Victory I Great Lakes Cruise: Sault Ste. Marie

Courtesy of Google Maps

By GERRY BARKER
North Palm Beach Life
Photos by Gerry and Pamela Barker

After a day of cruising on Lake Huron, Victory I arrives on Day Seven of our Great Lakes cruise at Sault St. Marie, MI., the oldest city in Michigan and one of the oldest in the country. It's also the home of the Soo Locks, the busiest system of locks in the world measured by cargo tonnage. Providing a vital link between Lake Huron and Lake Superior, an average of 7,000 to 10,000 ships pass through them each year, transporting 95 percent of the U.S. production of iron ore.

After docking, we board one of the Victory's motor coaches for the short ride to see the Soo Locks and learn more about their operation at the Visitor Center. The locks themselves have been enlarged over the years to accommodate the massive freighters that carry some 86 million tons through the locks yearly.

A large viewing stand along the river allows visitors to get an upclose look at the ships passing through, while inside the Visitor Center there are interactive exhibits that you simulate operating the locks yourself. Currently, construction is underway for a new lock chamber, scheduled to be completed in 2030 at a cost of $3.2 billion.

Another point of interest here is the SS Valley Camp, a retired Great Lakes freighter that is now a 20,000-square-foot museum with over 100 exhibits, including two lifeboats from the ill-fated Edmund Fitzgerald, the Great Lakes freighter that sank Nov. 10, 1975 with the loss of 29 lives.

Victory I was scheduled to transit the locks that afternoon, but the captain informed us conditions were not optimal, so we had to miss cruising in Lake Superior. 

Learn more about the Soo Locks and our visit here:

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