Lake Erie, fourth largest of the fiveGreat Lakes ofNorth America. It forms the boundary betweenCanada (Ontario) to the north and theUnited States (Michigan,Ohio,Pennsylvania, and New York) to the west, south, and east. The major axis of thelake extends from west-southwest to east-northeast for 241 miles (388 km), and the lake has a maximum width of 57 miles. The total area of the lake’sdrainage basin is 30,140 square miles (78,062 square km),exclusive of surface area, which is 9,910 square miles. The lake’s principal tributary rivers are theDetroit (carrying the discharge ofLake Huron), Huron, and Raisin rivers of Michigan; theMaumee, Portage,Sandusky,Cuyahoga, and Grand rivers of Ohio; the Cattaraugus Creek of New York; and the Grand River ofOntario. The lake discharges at its eastern end through theNiagara River, and its western end contains all of the lake’s islands, the largest beingPelee Island, Ontario. With a mean surface height of 570 feet (170 metres) abovesea level,Erie has the smallest mean depth (62 feet) of the Great Lakes, and its deepest point is 210 feet. Because of its small size and shallow character, the lake has a comparatively short water-retention time of 2.6 years. Storms frequently cause short-period fluctuations in lake level that can amount to several feet at the ends of the lake. It is an important link in theSt. Lawrence Seaway. TheNew York State Barge Canal has an outlet at Tonawanda,New York, on the Niagara River, and one of its branches enters Lake Erie at Buffalo.

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Originally, a few harbours on the lake were formed by natural bays, but most of them are at the mouths of streams that were improved by protective piers, jellies, and breakwaters and by dredging toaccommodate the large lake vessels. The industrial economy of the lakeshore area depends heavily upon water transportation. The important steel industry (notably, to the south atPittsburgh and atDetroit) depends upon the movement of iron ore andlimestone across the Great Lakes to Lake Erie ports (mostly to the Ohio ports ofCleveland,Ashtabula, andConneaut). The port atToledo, Ohio, handles soft-coal shipments, andBuffalois an important grain port. Other prominent ports areSandusky, Huron,Lorain, and Fairport Harbor (in Ohio),Erie (in Pennsylvania), andPort Colborne (in Ontario). Intensepollution of the lake resulted in the closing of many beaches and resorts in the 1960s, but by the late 1970s the environmental damage had begun to be arrested.Point Pelee National Park lies on the northwestern shore in southern Ontario.

The first European to see Lake Erie, when the Iroquoisinhabited the region, was probably the French Canadian explorerLouis Jolliet in 1669, although some credit the FrenchmanÉtienne Brûlé with its exploration as early as 1615. The British, allied with the Iroquois, developed trade along Lake Erie in the late 17th century. British pressure led to the takeover of two strategic French forts, in 1759 (Fort-Conti, thereafter Fort Niagara) and in 1760 (Fort-Pontchartrain-du-Détroit, thereafter Fort Detroit). Many British loyalists then moved north of the lake into Ontario, and the U.S shores were not settled until after 1796. In theBattle of Lake Erie, an important engagement of theWar of 1812, U.S. CommodoreOliver H. Perry defeated a British squadron atPut-in-Bay, Ohio, and secured the Northwest for the United States. The lake was named after the Erie Indians who once inhabited the shores.

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