Soo Locks Tour

It was 50º F (10º C) and cloudy when we got up this morning. We spent the morning going through the travel brochures for area and planning where we wanted to go sightseeing.

We learned from the brochures that Sault Ste. Marie, MI is the oldest city in Michigan and the third oldest city in the United States. French missionaries and fur traders ventured into the territory in the 1600’s. Father Jacques Marquette, the legendary Jesuit missionary and explorer, named the European settlement Sault Ste. Marie in honor of the Virgin Mary. The French and British often fought over the area in the 1700’s. In 1820 the Treaty of Sault was signed and control of the area south of the St. Mary’s River was turned over to the United States in 1823. The Twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario are called the Twin Sault area – an International City.

After lunch we drove across the International Bridge ($5 toll) and crossed the border into the U.S. to Sault Ste. Marie, MI to go on the Soo Locks Boat Tour. We arrived at Dock #2 and purchased tickets ($21 each) for the 1:45 p.m. boat tour. When the tour boat arrived we boarded the Nokomis and took our seats in the forward seating area. It was still cloudy and the temp was in the mid 50’s, so we definitely needed our coats.

From Sault Ste Marie

On our 2 hour boat tour of the Soo Locks we passed by the Edison Building – a quarter mile long horizontal shaft hydro plant (the longest in the world), built from 1898 to 1902. We saw the Algoma Steel Plant, the Museum Ship “Valley Camp”, Canadian Bushplane Museum, M.S. Norgoma Museum Ship, and the Tower of History.

From Sault Ste Marie

On our tour we learned that the American Soo Locks are a designated National Historic Site. The first lock was constructed in the late 1700’s on the Canadian side of the river, but was destroyed during the War of 1812. The federal government took control of the modernized locks in the 1870’s. The Soo Locks are the busiest locks in the world. The two active U.S. locks are the MacArthur and the Poe and they handle an average of 10,000 vessel passages a year.
After our boat tour we bought some postcards at the gift shop and got a couple of Mocha Cappuccinos at the Dockside Cafe to help us warm up.

Before heading back to the RV park we drove down to the Aune Osborne Campground to check it out and stopped at a couple of places to take photos. We also stopped at The Totem Pole souvenir shop north of Sault Ste. Marie in Ontario to take photos of the Man and Moose.

From Sault Ste Marie

After dinner Symphony and I went up to the common room with our laptops to use their wifi service. Since it's still early in the season, we were the only ones up there.