Michigan — Chambers's Encyclopaedia

Michigan (Chippewa-Indian Mitchi Sawyegan, 'Great Lake,' originally applied to both Lakes Huron and Michigan), the third in size of the five great fresh-water lakes of North America, and the only one lying wholly in the United States, having Michigan on the N. and E., and Wisconsin on the W. It is about 335 miles long, and from 50 to 88 broad; the mean depth is 325 feet, the maximum 870. It has the same elevation as Lake Huron (with which it is connected by the Strait of Mackinaw)—581 $\frac{1}{3}$ feet above the sea-level; this is 20 $\frac{1}{2}$ feet lower than Lake Superior, and 8 $\frac{1}{5}$ feet above Lake Erie. Its surface area is 22,450 sq. m., or 1350 less than that of Lake Huron; but its drainage area—37,700 sq. m.—is 6000 sq. m. greater than its neighbour's. There is a neap-tide of 1 $\frac{1}{2}$ inch, and a spring-tide of about 3 inches. The shores of Lake Michigan, which are guarded by a number of lighthouses, are for the most part low; the annual erosion amounts to about 5 feet. Its principal harbours are those of Chicago, Milwaukee, and Racine. See Crosman's Chart of the Great Lakes (Milwaukee, 1888).