Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario sides of the river. Sault Ste. Marie is one of the oldest French settlements in North America. It was at the crossroads of the 3,000-mile fur trade route, which stretched from Montreal to Sault Ste. Marie and to the North country above Lake Superior. A cosmopolitan, mixed population of Europeans, First Nations peoples, and Métis lived at the village spanning the river. The city name originates from "Saults de Sainte-Marie", archaic French for "Saint Mary's Falls", a reference to the rapids of Saint Marys River. Etymologically, the word "sault" comes from an archaic spelling of "saut" (from "sauter"), which translates
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario the city's push to be labelled the 'Alternative Energy Capital of North America'. Two other wind farms are proposed for the area: the Goulais wind farm (25 MW) and the Bow Lake wind farm (58 MW), in partnership with the Batchewana First Nation of Ojibways to be built near Montreal River Harbour. Elementa Group has built a pilot waste-to-energy plant in Sault Ste. Marie, and the local Public Utilities Commission collects methane gas from the city's landfill. Sault Ste. Marie is served by Highway 17, which is a segment of the Trans-Canada Highway in the region. The highway connects the