Facts about Lake Erie
During the 1960s and 1970s, Lake Erie experienced changes in water quality associated with increasing levels of the nutrient phosphorus, chiefly from wastewater and agricultural drainage, in the water and bottom sediments.
The victory earned Perry the nickname, "Hero of Lake Erie."
The cities of Buffalo, New York; Erie, Pennsylvania; Toledo, Ohio; Port Stanley, Ontario; Monroe, Michigan; and Cleveland, Ohio are located on the shores of Lake Erie.
Before European contact, there were several Native American tribes which lived along the shores of Lake Erie.
In 1669, the Frenchman Louis Jolliet was the first documented European to sight Lake Erie, although there is speculation that Etienne Brule may have come across it in 1615.
One of the most critical was Lake Erie; whoever controlled Lake Erie would control access to the land and resources of the new western territory.
Recent invaders, zebra and quagga mussels have populated the entire Lake Erie ecosystem, shifting the food web and its resultant energy flow away from the pelagic zone and into the benthic zone.
The U.S. states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York are located to the south of Lake Erie; Michigan lies to the west, and the Canadian province of Ontario lies to the north.
Lake Erie infamously became very polluted in the 1960s and 1970s, due both to industrial and agricultural sources.
Pollution from Cleveland and other Ohio cities had so contaminated this tributary of Lake Erie with petrochemicals that it actually caught on fire.
Lake Erie has a lake retention time of 2.6 years, which is the shortest of all the Great Lakes.
To accommodate the rise in elevation from the Hudson River to Lake Erie of nearly 570 feet, 83 locks and 18 aqueducts were constructed.
Lake Erie is the tenth largest lake on Earth and, of the five Great Lakes of North America, it is the fourth largest by surface area, the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume.
The victory secured Lake Erie, and the western territories, and guaranteed the admission of Ohio and Michigan to the U.S.
The effects of zebra mussels and gobies have been credited with the increased population and size of smallmouth bass in Lake Erie.
Other major tributaries of Lake Erie include the Grand River, the River Raisin, the Huron River, the Maumee River, the Sandusky River and the Cuyahoga River.
The Battle of Lake Erie was fought on September 10, 1813 in Lake Erie off the coast of Ohio.
Lake Erie (42°30'N, 81°00'W) has a mean elevation of 571 feet (174 m) above sea level.
Lake Erie is home to one of the world's largest freshwater commercial fisheries.
The decomposing algal masses and associated fish kills fouled shorelines, contributing to the widespread impression of Lake Erie as a dead lake.