Sault Sainte Marie
Sault Sainte Marie names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Sault Sainte Marie soo sant ma'ri
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
soo sant ma'ri, the Falls of the St. Mary. The name is French. Sault is the same word we have in somer-sault, meaning leap. It has no possible connection with Sioux, and should of right be pronounced "so," not "soo." The falls in question are in the Ste. Marie River between Lakes Superior and Huron. The difference between the levels of the two lakes is about twenty feet. A town of the name has grown up on the Canadian shore and another on the American, with a combined population of 20,000. The Canadian Pacific Railway here connects with the Duluth-South Shore and with the "Soo" Railway. To permit the passage of ships, the state of Michigan constructed a canal as early as 1853-5. The work was subsequently taken over by the United States government and modified, with the result that in 1896 a larger canal was opened for traffic. It is 1.6 miles long, 160 feet wide, and 25 feet deep. There is a single lock 800 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 22 feet deep. A canal on the Canadian side was opened in 1895. It is a trifle shorter, is one-half wider, and has about the same depth. It is served likewise by a single large lock. Both canals are closed by ice in midwinter. The open season is about 250 days. An enormous amount of freight passes through the canals. Over 30,000,000 tons of iron ore from the Superior region passed down the Ste. Marie in 1905. Wheat, flour, copper, and lumber bring up the southbound tonnage to an astonishing figure. Coal, salt, nails, sugar, and other heavy freights are carried on the return voyages. The number of vessels passing through the canal is not far from 25,000 a year. The gross tonnage surpasses that of the Suez Canal . The official report of tonnage for 1905 is as follows: Coal, anthracite ..... 984,701 Coal, bituminous ..... 5,524,355 Flour, barrels ..... 5,772,719 Wheat, bushels ..... 68,321,288 Grain (other than wheat) bushels ..... 39,229,533 Manufactured and pig iron, net tons ..... 237,696 Salt, barrels ..... 423,122 Copper, net tons ..... 106,520 Iron ore, net tons ..... 31,332,637 Lumber, feet, board measure ..... 966,806,000 Silver ore, net tons ..... 41 Building stone, net tons ..... 10,899 General merchandise, net tons ..... 836,583 Total freight, net tons ..... 44,270,680 In 1909 the total freight, including 99,029,798 bushels of wheat, was upward of 57,000,000 tons. Vessels to the number of 18,712 passed through the locks. See Canal
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city of Michigan, the county seat of Chippewa co. It is on the St. Marys river and on the Canadian Pacific, the Duluth, South Shore, and Atlantic, and the Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Sault Ste. Marie railroads. The St. Marys canal here connects Lake Superior and Lake Huron, over which is carried an immense traffic. The International Bridge crosses the rapids of the St. Marys river. The rapids near the city generate abundant water power, which is used by several important industries, which include paper mills, lumber mills, carbide factory, tanneries, flour mills, etc. The city has a public library, high school, armory, Federal building, and a park. Pop. (1910) 12,615; (1920) 12,096. SAULT SAINTE MARIE FALLS. See ST. MARY'S RIVER.
Sault Sainte Marie a city of Canada
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city of Canada, the district town of Algoma District, Ontario. It is opposite the city of the same name in Michigan, and is on the St. Marys river, the St. Marys Falls ship canal, and on the Canadian Pacific and Hudson Bay railways. It is the center of steel, and pulp and paper industries, and is an inland port of great importance. It has also an extensive trade in timber, agricultural products, and mining products. It has federal and district buildings, a public library, and a technical school. Pop. about 20,000.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's 1910 insistence that the name "should of right be pronounced 'so,' not 'soo'" lost decisively: "Soo" is now the universal pronunciation on both sides of the river, and the locks are known worldwide as the Soo Locks. The single American lock 800 feet long that Aiton described has been superseded by the Poe Lock, rebuilt in 1968 at 1,200 feet by 110 feet, which is the only one big enough for the 1,000-foot ore carriers that now carry most of the tonnage; a second large lock has been under construction to end that single point of failure. The Canadian canal of 1895 no longer carries commercial traffic at all, having been rebuilt as a small recreational lock within a national historic site after its wall failed in 1987. The two cities have diverged sharply: Michigan's Sault Ste. Marie has grown scarcely at all from Collier's 1920 figure of 12,096, while the Ontario city, still a steelmaking town, passed 70,000.
Written for this edition, 2026.