Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan Totally Explained

Everything about Sault Sainte Marie Michigan totally explained

Sault Ste. Marie is the oldest city in both the state of Michigan and in the entire Midwest region of the United States. It is at the eastern edge of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, on the Canadian border, separated from its twin city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario - the oldest city in the Canadian province of Ontario - by the St. Mary's River.
   The two Saults were formally founded in 1668 by Father Jacques Marquette as one city, then split into two in 1797 (when the Upper Peninsula was transferred from the province of Upper Canada to the United States). Sault Sainte Marie is Old French meaning "Rapids of St. Mary's", a reference to the rapids in the Saint Mary's River, which joins Lake Superior to Lake Huron. (The spelling Sault-Sainte-Marie is more usual in French, but the name is written without hyphens in English). Either city, or the vicinity as a whole, can also be informally called The Sault or The Soo. More recently, there have been a few references to a Greater Sault Ste. Marie, encompassing both cities and their outlying satellite communities, although as of 2006 this term isn't in widespread use.
   The two cities are joined by the International Bridge, which connects Interstate Highway 75 in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Huron Street in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Shipping traffic in the Great Lakes system bypasses the Saint Mary's Rapids via the American Soo Locks, the world's busiest canal in terms of tonnage that passes through it, while smaller recreational and tour boats use the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie Canal.
   Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan lies within Chippewa County.
   As of the 2000 census, the city's population was 16,542, declining to a population of 14,272 according to the 2006 census estimate. It is the county seat of Chippewa County.
   The city is the site of the Soo Locks, which lets ships travel between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes. Although the locks are not as busy as in past years, a considerable amount of domestic and foreign commerce passes through them. People come from around the world to view close up the ships passing through the locks. The largest ships are long by wide. These are domestic carriers (called lakers) that are too large to transit the Welland Canal around Niagara Falls and thus are land-locked. Foreign ships (termed salties) are smaller.
   Sault Ste. Marie is home to Lake Superior State University, founded in 1946 as an extension campus of Michigan Mining and Technological College (now Michigan Technological University). Several famous athletes have come from Sault Ste. Marie including former NHLer Cliff Barton. Sault Ste. Marie was also the home of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, the early American Indian writer, and her husband Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, the Indian agent and ethnographer. Their houses still stand and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Tourism is a major industry in what is usually referred to as the Soo. The locks and nearby Kewadin Casino, owned by the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians, are the major draws, as well as the forests, inland lakes and Lake Superior shoreline. The Soo is also a gateway to Lake Superior's scenic north shore through its twin city Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. The two cities are connected by the large Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge, a steel truss arch bridge with suspended deck passing over the St. Mary's River. Ojibwa (Chippewa) Native Americans had lived in the area, which they referred to as Baawitigong, for centuries, since it provided an excellent place to catch fish. In 1668, French missionaries Claude Dablon and Jacques Marquette founded a mission, making the Sault the third oldest city west of the Appalachian Mountains in what is now the United States. The falls proved a choke point for shipping. Early Lake Superior ships were hauled around the rapids, much like moving a house, a process which could take weeks. Later cargoes were unloaded and hauled around the rapids and loaded onto other waiting boats. The first American lock, the State Lock, was built in 1855.

Meaning of the name

The city draws its name from the nearby rapids, originally named Les Saults de Sainte-Marie. Sault is an archaic French word for "waterfall" or "rapids".
In modern French, the words chutes and rapides are now used to convey those two meanings, and sault survives almost exclusively in geographic names dating from the 17th century. (See also Long Sault, Ontario and Grand Falls/Grand-Sault, New Brunswick, two other place names where sault also carries this meaning.) A lot of people pronounce it salt, but please don't do that!

Transportation

I-75 ends at the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge at the Canada border.
Highway 17 (Ontario) continues north from the bridge into Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
I-75 Business Spur Sault Ste. Marie
M-28
M-129
Mackinac Trail

The city is the northern terminus of Interstate 75, which connects with the Mackinac Bridge at St. Ignace to the south, and continues south to Miami, Florida. M-129 also has its northern terminus in the city. M-129 was at one time a part of the Dixie Highway system which was intended to connect the northern industrial states with the southern agricultural states. Until 1984 the city was the eastern terminus of the western segment of US 2. County Highway 63 Mackinac Trail also has its northern terminus in the city and extends south to St. Ignace and follows a route very similar to Interstate 75. The city is served by the Chippewa County International Airport in Kinross about south and the Soo Municipal Airport.
Sault Ste. Marie is the namesake of the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway, now the Soo Line Railroad, the U.S. arm of the Canadian Pacific Railway. This railroad has a bridge parallel to the International Bridge, crossing the St. Mary's River.
The Sugar Island Ferry provides automobile and passenger access between Sault Ste. Marie and Sugar Island. The short route that the ferry travels crosses the shipping channel. The Soo Locks allow lake freighters and ocean vessels to travel between Lakes Huron and Superior, which have in elevational difference, with Lake Superior being the higher of the two. Freighters typically don't dock in the Sault, however there's a mail boat, tugs, a tourist passenger ferry service, and Coast Guard station located along the shoreline on the lower side of the Soo Locks.

Geography and climate

The city is located at Latitude: 46.49 N, Longitude: 84.35 W.
   According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of (52.3 km²)—14.8 square miles (38.4 km²) of it's land and 5.4 square miles (13.9 km²) of it (26.63%) is water.
   Sault Ste. Marie is among the snowiest places in Michigan, receiving an average of 128 inches of snow a year with a record year where fell. Sixty-two inches of snow fell in one five-day snowstorm, including in 24 hours, in December 1995. Sault Ste. Marie receives an average annual of precipitation measured as equivalent rainfall.
   Temperatures in Sault Ste. Marie have varied between a record low of and a record high of . Monthly average temperatures range from a low of in January to a high of in July.(External Link

) In an average year, only one or two days reach while 180 days fall below .

Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Monthly Normal and Record High and Low Temperatures
Rec High °F	45	49	75	85	89	93	97	98	95	81	67	62
Norm High °F	21.5	24.5	33.6	48	63.2	70.7	75.7	74.1	64.8	52.8	38.9	27.2
Norm Low °F	4.9	6.6	16.1	28.8	39.3	46.5	52	52.4	44.8	36	25.9	13.1
Rec Low °F	-36	-35	-24	-2	18	26	36	29	25	16	-10	-31
Precip (in)	2.64	1.6	2.41	2.57	2.5	3	3.14	3.47	3.71	3.32	3.4	2.91
Source: USTravelWeather.com (External Link)

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 16,542 people, 5,742 households, and 3,301 families living in the city. The population density was 1,116.3 people per square mile (431.0/km²). There were 6,237 housing units at an average density of 420.9 per square mile (162.5/km²).
The racial makeup of the city was:

73.99% White

13.72% Native American

6.51% African American

4.61% from two or more races

1.86%Hispanic or Latino of any race

0.65% Asian

0.05% Pacific Islander

0.47% from other races. There were 5,742 households out of which 28.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.9% were married couples living together, 13.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.5% were non-families. 33.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.92.
In the city the population was spread out with 19.4% under the age of 18, 18.1% from 18 to 24, 31.9% from 25 to 44, 18.2% from 45 to 64, and 12.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 122.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 128.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $29,652, and that for a family was $40,333. Males had a median income of $29,656 versus $21,889 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,460. About 12.7% of families and 17.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.6% of those under age 18 and 12.5% of those age 65 or over.

Media

TV

For stations licensed to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, see that city's article.
All stations listed here are rebroadcasters of television stations based in Traverse City and Cadillac.

Channel 8: WGTQ, ABC (rebroadcasts WGTU)

Channel 10: WWUP, CBS (rebroadcasts WWTV)

Channel 61: W61CR, Fox (rebroadcasts WFQX)

Channel 67: W67CS, 3ABN (all programming via satellite) NBC is served by WTOM channel 4 from Cheboygan, which repeats WPBN.
The area has no local PBS service over-the-air; on Charter's cable system, WNMU-TV from Marquette offers PBS programming.
None of these stations are seen on cable in the Canadian Soo, as Shaw cable opted for Detroit and Rochester channels, instead.

Radio

For stations licensed to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, see that city's article.

1230 AM - WSOO (adult contemporary/news/sports)

1400 AM - WKNW (talk/sports)

90.1 FM - WLSO, Lake Superior State University college radio

91.5 - WJOH (Contemporary Christian) "Smile FM" (Originates from WLGH Lansing)

98.3 FM - WCMZ (NPR) (rebroadcasts WCMU-FM from Mount Pleasant)

99.5 FM - WYSS (hot adult contemporary/top 40)

101.3 FM - WSUE (active rock)

102.3 FM - WTHN (religious) (rebroadcasts WPHN-FM from Gaylord)

103.3 FM - W277AG (religious) (rebroadcasts WHWL-FM from Marquette) Other stations serving the Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan market:

93.9 FM - WNBY (oldies) - Newberry, Michigan

97.9 FM - WIHC (classic rock) - Newberry, Michigan

105.5 FM - WMKD (country) - Pickford, Michigan

Print

The city's main daily newspaper is the Sault Ste. Marie Evening News, more commonly referred to as the Sault Evening News.

Further Information

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