Great Lakes Great Lakes The Great Lakes (), also called the Laurentian Great Lakes and the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of interconnected freshwater lakes located primarily in the upper mid-east region of North America, on the Canada–United States border, which connect to the Atlantic Ocean through the Saint Lawrence River. They consist of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, although hydrologically, there are four lakes, Superior, Erie, Ontario, and Michigan-Huron. The lakes are interconnected by the Great Lakes Waterway. The Great Lakes are the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total area, and second largest
Great Lakes passenger steamers Great Lakes passenger steamers The history of commercial passenger shipping on the Great Lakes is long but uneven. It reached its zenith between the mid-19th century and the 1950s. As early as 1844, palace steamers carried passengers and cargo around the Great Lakes. By 1900, fleets of relatively luxurious passenger steamers plied the waters of the lower lakes, especially the major industrial centres of Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Toronto. Sources disagree as to which was the first steamboat on the Great Lakes. Some say it was the Canadian built "Frontenac" (170 feet), launched on September 7, 1816, at