De Tour Passage Underwater Preserve facts for kids

Quick facts for kids DeTour Passage Underwater Preserve
DeTour Passage Underwater Preserve Location in Michigan
Location	Lake Huron, Chippewa County, Michigan USA
Nearest city	De Tour Village, Michigan
Governing body	Michigan Department of Natural Resources

The DeTour Passage Underwater Preserve is a special protected area in Michigan, USA. It's located in Lake Huron and completely surrounds Drummond Island. This preserve includes all of the DeTour Passage and nearby parts of Lake Huron and the St. Mary's River. It helps protect the history and nature found underwater.

Why is This Area Special?

The DeTour Passage is a very important waterway. It's like a busy highway for ships on the Great Lakes. Many ships travel through here every day.

A Busy Water Highway

For a long time, the DeTour Passage has been a key route for ships. In the late 1800s, people found a lot of iron ore in northern Minnesota. This ore was needed to make steel in cities like Cleveland, Ohio, Detroit, and Gary, Indiana. Ships carried this ore through the DeTour Passage.

Also, Drummond Island has quarries that produce stone like dolomite. Many ships visited the island to pick up these heavy stone cargoes. Because of all this shipping, the DeTour Passage became a very important part of trade on the Great Lakes.

Shipwrecks and Diving

Since so many ships used this passage, many also sank here. These shipwrecks happened because of big storms, rough waters, or tricky navigation. The DeTour Passage Underwater Preserve is now home to many different kinds of old shipwrecks.

The waters here are not always very deep. This makes it easier for divers to explore the remains of these lost ships. It's like an underwater museum where you can see history up close.

The DeTour Reef Lighthouse

Today, a historic lighthouse called the DeTour Reef Light helps guide ships safely through this busy waterway. It makes sure that freight traffic can continue without as many problems.