Lake Michigan . It is one of the five Great Lakes of North America . It is surrounded by the states of Indiana , Illinois , Wisconsin and Michigan , which is named after the lake.
Summary
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- 1 Location
- 2 Limits
- 3 Population
- 4 Features
- 5 Source
Location
Lake Michigan, a lake located in the northern part of the central United States , occupies the third place in extension of the lakes that are known as the Great Lakes. It is the only one that belongs entirely to the territory of the United States.
Limits
It is bordered to the north and east by the state of Michigan, to the south by Indiana, and to the west by Illinois and Wisconsin. It is 492 km long and up to 190 km wide. It occupies 57,757 km2 of surface.
To the north, the lake drains through the Strait of Mackinac , through which it communicates with Lake Huron . The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal connects the lake with the Mississippi River . The Green Bay , on the western shore, and the Grand Traverse Bay, on the east, are the main bays of the lake. The lake has a complex of lighthouses, buoys, meteorological and storm forecasting stations, as well as other means of assistance to navigation, whose maintenance depends on the federal government.
In the northern part of the lake, which for four months of the year is blocked by ice, there are several islands, of which Beaver (about 80 km long), Garden and North and South Manitou are the largest.
Population
About 12 million people live along the shore of Lake Michigan. Many of them are small resorts that live off the benefits of Lake Michigan’s beauty and recreational opportunities. These cities increase their population in season thanks to the arrivals of Chicago and Milwaukee.
characteristics
The cities of Chicago , Milwaukee and Muskegon are located on its banks . The restocking of the lake with trout and the introduction of coho salmon have recovered sport and commercial fishing in the lake, after having been seriously polluted by the industries that operate on its shores, especially in the south and west. The French explorer Jean Nicolet discovered Lake Michigan in 1634.
Lake Michigan has many beaches. The region is sometimes referred to as the “third coast” of the United States, after the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The sand is soft and whitish in color, known as “singing sands” because of the squeak (caused by the high quartz content) that occurs when you walk through it. Along the coast there are many tall sand dunes covered with green grass and ‘beach cherries’ (Prunus pumila) and the water is normally clear and cool (between 13 and 27 ° C), even in late summer.
Due to the prevailing westerly winds that tend to move the surface waters east, there is a warmer flow of water along the Michigan shore in summer. On the beaches of Lake Michigan in northern Michigan is the only place in the world, apart from some inland lakes in that region, where you can find Petoskey stones, the state stone.