Lake Erie

Lake Erie is the smallest of the five Great Lakes by volume and is also the southernmost of the group. To its north is Ontario, a province of Canada, and bordering its southern edge are the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York. Lake Erie takes its name from the Erie tribe. Erie is short for Erielhonan, an Iroquoian word meaning "long tail".

When Europeans had traversed through the wooded expanse far enough to discover the lake, they noticed a tribe living along the southern shore. The area had been claimed by the Iroquois and was being used as a designated hunting ground. Many legends have echoed around the area, such as the story of Hulda who, upon losing her British lover, leaped to her death from a high rock at Pelee Island.

It may be surprising to know that the lake isn't just an abyss of fresh water, but also contains a group of islands, each with their own unique features. Pelee Island is the largest of the islands in Lake Erie and lies just miles from the U.S.-Canadian border, on the Canadian side. It houses rare plants, like the Yellow Horse Gentian or Wild Hyacinth, as well as two endangered species of snakes.

Lake Erie is a continual source of ecology and fertility. The southern tip of Canada that borders the lake serves as a rich area for agriculture in vegetables and fruit. The lake distributes climate changes in strange ways creating rare microclimates, like greenhouses that have spawned tropical plants. Along Lake Erie's southern shore is a pivotal region of grape production between New York and Ohio. Apple Orchards grow there as well.

The lake is also ripe and plentiful with plankton, a basic foundation of the aquatic food chain, and has given rise to swarms of diverse fish swimming about the lake. Fish like the Walleye, Smallmouth Bass, Perch, various Smelt, and Pickerel populate the lake. A popularly sought fish, the Blue Walleye, densely populates the lake. For this reason, mass scale fishing occurs practically year round, with yields of fish that reach the thousands of tonnes.

Some environmental concerns have resultantly arisen from the impact of harvesting, agribusiness, and transportation on the lake. Fortunately, the United States and Canada make conservational efforts to maintain the delicate ecosystems that form the lakes habitats. Overfishing has been capped, and the two countries work in tandem to prevent chemical imbalances in the lake, like eutrophication, which results from the excess fertilizer runoff being deposited into the lake.

Tourism is alive and well at the lakes and attracts several thousand tourists every year. A popular activity consists of diving into the lake and examining one of its many infamous shipwrecks. This includes a variety of watercraft, ranging from freight ships that transported goods at the turn of the 20th century to Native American boats that met treacherous conditions in attempting to cross. There is also a road system called the Great Lakes Circle Tour, a scenic road system that connects all of the bodies of water.