Tahquamenon Falls and The Soo Locks

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

We have another big day planned.  Today we are heading to Tahquamenon Falls then over to the Soo Locks.

We passed thru the town of Paradise on our way!  This is amusing to us as a relative would frequently say, " they were going to name this place Paradise, but they couldn't spell it, so they called it Fort Worth."

Our first view of the Upper Tahquamenon Falls.

This short video shows the splendor of the Upper Tahquamenon waterfall.  Yes there are Lower Tahquamenon falls.

This is looking up river from the falls. Magnificent!

Yes, we are feeling wonderfully blessed to be able to travel and see so much of God's glory.
 

There are actually 2 Lower Tahquamenon Falls.  The Tahquamenon River splits and there are 2 smaller waterfalls.  The picture above is the falls on the right side and the picture below is on the left side of the river, with a small island in the middle.

Next we are headed towards the Soo Locks via the Point Iroquois Light Station.

Point Iroquois is located on Lake Superior along the upper peninsula of Michigan.  Its purpose was to guide freighters safely between the open water of Whitefish Bay & the St. Mary's River.  It is only 20 miles West of Sault Saint Marie & the Soo Locks.

 The view from the tower was impressive.  We walked out to one of the many benches along the shoreline and had our picnic lunch.

Here we are on the 3rd level of the observation deck at the Soo Locks.  This huge ship, the Alcoway, is being lowered heading from Lake Superior to Lake Huron. Notice behind the ship the lock gates and how high the water is on the opposite side.  You can tell how far the ship has been lowered. Below is a better picture showing the water level difference.

 

Inside the Visitors Center, Tic took a picture of this picture showing all 4 locks.  However, the 2 locks to the right side of the pictures are no longer being used.  Both of them are too narrow and shallow for today's ships.
 

We are back on the observation deck.  You can see the Alcoway has left and there are 2 tour boats coming into the lock. Notice the tour boats are coming in from the lower side.
 

The locks have closed and now the filling starts.  See the black line on the side wall?  The wall is actually wet (so looks black).  That is how high the water will fill.  We read it raises the boats 21 feet.

This short video shows the filling of the canal between the lock gates.  It only takes about 15 minutes to raise or lower the water level.  It was very interesting to watch.  Tic took lots of pictures but I have only included a few.

This picture shows the closest lock to be almost full now even though you cannot see the 2 tour boats.  The next lock over now holds a huge steamship being lowered.
 

The control tower house is a majestic looking building.  We watched for almost an hour.  It was fun and interesting!  Time to head home.