Editing Lake Erie (section)

==History==

===Indigenous peoples===
At the time of European contact, there were several Indigenous peoples living around the shores of the eastern end of the lake. The [[Erie people|Erie tribe]] (from whom the lake takes its name) lived along the southern edge, while the [[Neutral Nation|Neutrals]] (also known as Attawandaron) lived along the northern shore. The tribal name "erie" is a shortened form of the [[Iroquoian languages|Iroquoian]] word {{lang|iro|erielhonan}}, meaning "long tail".<ref name="Room20062">{{cite book|last=Room |first=A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M1JIPAN-eJ4C&pg=PA150|title=Placenames of the World: Origins And Meanings of the Names for 6,600 Countries, Cities, Territories, Natural Features And Historic Sites|publisher=McFarland|year=2006|isbn=978-0-7864-2248-7|page=150}}</ref> The name may also come from the word ''eri'', meaning "cherry tree".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Delâge|first=Denys|title=Aboriginality and Governance: A Multidisciplinary Approach|publisher=Theytus Books|year=2006|isbn=1894778243|editor-last=Christie|editor-first=Gordon|location=[[Penticton Indian Reserve]], [[British Columbia]]|pages=28|chapter=Aboriginal Influence on the Canadians and French at the time of New France}}</ref> Near Port Stanley, there is an Indigenous village dating from the 16th century known as the ''Southwold Earthworks'' where as many as 800 Neutral Indigenous peoples once lived; the archaeological remains include double earth walls winding around the grass-covered perimeter.<ref name=twsX18/> Europeans named the tribe the ''Neutral Indians'' since these people refused to fight with other tribes.<ref name=twsX18/>

Both the Erie and Neutrals were colonized and assimilated by their hostile eastern neighbors, the [[Iroquois|Iroquois Confederacy]], between 1651 and 1657 during the [[Beaver Wars]].<ref>Trigger, Bruce; ''The Children of Aataentsic'' (McGill-Queen's University Press, Kingston and Montreal,1987, {{ISBN|0-7735-0626-8}}), pp. 789–797.</ref> For decades after those wars, the land around eastern Lake Erie was claimed and utilized by the Iroquois as a hunting ground. As the power of the Iroquois waned during the last quarter of the 17th century, several other, mainly [[Anishinaabe]], displaced them from the territories they claimed on the north shore of the lake.<ref>Schmalz, Peter S.; ''The Ojibwa of Southern Ontario'' (University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Buffalo, London, 1991, {{ISBN|0-8020-2736-9}}), pp. 13–34.</ref> There was a legend of an Indigenous woman named Huldah, who, despairing over her lost British lover, hurled herself from a high rock from Pelee Island.<ref name=twsZ31/>

===European exploration and settlement===
[[File:A Map of the Western parts of the Colony of Virginia, 1754.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Map showing Lake Erie, 1754]]
[[File:Great Lakes Steamship Walk-in-the-Water.jpg|thumb|right|''Walk in Water'', built in Buffalo, was the first steamship on Lake Erie. Picture {{circa|1816}}.]]

In 1669, Frenchman [[Louis Jolliet]] was the first documented European to sight Lake Erie, although there is speculation that [[Étienne Brûlé]] may have come across it in 1615.<ref>Ashworth, William (1987). ''The Late, Great Lakes: An Environmental History'', p. 36. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. {{ISBN|0-8143-1887-8}}.</ref> Lake Erie was the last of the Great Lakes to be explored by Europeans, since the Iroquois who occupied the Niagara River area were in conflict with the French, and they did not allow explorers or traders to pass through; explorers followed rivers out of Lake Ontario and portaged to [[Lake Huron]]. British authorities in Canada were nervous about possible expansion by American settlers across Lake Erie, so Colonel [[Thomas Talbot (Upper Canada)|Thomas Talbot]] developed the Talbot Trail in 1809 as a way to stimulate settlement to the area; Talbot recruited settlers from Ireland and Scotland, and there are numerous places named after him in southern Ontario, such as [[Port Talbot, Ontario|Port Talbot]], the [[Talbot River (Ontario)|Talbot River]], and [[Talbotville, Ontario|Talbotville]].<ref name=twsX18/>

[[File:Battle erie.jpg|thumb|right|''Battle of Lake Erie'' (1865) by [[William H. Powell]] depicts US Navy commander [[Oliver Hazard Perry]]]]

During the [[War of 1812]], a [[United States Navy]] squadron under [[Oliver Hazard Perry]] captured a smaller [[Royal Navy]] squadron near [[Put-in-Bay, Ohio]] at the 1813  [[Battle of Lake Erie]].<ref name="twsZ41a2">{{cite news|date=January 26, 2011|title=Peachman Lake Erie Shipwreck Research Center (PLESRC)|publisher=The Great Lakes Historical Society|url=http://www.inlandseas.org/plesrc/index.html|url-status=dead|access-date=January 26, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100814033117/http://inlandseas.org/plesrc/index.html|archive-date=August 14, 2010}}</ref><ref name=twsZ16 /> As part of the conflict, American troops made repeated raids throughout the Ontario area around [[Port Rowan, Ontario|Port Rowan]], burning towns and villages.<ref name=twsX18/> Generally, however, with the exceptions of the [[American Revolutionary War]] and the War of 1812—which were conflicts between the U.S. and Britain—relations between the U.S. and Canada have been remarkably friendly with an "unfortified boundary" and an agreement "that has kept all fleets of war off the Great Lakes."<ref name="twsZ21bb" />

In 1837, rebellions broke about between Canadian settlers and the [[British Empire|British Colonial government]]. These primarily concerned political reforms and land allocation issues. Some of the rebels stationed themselves in the U.S. and crossed the ice from [[Sandusky Bay]] to Pelee Island wearing "tattered overcoats and worn-out boots", and carrying muskets, pitchforks, and swords,<ref name=twsZ31/> but the islanders had already fled.<ref name=twsZ31/> Later, there was a battle on the ice with the Royal 32nd Regiment, with the rebels being driven to retreat.<ref name=twsZ31/>

[[File:Brig Niagara (Lorain, Ohio).jpg|thumb|At an Ohio history festival, the 19th-century style brig warship ''Niagara'' passes the [[Lorain, Ohio|Lorain]] lighthouse.]]
Settlers established commercial fisheries on the north coast of the lake around the 1850s.<ref name="twsX14b" /> An important business was fishing.<ref name=twsX314a/> In the pre-Civil War years, railways sprouted everywhere, and around 1852 there were railways circling the lake.<ref name=twsZ15 /> Maritime traffic picked up, although the lake was usually closed because of ice from December to early April, and ships had to wait for the ice to clear before proceeding.<ref name=twsZ17 /> Since slavery had been abolished in Canada in 1833 but was still legal in [[Southern United States|southern U.S.]], a Lake Erie crossing was sometimes required for fugitive slaves seeking freedom:

{{blockquote|When Kentucky fugitive Lewis Clarke arrived in Cleveland, he had no idea how to find Canada. "I went out to the shore of the lake again and again, to try and see the other side, but I could see no hill, mountain, nor city of the asylum I sought," he once told an interviewer. "I was afraid to inquire where (Canada) was, lest it would betray such a degree of ignorance as to excite suspicion at once." Many fugitives also had to overcome fears instilled by their former masters ...|Chris Lackner in the ''Ottawa Citizen'', 2006<ref name=twsZ51 />}}

Prior to modern radar and [[weather forecasting]], merchant ships were often caught up in intense gales:

{{blockquote|A violent gale is blowing on Lake Erie ... The schooner ''Stranger'' came in this morning and reports seeing a vessel about {{convert|12|mi|km|disp=x| [|]}} up, {{convert|2|mi|km|disp=x| [|]}} from the Canada shore, with three men clinging to the masts, which alone were visible above the water–heard their cries and screams ...|''The New York Times'', October 1853<ref name=twsZ11 />}}

There were reports of disasters usually from sea captains passing information to reporters; in 1868, the captain of the ''Grace Whitney'' saw a sunken vessel with "three men clinging to the masthead," but he could not help because of the gale and high seas.<ref name=twsZ19 />

A [[balloonist]] named John Steiner of [[Philadelphia]] made an ambitious trip across the lake in 1857.<ref name=twsJanY312 /> His voyage was described in ''[[The New York Times]]'':

{{blockquote|He arose to the height of about three miles, and started off at a slow but steady rate ... The lake could be seen from one end to the other nearly ... At one time Mr. Steiner counted 38 sail vessels, all in sight, and far below him. The hands on board several of the vessels saw him, and rightly apprehending that he was an aeronaut, cheered him heartily ... He neared the Canada shore a little below Long Point ... he was accordingly driven towards Buffalo ... Night was drawing on and it became apparent that he could not, with this current, get away from the water before dark, and after nightfall it would not be safe to come down. Seeing a propeller (powered boat) ... the ''Mary Stewart'' ... He first struck the water about 25 miles below Long Point ... During this time Mr. Steiner says he thinks his balloon bounded from the water at least twenty times. It would strike and then rebound, like a ball, going into the air from twenty to fifty feet, and still rushing down the lake at railroad speed ... Mr. Steiner then abandoned the balloon, leaping into the water and swimming towards the boat, which speedily reached him ...|''[[The New York Times]]'', July 23, 1857<ref name=twsJanY312/>|title=|source=}}

In 1885, lake winds were so strong that water levels dropped substantially, sometimes by as much as two feet, so that at ports such as Toledo, watercraft could not load coal or depart the port.<ref name=twsZ22 /> During the history of the lake as a fishery, there has been marked battling by opposing interest groups:

{{blockquote|The preservation of the fisheries of Lake Erie has become a serious problem to all who have given it close attention ... the fisheries are being exhausted by the wasteful methods which are now in vogue ... it is still the custom of the pound fishermen about Sandusky to take fish of all sizes, and if they are too small to be marketable they are turned over to a fertilizer factory. If left undisturbed for two or three years more, these little fish would be a very valuable product ...|''[[The New York Times]]'', 1895<ref name=twsJanY314/>}}

[[File:Put-in-Bay view from the Peace Memorial.jpg|thumb|right|View from [[Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial]] at [[Put-in-Bay, Ohio]]]]
[[File:Lake Erie historical map, 1901 - DPLA - 94a2d4b0d5bd2a5b21428b55acec7eab.jpg|thumb|right|Lake Erie historical map, 1901]]
Predictions of the lake being over-fished in 1895 were premature, since the fishery has survived commercial and sport fishing, pollution in the middle of the 20th century, invasive species and other ailments, but state and provincial governments, as well as national governments, have played a greater role as time went by. Business boomed; in 1901, the Carnegie Company proposed building a new harbor near Erie, Pennsylvania, in [[Elk Creek (Lake Erie)|Elk Creek]] to accommodate shipments from its tube-plant site nearby.<ref name=twsZ18 /> In 1913, a memorial to Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry was built on Put-in-Bay island featuring a Doric column.<ref name="twsZ21bb"/>

[[Great Lakes passenger steamers|Steamships]] have operated on Lake Erie since the early 1800s. Large, opulent cruise liners carried passengers between Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo and other cities on the lake until the rise of the automobile in the 1950s drastically cut demand for their services. The [[Detroit and Cleveland Navigation Company|Detroit and Cleveland Navigation]] company was one of the largest and most renowned of these companies.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Austin |first=Dan |title=Greater Detroit |url=https://historicdetroit.org/buildings/greater-detroit |access-date=2023-08-02 |website=historicdetroit.org |archive-date=August 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230802052334/https://historicdetroit.org/buildings/greater-detroit |url-status=live }}</ref>

During the [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] years from 1919 to 1933, a "great deal of alcohol crossed Erie"<ref name=twsZ31/> along with "mobster corpses" dumped into the Detroit River which sometimes washed up on the beaches of Pelee Island.<ref name=twsX312a /> Notable [[rum-running|rum runners]] included [[Thomas Joseph McGinty]] and [[the Purple Gang]].  The [[United States Coast Guard|Coast Guard]] attempted to interdict the Canadian liquor with its [[Rum Patrol]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://dalitzinvegas.com/moe-dalitz/life.html|title=Moe Dalitz in Vegas|access-date=June 18, 2020|archive-date=August 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803024317/http://dalitzinvegas.com/moe-dalitz/life.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.cleveland.com/avon-lake/2018/09/avon_lake_alcohol_history_turn.html|title = Avon Lake alcohol history turns into fundraising opportunity at Bicentennial Beer Festival coming up on September 22|date = September 17, 2018|access-date = June 18, 2020|archive-date = August 3, 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200803065740/https://www.cleveland.com/avon-lake/2018/09/avon_lake_alcohol_history_turn.html|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>Newton, Michael (2009). Mr. Mob: The Life and Crimes of Moe Dalitz. McFarland. {{ISBN|978-0786435166}} P. 36</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://eriehistory.blogspot.com/2015/07/prohibition-eries-rebellion.html|title=Prohibition: Erie's Rebellion|access-date=June 18, 2020|archive-date=August 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803024049/https://eriehistory.blogspot.com/2015/07/prohibition-eries-rebellion.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.toledoblade.com/frontpage/2008/12/15/Part-9-Jack-Kennedy-s-death-brings-crackdown-on-crime.html|title=The Blade &#124; Toledo's breaking news, sports, and entertainment watchdog|access-date=June 18, 2020|archive-date=August 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803023549/https://www.toledoblade.com/frontpage/2008/12/15/Part-9-Jack-Kennedy-s-death-brings-crackdown-on-crime.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and a casino operated on [[Middle Island (Lake Erie)|Middle Island]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://lighthouse.boatnerd.com/gallery/Erie/MiddleIsland.htm |title=Lighthouses of the Great Lakes |access-date=June 18, 2020 |archive-date=June 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622181542/http://lighthouse.boatnerd.com/gallery/erie/MiddleIsland.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

During the 20th century, commercial fishing was prevalent but so was the boom in manufacturing industry around the lake, and often rivers and streams were used as sewers to flush untreated sewage which ended up in the lake.<ref name="twsJanY214a" /> Sometimes poorly constructed sanitary systems meant that when old pipes broke, raw sewage would spill directly into the [[Cuyahoga River]] and into the lake.<ref name="twsJanY214a"/> A report in ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine in 1969 described the lake as a "gigantic cesspool" since only three of 62 beaches were rated "completely safe for swimming".<ref name="twsJanY214a"/>

By 1975 the popular commercial fish [[Blue walleye|blue pike]] had been declared extinct, although the declaration may have been premature.<ref name=twsX512 /> By the 1980s, there were about 130 fishing vessels with about 3,000 workers,<ref name="twsX14b"/> but commercial fishing was declining rapidly, particularly from the American side.

===Great Lakes Compact===
{{main|Great Lakes Compact}}
In 2005, the Great Lakes states of [[Ohio]], [[Michigan]], [[New York (state)|New York]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[Illinois]], [[Indiana]], [[Wisconsin]], and [[Minnesota]] and the Canadian Provinces of [[Ontario]] and [[Quebec]] endorsed the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Compact. It was signed into law by President [[George W. Bush]] in September 2008. An international water-rights policy overseen by the Great Lakes Commission, the compact aims to prevent diversion of water from Great Lakes to distant states, as well as to set standards for use and conservation. It had support from both political parties, including United States Senator [[George Voinovich]] of Ohio and Governor [[Jennifer Granholm]] of Michigan, but is not popular in the [[Southwestern United States|southwestern states]] because of frequent drought conditions and [[water scarcity]].