold again in 1966 to Le Soult de Sainte Marie Historical Sites, Inc. for $10,000 to become a museum.

Deck of the Valley Camp
from the Sault Historic Sites Photo Gallery

A comparison to the biggest freighters on the Great Lakes.
The Valley Camp is on the left. (puny, but nearly 2 football fields in length)

The biggest item on display at the museum was of course the ship itself. At 550 feet in length, it is only half as long as the longest freighters on the Great Lakes. Yet, it feels enormous to its visitors. Although there are innumerable displays on the museum ship, the outstanding collection relates to the Edmund Fitzgerald which went down in Lake Superior in 1975.

Artist's rendering of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Recovered life boat, torn in half by the storm

In summary, you may listen to the recording, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

When Gordon Lightfoot died, the Mariners' Church bell in Detroit tolled 30 times, 29 times for each crew member lost on the Edmond Fitzgerald, plus one additional time to honor Gordon Lightfoot.