I’m So Lucky

(top left) From my office window. (top right three photos) From my roof top. (second row left) Freighters pass everyday. (second row middle) A commemorative stamp to Great Lakes Transportation. (second row right) Great Lakes depth chart. (third row left) Frenchman Louis Jolliet first sighted Lake Erie in 1669. (third row middle) Great Walleye fishing! (third row right) Balloonist John Steiner’s first attempt at crossing the Lake Erie in a flimsy balloon didn’t pan out very well. But the whack job from Philadelphia finally made it in 1857. (bottom left) Cool view of Lake Erie from space. (bottom right) Cool view of Lake Erie from the lake during a storm in October. Sports photographer Dave Sandford’s passion is shooting Lake Erie’s monstrous waves. Read about this guy and see more of his images HERE

Years ago when Mom and Dad chose our current location, they knew it was special because of the visibility from the highway. They both wanted everyone to see KHT! Although they probably never realized just how special it was. Back then, inexpensive rent, open manufacturing space and capable local workers, coupled with easy “on/off” access to the highway was what caught their eyes. Being just outside of downtown, along with the local/regional “neighborhood” customers, made Dad’s decision a good one when he started KHT.

Over the years, as most of you know, we’ve acquired adjoining land, added buildings and built needed additions to handle our growth and our expanded array of PIA (pain in the @%$) specialty treatment services. We’ve remained “committed” to Ohio City and Cleveland, and see positive things happening all around us still today.

One great outcome of our location on the “Northshore” is the office view I have, designed to take advantage of the beautiful views of Lake Erie and downtown. Each morning, being the early bird I am, I get to come in really early, and watch the lake and the city come to life. With spring finally here, it’s even more beautiful – awesome trees, blue water, the return of lake freighters, sunrises/sunsets and the renewal of the highway and walkways across the street. If you are ever in town, swing by and take a peek with our telescope … and Thanks Mom and Dad for the great spot!!

So, for my engineers and trivia lovers out there, as I sit here soaking in the views, I thought I’d pass along some Lake Erie trivia. Enjoy.

• Lake Erie is the eleventh largest lake in the world (by surface area), and the fourth largest of the Great Lakes.
• The Lake is 241 miles long, 57 miles wide and has an average depth of 62 ft., with a maximum depth of 210 ft. The water surface area is 9910 sq. miles and its shoreline equals 871 linear miles.
• Ninety-five percent of Lake Erie’s total inflow of water comes via the Detroit River water from all the “upper lakes” (Superior, Michigan and Huron) with help from the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair and numerous tributaries. The rest comes from precipitation. The lake’s water retention/replacement time is 2.6 years.
• Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes and is especially vulnerable to fluctuating water levels, fast storms and choppy waters.
• In 1669, the 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. 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 did not allow explorers or traders to pass through.
• The name Erie comes from its southern shore which was at one time occupied by a nation known to the Iroquois League as the “Erielhonan,” or the “long-tails.”. This name is always mentioned by the early French writers as meaning “cat”; Lac du Chat means “Lake of the Cat.” (reference to the wild cat or panther).
• Wind Setups (wind pushing the water from one end of the lake toward the other), usually from west to east, have produced large short-term differences in water levels at the eastern and western ends of the lake, the record being more than 16 ft. Throughout the lake’s history, winds have been so strong, they have stranded boats in the western basin harbors due to shallow waters.
• In 1857, a balloonist named John Steiner of Philadelphia made an ambitious trip across the lake. During his trip, he arose to the height of about three miles, but said he thinks his balloon bounded from the water at least twenty times, striking and then rebounding like a ball, going into the air from twenty to fifty feet, while still rushing down the lake at railroad speed. Just off the shore of Canada, he splashed down, abandoned the balloon, leaped into the water and swam to a nearby boat.
• During the Prohibition years, a “great deal of alcohol crossed Erie” along with “mobster corpses” dumped into the Detroit River, which sometimes washed up on the beaches of Pelee Island. According to one account, Al Capone hid a “fortune” in the walls of the Middle Island luxury club, that featured a basement casino with poker tables and slot machines. No money was found.
• In 1999, the warm lake almost became a problem for two nuclear power plants which require cool lake water to keep their reactors cool. The warm summer caused lake temperatures to come close to the 85 °F, the limit necessary to keep the plants cool.
• The Lake is home to one of the world’s largest freshwater commercial fisheries, and is the most abundant of the Great Lakes. Due to the lake’s relatively mild temperatures, it’s “loaded with superstars” such as steelhead, walleye, pickerel, smallmouth bass, perch, bass, trout and salmon.
• The lake is also responsible for microclimates that are important to agriculture. Along its north shore is one of the richest areas of Canada’s fruit and vegetable production. Along the southeastern shore in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York is an important grape growing region, as are the islands in the lake. Apple orchards are abundant in northeast Ohio to western New York due to the climate created by the lake.