Wisconsin Sea Grant: Gifts of the Glaciers
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The iron ranges around Lake Superior have been the principal source of ore for North America for more than a century, and the economy of shipping large quantities of ore on the Great Lakes -- plus the abundant supply of high quality water for processing it -- have made the region a center of iron and steel production.

Until recently, the shores and hinterlands of Lakes Ontario, Erie and Michigan held the world's largest concentration of iron and steel mills. Even today, about half of the steel made in the U.S. and and nearly two-thirds of Canada's steel is produced in the Great Lakes region.

The region's other major industries include automobile manufacturing, heavy machinery, paper mills, metalworking and shipbuilding. In addition, some 225 million tons of grain, iron ore and other commodities are shipped across the Great Lakes each year, and the sport and commercial fisheries of the Great Lakes currently contribute more than a billion dollars a year to the region's economy. Along with the Upper Midwest's multitude of lakes and forests, the Great Lakes help support a substantial regional tourism industry.

Together, the United States and Canada share responsibility for protecting and caring for one of the most valuable aquatic treasures in the world today -- the gifts of glaciers.

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Gifts of the Glaciers

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