(♪♪♪)
Lake Superior.
A rugged natural wonder.
Fringed by the massive
hard-rock plateau
known as the Canadian Shield.
It is the greatest of the
Great Lakes,
with more freshwater
than all of the others combined.
By volume,
it is the largest freshwater
lake in North America.
By surface area,
it is the largest in the world.
An ancient haven
for some of the most astonishing
cultural history
the Western Hemisphere
has ever known.
At the lake,
the Ojibwa First Nations
call Gitchi-Gami.
There are tales of
sleeping giants,
mythological sea monsters,
and legendary sunken ships.
It is one of the world's
lesser-known,
yet truly breathtaking
geographic marvels.
Stark,
spectacular.
and Sacred.
It is a true
North American legend.
(♪♪♪)
Lake Superior.
A massive, ancient lake
roughly the size of Austria.
Lake Superior straddles the
Canadian and American borders.
And shares
its seemingly endless shores
with the states of Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Michigan,
and the Province of Ontario.
Its surface area
is almost 32,000 square miles.
It is about 350 miles long,
and 160 miles wide.
Its deepest point is 1,332 feet.
As far below the surface,
as the tip of the
Empire State Building
is above it.
Lake Superior shares the stage
with the other four Great Lakes,
but its birth is a story
all its own.
And it starts deep in the pages
of our planet's earliest
geological history.
The earth formed about
4 and a 1/2 billion years ago.
In the beginning,
it was a toxic ball of gasses
and molten magma.
In time, the surface cooled,
then hardened,
and shrouded the young planet
in a crust of igneous rock.
For billions of years,
tectonic plates formed
a vast jigsaw puzzle
that remained in a state of
constant flux.
Today, the seven largest
tectonic plates
cover the majority
of the earth's surface.
They range anywhere from
15 to 45 miles deep.
Each plate forms the base
of one of the seven continents.
And each plate is made up of
smaller regions
with unique
geological landscapes.
Lake Superior is located on
one of the most unique regions
of the North American
Crustal plate.
The Canadian Shield,
also known as
the Laurentian Shield,
1.7 million square miles
of ancient rock.
It covers half of Canada,
part of the
Northern United States,
and most of Greenland.
It is the greatest area of
exposed igneous rock
on the planet.
Lake Superior sits proudly on
the southern part of the shield,
and provides
a breathtaking venue
for Geologists
to study the unique
rock formations here.
And in doing so, they've painted
a surprising picture
of what this part of the world
would have looked like
billions of years ago.
&gt;&gt; If you think about the
Himalayas
for what much of the north shore
of Lake Superior
would have looked like
at one time.
So with geologic time, all those
mountains have disappeared.
They've all got worn down,
and we're now seeing the roots,
and so this gneiss,
which is the most common
rock type on the Shield,
records these very violent
collisions.
Much of the Shield is--
is composed of the old roots
of vast mountain chains
and the Himalayas today
are an excellent example
of what large areas
in the Shield would look like
where these plates
were colliding with each other
and you had these
incredible forces developed
where rocks were pushed down
underneath each other,
melted, partially melted.
There would've been volcanoes,
and then, of course,
as the Shield is eroded down
over millions, billions of years
to form the fairly level surface
that we see today.
So the roots of those mountains
would've been exposed.
So people come to look
at the Shield
to find out what might lie
below the modern-day Himalayas.
It's an ancient analog,
an ancient example
of what's happening today.
&gt;&gt; The amount of time involved
in wearing down a mountain range
the size of the Himalayas
is unimaginable.
Yet,
1.1 billion years ago,
erosion consumed the mountains,
and the next chapter of
Lake Superior's creation began.
&gt;&gt; The formation of Lake
Superior is really a story
of fire and ice.
About a billion years ago,
there was a tear or a rip
in the continent.
What is now North America
was starting to split apart,
known as a rift,
and this is
how oceans are formed.
This is how
the Atlantic Ocean formed.
This rifting creates a lot of
volcanic activity
so there was lots of
volcanic rock
that spewed out for
probably about 20 million years
onto the landscape here
and around
the Lake Superior basin.
It's unique in that we can still
see a lot of these rocks
frozen in time
in this geological story
that goes back a billion years.
&gt;&gt; If the rift had not filled
with lava
there would be an ocean today
in the central United States.
This continental rift here
is the deepest closed rift
ever discovered.
By the time this accumulation
of lava stopped and hardened
it was 12 miles thick.
So heavy, that it sagged
and formed a basin.
Eventually,
this large basin became home
to enormous glaciers,
an icy conquest
that marked the beginning
of today's Lake Superior.
&gt;&gt; Just imagine these ice sheets
several kilometers thick,
they covered all of Canada,
so they were flowing down
from the north,
they invaded southern Ontario,
they got into the States
and they were such powerful,
abrasive agents,
huge tools in effect
that they were capable of
digging out
these enormous
Great Lake basins.
And they're all
a direct product,
all inherited
from the last few million years
when we had glaciations.
So it tells us about the power
of ice.
&gt;&gt; About 12,000 years ago,
these huge continental glaciers
began to melt,
and the basins excavated by the
glaciers were slowly exposed.
During this era,
the water levels here
were as much as 500 feet higher
than they are today.
The last of the
surrounding glaciers
melted 10,000 years ago.
Lake Superior overflowed,
and drained
into the lower great lakes.
Its water level dropped
dramatically to 200 feet below
today's level.
When the glaciers melted,
an enormous weight was lifted
from atop the basin,
like removing a brick
from atop a sponge.
The lake's basin
slowly bounced back,
lifting the lake's water levels
with it.
Finally,
about 5,000 years ago,
the Lake Superior
that we know today came to be.
The "failed ocean"
is a rare geological wonder
that would have been hidden
forever
by the ocean
it could have become.
Today, the continental rift
is more than 1,200 miles long.
It runs from Lake Superior
to Oklahoma.
Deep and ancient,
it is a snapshot
of geological history
laid bare for all to see.
&gt;&gt; As a geologist the north
shore of Lake Superior,
it's fascinating
because of the topography.
You've got these tall cliffs
just dropping
straight into the lake.
The rocks are very varied,
and, as you go to the west,
they get older and older,
and the various rocks
that you see,
the granites, the sandstones,
the greenstone belts,
basically tell us about the
violence of geologic history.
And these huge collisions
between continents
and the trapping
of an ancient seafloor.
So it's a pretty violent story.
&gt;&gt; A violent story
with a beautiful result.
The softest rock type
is a blend of natural materials
compacted together.
It's called sediment,
or sandstone.
Over millennia,
much harder rock intruded
into the softer rock
to create some true
geological masterpieces.
&gt;&gt; An igneous rock
is one that's been produced
by volcanic activity,
and some are the product of
actual volcanic eruptions
at the earth's surface,
erupted rocks.
And then there are other
igneous rocks
which never made it
to the surface
and they're said to be
intrusive
because they're pushed up
into surrounding rocks.
And perhaps that's one of the
most striking features
of the north shore
of Lake Superior
because a lot of the rocks
were intruded as igneous rocks
and they form
what we call sills
which are horizontal intrusions.
So if you imagine
your fingers
and the hot magma being forced
in between the layers.
And what this does is--
is produce a sandwich
where you have relatively
soft rock, hard igneous rock
on the north shore
of Lake Superior.
&gt;&gt; One of the best-known
rock formations
is the Sleeping Giant.
He has rested here
for millions of years,
near the Canadian City
of Thunder Bay
on the Sibley Peninsula.
In the aptly named,
Sleeping Giant Provincial Park.
This incredible formation
of rocks
illustrates the
geological history here.
Through the ages,
liquid magma was pushed up
into the soft sandstone.
In some areas,
this magma leveled off
in a horizontal layer.
It hardened
and became igneous rock,
which takes much longer
to erode.
The elevated mounds of the
Sleeping Giant
are actually areas where layers
of igneous rock act as a cap,
protecting the sandstone
that lies beneath.
The result is a truly
one-of-a-kind formation of rock.
Sleeping Giant.
This unmistakable silhouette
of a slumbering goliath
looms large in the
ancient folklore
of the Ojibwe First Nations,
one of the most populous tribes
on the continent.
The Ojibwe are an essential part
of the 12,000-year history
of human settlements here.
Their own histories tell of
a migration
from the eastern part
of North America
to the Great Lakes region.
The precise year that the Ojibwe
settled on Lake Superior
is not known.
The first mention of the Ojibwe
in European recorded histories
was in 1640
from the Jesuit missionaries
who travelled here
with French explorers.
The Ojibwe hold
an intimate spiritual connection
to this place.
This astonishing rock formation
is steeped in folklore.
According to the Ojibwe
this is Nanabushu,
an ancient hero born to a
human mother and spirit father.
One Ojibwa First Nations legend
believed to have originated
in the 1950s,
recounts how Nanabushu was
turned to stone by the West Wind
when the secret location
of a rich silver mine
on the Sibley Peninsula
was disclosed to the white man.
Today, the form of the
Sleeping Giant
is clear for all to see:
arms folded
across a barrel chest,
as if carefully laid to rest.
&gt;&gt; From this view,
the Sleeping Giant head
is to my left.
The Adam's apple
is the next prominent feature
and then the chest
and the knees.
You can see the Sleeping Giant
from a number of angles
and from very far away
and it often is--
is thought of
as a protective-type symbol
and a very welcoming symbol
for those who had had that
massive journey across
the largest freshwater lake
in the world.
&gt;&gt; As with many
First Nations legends,
the story of the Sleeping Giant
is a morality tale,
told to add meaning
to actual events.
In fact, there was a great deal
of silver hidden here.
Where Sibley Peninsula ends
there are tiny islands
and islets, barely visible.
In 1868,
prospectors found pure silver
deep below the surface
of one of these islets,
an islet no larger than
80 feet by 100 feet.
And 8 feet above the
water level.
But that didn't stop
ambitious prospectors
from getting their hands
on the silver.
From 1869 to 1884,
mining shafts were sunk deep
into this tiny rock islet.
Break waters and docks
were built around it,
coal-burning pumps
were installed
to keep water out of the shafts.
And in that short time,
$3.2 million in silver
was mined.
But in 1884,
disaster struck the mine;
there was a missed shipment
of coal.
Without the coal,
the pumps stopped working,
and the shafts flooded.
The mine was abandoned
and never re-opened.
Today, the Giant is
a popular spot for hikers.
The cliffs found here
tower at almost 1,000 feet.
They are the largest
in the province of Ontario.
The Sleeping Giant
is not actually visible
from inside the park itself.
But that doesn't stop hiker
from trying to reach
the top of the giant.
A grueling 12-mile hike
that can take up to eight hours.
At the south end
of the Sibley Peninsula,
sits another beautiful
geological creation,
The Sea Lion.
One billion years ago,
liquid magma pushed its way
to the surface here.
It cooled and hardened,
and transformed
into igneous rock,
much harder than the sandstone
it penetrated.
Over the millennia,
the sandstone eroded,
the igneous rock did not.
And this incredible formation
was left behind,
5 feet thick, 25 feet high,
it extends 50 feet
into the lake.
According to Ojibwa Legend,
before Nanabijou
was turned into a Sleeping Giant
cast from stone,
he had many companions.
One of them was a sea lion.
But not just any sea lion.
Nagochee had the wings
of an eagle,
and the feet of a duck.
As it is told, Nanabijou went on
a long journey.
He brought Nagochee,
but forgot his other companion,
the Thunderbird.
When they returned,
the Thunderbird created a storm
so vicious.
It broke off
one of Nagochee's wings.
He tumbled from the sky,
as did his master.
Thinking Nagochee
had failed him.
Nanabijou turned him to stone
as punishment.
And there he stands to this day,
waiting for his master
to return.
In the 1800s,
the formation had a head,
and it became known simply
as The Sea Lion.
Sitting patiently,
looking out over Perry Bay.
The head has since eroded away.
Yet it remains
a must-see destination
for hikers
on the Sibley Peninsula.
The Geological masterpieces
of Lake Superior
reach beyond its shores.
40 miles north-east of
Thunder Bay
and Sleeping Giant
Provincial Park
is Ouimet Canyon.
Over tens of thousands
of years,
glacial ice, running water,
and brutal weather
carved out all the
softer sedimentary rock
from this spot,
leaving behind
towering igneous rock walls,
350 feet high,
2 miles long,
and a breathtaking chasm
500 feet wide.
&gt;&gt; Ouimet Canyon certainly is
a significant ecological
representation
on the landscape here,
as well as a quite interesting
and profound experience
when you look over the edge.
People are often surprised
at just how big and wide it is.
Just because of its size
and grandeur,
it really is quite amazing,
and it's something
that you don't see very often.
&gt;&gt; Here in Ouimet Canyon
is another sacred site
for the Ojibwa First Nations.
This is the Indian Head.
According to ancient
Ojibwa legend,
it was once a giant
named Ommet,
who helped the Ojibwe spirit
Nanabijou
to raise mountains
from the earth and create lakes.
Ommet fell in love with
Nanabijou's daughter, Naiomi.
One day,
Ommet was moving a mountain.
A peak broke off the mountain,
and struck Naiomi,
killing the girl.
Fearing retribution
from her father,
Ommet laid her
in a shallow lake
and covered her
with a rock shield.
Nanabijou sensed his daughter
there.
So he caught a thunder-bolt,
cast it down,
and split the rock.
There he found his daughter.
He buried her there in what is
now the base of Ouimet Canyon.
And to punish Ommet,
he turned him to stone,
and forced him to watch over
her grave for eternity.
Today, the floor of the canyon
is a protected area.
The base of this canyon
is a climatological anomaly.
Air is stagnant,
and there is little sunlight.
It is icy-cold year-round.
These conditions
nurture an extreme microclimate.
Arctic and sub-Arctic vegetation
normally found about
600 miles north,
such as alpine woodsia,
Clinton's bulrush and saxifrage
thrive here.
(♪♪♪)
Ouimet Canyon also provides
a picturesque sanctuary
to the world's fastest animal.
The peregrine falcon.
These winged carnivores
have the incredible ability
to dive-bomb their prey
at speeds of up to
200 miles an hour.
In the mid 1960s,
DDT poisoning eradicated
this remarkable species
from the province of Ontario.
In 1977, a recovery project
was introduced
by the provincial government.
Over 20 years,
600 young peregrine falcons
raised in captivity
were released into the wild.
Today, their numbers have
rebounded all over Ontario.
Due in part to protected areas
like Ouimet Canyon,
where high perches
and abundant prey
create an ideal habitat
for these magnificent
nesting pairs.
(♪♪♪)
The protected areas
of Lake Superior
are a spectacular refuge
for woodland creatures,
but also
for ancient human influence.
Lake Superior Provincial Park
is no exception.
Located on the east shore,
it is home to the
awe inspiring Agawa Rock.
For thousands of years,
the stormy waters
of Lake Superior
have relentlessly pounded this
100-foot-high sheer rock face.
For the Ojibwe First Nations
and other tribes
from thousands of years before,
the furious booming sound
made by waves
filling the fissures
was a thing of wonder,
a supernatural force
sent from the spirit world.
This was,
and is a sacred place.
A dangerous place.
Ancient peoples
paid their respects,
and used pictographs to
warn others of potential danger.
&gt;&gt; Generations of Ojibwe
have painted images,
red ochre images,
representing the stories
of their life here
along Lake Superior.
It's a very exposed site.
Right at the edge of the lake
this cliff face.
You can only get out
when the lake is very calm
because it doesn't take much
of a wave to come in there
and it makes it quite amazing
that the images have lasted
for any length of time.
&gt;&gt; For the paint itself,
the Ancient Ojibwa used
hematite rock.
These strikingly colored rocks
are high in minerals
such as iron.
They were crushed to a powder,
and mixed with fish oil
or bear grease to make a paste
that fused to the rock
on which they were painted.
&gt;&gt; They probably painted there
for generations,
for maybe thousands of years.
But what we see today
is estimated to be 150
to 400 years old.
It gets the weathering
from waves, from--
they can be covered in ice,
and they're also exposed
to the-- to the sun.
So it's quite remarkable
that anything's lasted
as long as it has.
&gt;&gt; Some images are obvious,
like this canoe,
and this horse and rider.
(♪♪♪)
And some, not so obvious.
&gt;&gt; Perhaps one of the
most unusual images there
is the one known as Mishbashu,
the spirit of the lake.
Mishbashu has sometimes been
called the underwater panther
or the horned lynx
and so it has those--
that spined back and those horns
indicating power.
And if not shown the
proper respect
or given the proper offerings
then Mishbashu could simply
lash its tail
and whip up a storm
and may capsize canoes.
&gt;&gt; The ancient Ojibwa
who drew these
have long returned
to the spirit world,
but Mishbashu still lurks
in the form of dead calm waters,
and rogue waves
that can strike without warning
against walls like these.
This is Old Woman Bay.
Another ancient
and familiar landmark,
here in
Lake Superior Provincial Park.
Ancient First Nations peoples
mined copper here,
as many as 5,000 years ago.
Today, this area is known
and loved,
not for copper,
but for its rugged weather
and spectacular scenery.
&gt;&gt; Well, they say there's a face
in the cliff at Old Woman Bay.
Everybody sees it in a--
in a different place
and probably has
a different connection
and we don't know exactly where
that original story came from.
I see it at a different place
when I'm on the shore
than when I'm out on the lake
and I've talked to other people
and it's interesting
to try to point out
where you think you see the--
the face of the Old Woman Bay.
&gt;&gt; In Old Woman Bay,
one of Lake Superior's most
ominous features is laid bare.
Its weather.
The lake is so large
that it moderates the climate
around it.
The amount of water in the lake
is almost incomprehensible,
three quadrillion gallons.
Enough to cover North
and South America
in one foot of water.
The average water temperature
is 40 degrees.
As a result,
weather on and near the lake
is unpredictable,
and often completely different
than the weather
in the rest of the region.
&gt;&gt; At Old Woman Bay those cliffs
are a very dramatic,
powerful backdrop
for the changing conditions
we see on Lake Superior.
Getting those wisps of fog
that-- that come and go.
They could be there one minute
and you can hardly see the cliff
and the next minute it's gone.
I've seen some wild storms
down there
with the waves crashing
many meters up that cliff.
Ice that's formed along the
shore there.
So it really is
a very powerful place
that kind of captures
the whole power
and changing conditions
that we see
all along the lakeshore here.
&gt;&gt; Tens of millions of Canadians
and Americans
live in The Great Lakes region,
most in the thriving
urban centers
that dot the lakes.
And all are affected by
changing weather conditions.
The lake effect is one of the
most commonly used
meteorological terms.
But you have to live here
to understand its meaning.
Large bodies of water
play an essential role
in altering
existing weather systems.
&gt;&gt; Lake Superior certainly
dominates the landscape here
and it affects everything.
Every story about this place
can be tied back to the lake.
It's known as a weather-maker.
It's the largest freshwater lake
in surface area in the world,
and, because of our latitude,
the size of the lake, the depth,
the coldness,
this lake probably more than
any other has a real impact
on our weather.
&gt;&gt; It may appear
calm and temperate now,
but winter hits hard along the
shores of Lake Superior.
On the Canadian side,
the largest city is Thunder Bay.
The average annual snowfall
there is 74 inches.
&gt;&gt; Along the eastern shore of
Lake Superior
we get some of the
highest snowfall in Ontario.
We get about a meter
on the ground.
I've seen as high
as a meter six,
which is-- which is my height,
so that's a lot of snow
on the ground.
That's why moose is more common
than white-tailed deer
to get along in the snow.
&gt;&gt; 74 inches of snow
is nothing to scoff at,
unless you live in Hancock,
Michigan.
It sits just across the lake
to the south,
on a peninsula that reaches
north into the lake.
There, a typical annual snowfall
is 208 inches.
That's 17 feet.
Almost three times as much as
Thunder Bay.
It's an incredible difference.
But it's no surprise.
With such a vast surface area,
Superior's lake effect
is dramatic.
But what's remarkable
about the weather system
in this part of the world
is that even if Lake Superior
wasn't here
the weather would be tumultuous.
There is a unique vortex
of seasonal patterns here;
moist warm air blows up
from the Gulf of Mexico.
Cold Arctic air
gusts down from the North.
The two fronts collide
at Lake Superior,
and when they do,
air pressure changes,
winds rise,
and storms are unleashed.
Add to this,
the tremendous volume of water
in Lake Superior,
and things get
really complicated.
The Lake is so enormous that
it regulates the temperature
in the surrounding region.
Local temperatures fluctuate
from minus 20 to 90 degrees.
With a core temperature
that hovers around
40 degrees year-round,
Lake Superior
warms the winter air.
And when it does,
the air rises,
and brings evaporated lake water
with it.
New clouds form,
or existing clouds
become saturated.
This increases the energy
in the pressure system.
Winds rise
and waves follow suit.
In the summer,
the reverse is in effect.
Lake water is cooler
than the air above it.
The cooled air stays low,
and helps keep the surface
of the lake calm,
even while the winds howl
1,500 feet above the surface.
For the seafarers
that make their living
on the Great Lakes waterways,
this effect, is much preferred
to the alternative.
&gt;&gt; So, Lake Superior is a--
is a real weather-maker.
This large body of water,
the prevailing weather
comes across it
and that really varies
from season to season.
In the spring,
it's like a huge cold sink,
and so often it absorbs
some of the heat and energy
as weather systems
come across the lake.
Fog is common early in the--
in the year,
especially when the-
when we get some rain
or moisture in the air,
the lake is so cold
that you get condensation
and this wispy fog.
And then all summer,
the lake is absorbing
heat and energy,
and it has the reverse role
in the fall.
As the weather systems cross
the lake it intensifies them
and that's where you get the
biggest storms.
Lake Superior's famous
for its gales of November.
&gt;&gt; Each of the Great Lakes is
connected to the Atlantic Ocean
through the St. Lawrence River.
It's the largest
surface water system
on the planet.
Running 2,038 miles
from Duluth Superior Port
in the state of Minnesota
all the way
to the Atlantic Ocean
with 509 ports along the way.
Today, 4,000 ships pass through
this seaway every year,
along with several billion
dollars worth of commodities.
A lot rides on the functionality
of this seaway.
And for the seafarers
that sail it
the ride can get pretty wild.
The dramatic
and sudden pressure changes
can make for terrible storms
at sea.
There are regular reports
of waves higher than 20 feet
crashing into
pilot-house windows.
There are 550 known shipwrecks;
at least 350 of them still rest
on the bottom of Lake Superior.
One shipwreck is more known
than the rest,
the wreck of
the Edmund Fitzgerald.
At the time it was launched
in 1958,
it was the first ship ever built
to the maximum size allowed
on the St. Lawrence Seaway,
730 feet long and 75 feet wide.
For an ore freighter,
it was unusually luxurious,
with a lounge,
two dining rooms for the crew,
and even state rooms
for occasional passengers.
For 17 years it carried iron ore
from mines near Duluth Minnesota
to Detroit
and other great lakes ports.
On November 10, 1975,
a vicious storm ravaged
the lake.
Hurricane-force winds
took the modern freighter down.
Despite its having
the most up-to-date
required safety equipment
of the time.
The National Transportation
Safety Board determined
that there was
a sudden massive flooding
of the ballast tanks
and cargo hold.
All 29 crew members died.
The ships' final resting place,
530 feet underwater
on the lakebed,
snapped in two.
The ship was popularized
by the Canadian musician,
Gordon Lightfoot.
His song, The Wreck of the
Edmund Fitzgerald
helped cement
Lake Superior's place
in the cultural fabric
of North America.
On the eastern fringe
of Superior,
a tranquil inlet
offers protection
from the rough waves
on the lake.
This is Gargantua Harbor.
Fishermen took advantage
of this safe haven
around the turn
of the 20th century.
In the 1930s and '40s,
this port was a busy hub
for fishing and logging.
After a period of negligence
it has re-emerged
as a popular destination
for visitors to
Lake Superior Provincial Park.
&gt;&gt; Gargantua is a favorite spot
for a lot of people,
including myself.
It's a great access for hiking
or paddling,
and it is one of the more
remote locations
along the eastern shore here.
Gargantua is well known
for its cobble beach.
These beautiful rounded cobbles
have been--
they're remnants
of all the types of rocks
that are found around this area,
that glaciers grounded them up
and re-deposited them,
and then, just like a giant
stone polishing machine,
the forces of water,
ancient rivers
that flowed through here
and then that weathering
that continues
with the waves
of Lake Superior,
like a giant stone polisher,
have kept these rocks
rounded and smoothed.
So from the
Gargantua access area
it is a spot where you can hike
and start, or paddle,
and actually see some of those
features created
when the mid-continent rift
was happening.
The type of rock,
the dark basalts
that came out in the volcanoes
that formed
some really unusual features.
(♪♪♪)
&gt;&gt; In the Great Lakes region
shipwrecks are not uncommon.
But seeing
one frozen in time is...
...here in Gargantua Harbor is
the shipwreck of the Columbus.
A popular sight for visitors
here.
&gt;&gt; This was a boat that--
that caught fire
and was cut loose from the dock,
so it wouldn't have burned
the small fishing village
that was there at the time.
It's been in
fairly shallow water,
and it's been there
for over 100 years,
and its well preserved
because of the cold waters
of Lake Superior
and because
it's a protected harbor.
&gt;&gt; In Lake Superior,
time stands still...
...for hundred,
thousands,
and millions of years,
and yet,
it continues to evolve.
(♪♪♪)
This is Sand River.
(♪♪♪)
It brings sand
and other deposits
into Lake Superior.
The ancient Ojibwa people
used this magnificent waterway
2,000 years ago
for seasonal migration.
Today, it's cherished
for its hiking and canoeing.
It weaves together,
the past, present,
and future of this place
with natural unbridled strength.
(♪♪♪)
The birth of an ocean,
frozen in time.
Unparalleled geological wonders.
The largest freshwater lake
in the world,
Lake Superior.
Inherited, and defined by the
Ancient Ojibwa First Nations.
Spirits in stone...
...monolithic legends...
...a raw and untamed
spiritual sanctuary.
Here, in the heart of
North America.
(♪♪♪)
