The Largest Lake in Michigan

Michigan is a state between two Great Lakes, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. The state is comprised of two land masses between the two lakes, with the northern part smaller than the southern part. Southeast of the southern part of Michigan is Lake Erie, another one of the Great Lakes, but Michigan’s connection with it is pretty small. Still, today we are going to discuss which among these lakes is the largest in Michigan?

 

Michigan’s Great Lakes

Lake Huron is west of Michigan. This lake is also on the Canadian border and has the longest shoreline among all the great lakes. It’s the fifth largest freshwater lake in the world, which pays credence to how massive Lake Huron is. Is it the largest in Michigan though?

Lake Erie, southeast of Michigan, holds a special record being the warmest lake among the great lakes, yet oddly, it’s the one that freezes more than the other lakes. The reason behind this is that Lake Erie is not only one of the smaller Great Lakes by surface area, it’s also not nearly as deep as the others. Its total water volume doesn’t come close to the other Great Lakes

East of Michigan is where you’ll find Lake Michigan. This lake alone has more than 12 million people living along its shores, making it the most inhabited among the great lakes. The center of Lake Michigan is also quite deep, dipping at 281 meters into a place where there’s not much life and a whole lot of empty mud.

With all these facts, it’s still quite hard to definitively say which is the largest. Even if we start listing the numbers, there’s still room for argument. By largest do we mean the widest lake? Or the lake with the most amount of water? What about Depth?

The numbers are as follows:

 

By Surface Area

Lake Michigan:  22,300 square miles (57,800 square kilometers)

Lake Huron: 23,000 square miles (59,600 square kilometers)

Lake Erie: 9,910 square miles (25,700 square kilometers)

It appears that Lake Michigan is short by about 700 square miles, but that’s until you take a look at the amount of water.

 

By Water Volume

Lake Michigan: 1,180 cubic miles (4,920 cubic kilometers)

Lake Huron: 850 cubic miles (3,540 cubic kilometers)

Lake Erie: 116 cubic miles (484 cubic kilometers)

By sheer volume or amount of water, Lake Michigan takes home the gold. If there’s still room for argument, let’s take on average depth and see if Lake Michigan scores another point.

 

By Depth

Lake Michigan: 46 fathoms (279 ft/ 85 m)

Lake Huron: 32 fathoms (195 ft / 59 m)

Lake Erie: 10 fathoms (62 ft /19 m)

Lake Michigan scores another. Though Lake Huron is bigger by span, if you add all the other values up, Lake Michigan is the largest lake in Michigan.

There’s a slight catch though. Technically speaking, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are a single body of water. At the point where North Michigan and South Michigan meet, the channels between the two lakes are level. In this case, we might as well consider the connected Michigan-Huron to be the largest lake in Michigan.

Nevertheless, each of these lakes in Michigan are wonderful to visit and are exactly why it’s so easy to show pride in our state with our exclusive Lake Girl gear.

 

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The History of Houghton Lake

Michigan’s largest inland lake has shared many memories among the residents and tourists who paid it a visit. It is a popular destination for people who want to go fishing, swimming, enjoy watersports, among others. But before it became a popular tourist destination, Houghton Lake served a different purpose to those who lived in the area.

Houghton Lake is found in the Roscommon County in the north-central area of Michigan. But aside from Roscommon on the southwest, it reaches to three other townships: Markey Township on the northeast, Lake Township on the northwest, and Denton Township on the southeast.

 

Size of Houghton Lake

It has a surface area of 20,044 acres. This makes it the largest inland lake in Michigan and one of the largest natural inland lakes in the United States. However, it is also particularly shallow. Its average depth is only 7.5 feet, which makes it only a bit deeper than an Olympic swimming pool. At its deepest point, it’s 22 feet deep.

 

A.K.A. Roscommon Lake

Before it got its name, Houghton Lake was known as Roscommon Lake. It was named after the Roscommon County where the lake is located. It was in 1879 that the lake got its new name in honor of the state’s first geologist and famous explorer and physician, Douglas Houghton. Douglas Houghton died at the young age of 36, putting an end to his many promises to science. In his honor, the lake was named after him. Along with the lake, the city of Houghton, the Houghton County, and Douglas Houghton Falls were named in his honor.

In 1873, the Emery family settled in the area around Houghton Lake. They were the first white settlers of the land. Augustus Emery and his family made their way to the lake after leaving Chesaning, Michigan. Here, Augustus and his three sons built their family home on 160 acres of land.

 

Commerce and Life at Lake Houghton

In the mid-1800s, the area around Houghton Lake became a means of transporting lumber. Lumber was transported from Houghton Lake to Muskegon River. From there, they will be brought to sawmills and shipping facilities in Muskegon. Lumbering became a big part of the development of the area around Houghton Lake. This became the primary industry of the area by late 1800s. As more lumber camps operated in the area, more people started to settle in around the lake. By 1883, a community was established at Houghton Lake.

 

By the early 1900s, however, the lumbering industry was declining. Due to this, the railways that were used to transport lumber became passenger lines. These passenger lines catered to fishermen, hunters, and tourists who want to explore the “north country.” This was the beginning of Houghton Lake’s popularity for great fishing in Michigan.

 

Recreation and Luxury

Years later, Houghton Lake became primarily as a resort area. Businesses and vacation homes were built around the lake’s area. Houghton Lake’s abundance in aquatic life and gorgeous views of nature attracted tourists from all across the globe. Today, Houghton Lake is one of the top vacation destinations in Michigan.

If you’re making your way to Houghton Lake for some fishing, make sure to wear a lucky LIVNFRESH Michigan Fishing Boat T-Shirt!

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Lake Michigan’s Pollution Problem

It’s nearly guaranteed that if you put a lot of people in one place for a while, it’s certain that they will leave behind trash. It’s not necessarily intentional but it’s not inevitable, either. Lake Michigan is a water source for the people living near its shores, so what are the pollution problems in Lake Michigan and what is the major pollutant we should be aware of?

 

• Billions of Gallons of Raw Sewage

 

Raw sewage has to go somewhere. In some cases, it goes into Lake Michigan. It has been like so for years now and billions of gallons of raw sewage have been dumped, causing changes in the lake’s ecosystem. The billions of gallons may look small compared to the quadrillion gallons of water the lake has, but even comparatively small problems can become a problem when left unattended. One of the main effects it has on the lake is the high amounts of nitrogen and organic materials that cause a big bloom of algae and other small plant and animal life.

 

• Chemical Contaminants

Factories have dumped their own waste products in the lake, sometimes intentional and illegal, sometimes accidentally like spills from transport ships or breaches from nearby chemical waste silos. Chemicals like Chromium and Mercury are present in the water, poisoning the aquatic life. The water treatment plants are capable of removing these chemicals before they are sent back to the people who need them, but the lake suffers a blow.

 

• Plastic and All other Non-Biodegradable Trash

It’s likely that you’ve seen pictures of seafaring animals caught in six-pack rings or dead birds whose guts are filled with metal from ring-pull cans and a bunch of plastic bits. There are more examples and those apply to the lake as well. It’s not uncommon to see tin cans on the shallow lake floor, or pits of plastic floating along the center of the lake. One of the more concerning issues they have with plastic pollutants is the newly discovered presence of nearly microscopic, fine plastic fibers in the lake. Like asbestos fibers, it can get stuck into a marine animal’s lungs and gills, causing slow but sure death.

Among these three examples, which one is the major problem in Lake Michigan? One could easily say all of them are, since stopping them could lead to significant improvements the lake and the creatures in it, including the people around it, too.

The answer, however, is the plastic pollutants. Raw sewage can adjust the ecology, causing blooms of life that tip the balance, but once stopped, can naturally recover. Chemical spills are downright nasty but can be isolated and eventually treated, even naturally in some cases.

However, plastic stays behind. Lake cleaning is hard enough and the sea and its inhabitants cannot quickly deal with these non-biodegradable wastes. It’s also harder to control compared to chemical transports and dumping as it happens in very small scales, everywhere.

This is why helping to protect and preserve the environment doesn’t have to be big. It could be as simple as throwing your trash in proper places and picking up after yourself. Like the plastic problem in Lake Michigan, the solution can be very small scale, everywhere.

 

 

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What is the Largest Island in Lake Michigan?

When we think of a lake, some people think it’s something bigger than a pond, but smaller than, say, the sea. That’s about right, but when we talk about the Great Lakes, they do deserve the name “Great”. Lake Michigan alone is 307 miles long, 118 miles wide with the minimum with at 91 miles. It has a total surface area of 22,404 square miles and an estimated water volume 1180 cubic miles. It is so wide that it might as well be a sea of freshwater.

Among the vastness of this lake are islands. Some of them are small, not even enough to put a car on, but others are large enough that they’re inhabited by people and even big enough that they are their own incorporated towns.

Among the many islands that dot Lake Michigan, the largest is Beaver Island. Located along the north of the lake, 32 miles from the city of Charlevoix in Michigan. This island is secluded enough that it can only be reached by air or by boat. The island is about 55.8 square miles and has two townships. It even has its own airport for small aircraft. Despite it being far from Charlevoix, it’s still considered part of  Charlevoix County.

This is not to be confused with another Beaver Island, which can be found in Lake Superior.

 

The “King” of Beaver Island

This island is a popular tourist attraction, not just because of its dense population and great fish market, but because back in 1856, it was once home to a unique religious colony led by “King James Strang.” This religious colony was known as the “Strangite Mormon Church”. Presently, their church and culture have become a tourist attraction and the island itself is now a vacation destination.

This island’s history is based very much on this church created by James Strang. He established a “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints”. However, Strang’s church is actually wholly separate from the current Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is much, much larger. This led to Strang’s church to end up being named “Strangite Mormon Church.” He led his 300 followers into the island where they cleared the land and built small settlements. Eventually, they became a town under Strang’s rule and, with his political power, appointed himself king. After a small ceremony, he was crowned King James Strang by his followers.

 

Visitors Beware

The island eventually had its share of outsiders visit Beaver Island. King Strang exerted his authority over the non-Strangites. This was even to the point of confiscating their property and hurting them. This eventually led to hostility between the Strangites and their neighbors, who considered the island community intolerable.

King Strang’s fall eventually came when he started to dictate that women should wear bloomers. When two women didn’t follow, Strang had their husbands flogged. These two men plotted to assassinate him, and one night on June 16, 1856, they shot him and fled into a departing US gunboat.  King Stang died on July 9, 1856, due to the wounds. Soon enough, the neighboring islands’ people drove the Strangites out, and in 1895, control of the island was legally placed under Charlevoix County.

 

Beaver Island Mini-Documentary

For more information, check out this short documentary:

After you’re done watching the movie above, find your next favorite shirt in our Michigan collection.

Article image via Beaver Island History.

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