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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 23 August 2021 and 10 December 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Dovaleca. Peer reviewers: Wittlj, Rosemary Guo.

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Untitled

Lake Michigan flows into the Chicago River. The natural flow of the river was reversed in 1900 to prevent sewage from flowing into Lake Michigan.

What river(s) do Lake Michigan drain into? It would be nice to have that information in the article, and possibly the major rivers that feed into it.

Bull Sharks and connection with salt water

Just wondering if there should be mention of Bull Shark as a rare but possible inhabitant of the lake (please see the article for Bull Shark and the related reference) due to the connection of Lake Michigan to Salt water via the Illinois River->Mississippi River? It is fact that there have been bull shark sightings and even a verified shark attack near Chicago but not sure if it should be in the article or really even how to include, looking for community consensus. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.224.0.41 (talk) 17:32, 18 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Chicagoland

I've removed the rather large footer with links to topics about greater Chicago, because it doesn't seem relevant to this article. That's a bit like having a navigation guide for Rio de Janeiro on an article about the Atlantic Ocean just because the Atlantic beach is a popular feature of the city. Lake Michigan may seem to be just a part of Chicagoland to Chicagoans, but it's a bit bigger than that. Tverbeek 01:07, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Beaches

I really think that material about "singing sands", "exceptional" beauty, opinions about the steel mills and their supposed contribution to the sunsets, etc. belongs in a Dept or Tourism brochure, not Wikipedia. Tverbeek 19:29, 15 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Except that there are, in fact, steel mills dotting the Indiana shoreline that can be seen in both directions from the Indiana dunes (most popular public beach on the lake) and the sand is, in fact, called "singing sands". It's not just being lyrical. The pollutants released by the steel mills, due to their higher indices of refraction than normal air, due cause more colorful sunsets. If you think there is too much POV in there, please adjust it, but try not to stomp on factual information in the process. siafu 19:33, 15 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I'm trying to, but someone just stomped on my use of objective prose. I know that the steel mills are visible, but calling them "perhaps the only drawback" is not a fact, but an opinion. (Some people find the tourists to be a drawback. Or even the dune grass.) The statement that the mills (and not other factors) are solely responsible for the "spectacular" sunsets is questionable. I don't find the sand to be particularly "soft" and it's pretty far from white (I've seen far whiter). Tverbeek 20:08, 15 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Then feel free to remove the quoted pieces. Your "use of objective prose" had previously removed far more than that. siafu 20:10, 15 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Then feel free to add the material back next time. Simply reverting a good-faith effort at abiding by Wikipedia's policies about NPOV and verifiaiblity is both rude and unproductive. Tverbeek 20:22, 15 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I did add it back, after you rv'ed a good faith contribution from an anon.

Pardon the interruption, but I did no such thing. Look at the edit history for that edit [1] or spanning the whole anon-editor's session [2], and you'll see that I took some stuff out and put other stuff in. That's not a revert. A revert is when there's no trace of the previous edit... such as what you did to my contribution [3]. Tverbeek 02:17, 16 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

To quote Wikipedia:Avoiding common mistakes:

Deleting useful content. A piece of content may be written poorly, yet still have a purpose. Consider what a sentence or paragraph tries to say. Clarify it instead of throwing it away.

Sorry if you're offended, but it wasn't very helpful to chop everything out on account of a few POV words and phrases. siafu 20:49, 15 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I had reasons for removing everything I removed (as I've already explained). They weren't poorly written; they were written beautifully.... but "what they were trying to say" was to express opinions, not facts. You disagree with me on some of that, and I'm compromising. So stop trying to make me out as a Bad Guy here. Tverbeek 02:17, 16 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I removed the bit about sand replenishment pending some citation. There is simply way too much sand in the Chicago beaches to be anything but "natural". Yes the sand is "managed" within beaches by bulldozers but the wholesale trucking of sand is not done to my knowledge. Cite it and you can put it back. Wegerje (talk) 19:02, 9 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

"Cold"

I don't think "cold" is the appropriate term for 55-70F lake water. Certainly compared to Lake Superior, southern Lake Michigan beach water is quite mild. Tverbeek 20:29, 15 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

My POV says 70 degrees is cold. Compared to ice, Lake Michigan is warm, but that doesn't make it really warm. Just asking:Have you actually swum in 70 degree water? What objective measure could we use here?MPS 20:34, 15 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Since the subject is summertime lake water, how about we use that as a frame of reference? (I think most readers will grasp that we're not comparing it to the inside of a furnace or the surface of Pluto.) Yes, I've been swimming in water that temperature. I've been in Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, the Atlantic Ocean off Florida, the Pacific off Jalisco (Mexico), and countless small lakes. Superior (40-50F isn't unusual) I'd call "cold". Inland lakes that are shallow enough to heat up to 80F all the way down, I'd call "warm". A typical August Lake Michigan beach falls somewhere in between, and I think "cool" reflects that better than "cold" does. If you think 70F is "cold"... you just don't know what cold water feels like. :) Tverbeek 02:17, 16 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Swimming in Lake Michigan tells me it's cold. Cool maybe, in August, but cold the other 11 months which to me justify the term "cold."

You all may have been swimming in different parts of the lake. I've added a ref. stating that in the summer, the water along the eastern shore is warmer. I would have said the lake water is somewhat "warm" in the summer - but my experience is based on swimming in the lake off southwestern Michigan. :) Zariane (talk) 15:31, 5 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

During July and August southern Lake Michigan is swimable by many people and not just kids. That puts it in the cool to warm category. SE Lake Michigan often has water that you can loll in, that is just float around in comfortably without exercise. That to me puts it int the warm category. Wegerje (talk) 18:53, 9 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The water temperature reaches the low 80s on occassion. I've been to Grand Haven, Michigan in August and swam in 80 degree water. Phizzy

19:57, 9 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Updated article to reflect the fact that temperatures reach 80 degrees. Several locations in Lake Michigan have already reached 75+ degrees, and it is barely summer. Phizzy

03:25, 29 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Can we get any details on the average extent of ice cover on the lake in winter an d the months when it is present?--AssegaiAli (talk) 12:34, 23 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

we could use the world's nuclear waste to heat the lake just a little bit. we need to put it somewhere, so why not put it to good use at the same time. 23:33, 3 March 2013 (UTC) Michael Christian — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.23.224.120 (talk)

Lake Chicago

This article really should talk about the "precursur" to Lake Michigan, which geologists call Lake Chicago (some geologists even give it different names at different time periods -- talk about confusing).

check out:

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/702.html http://www.emporia.edu/earthsci/student/damery1/gl_form.html

Traverse City

I removed the Traverse City entry in the Michigan cities section because this city does not exceed, or even approach, 30,000 in population. I would support rewording the section to include metro areas or other designations of significance, since Michigan certainly has more than two noteworthy towns on the big lake(i.e., Traverse City, Benton Harbor/St. Joseph, etc.), but they do not fit as the group currently exists.

Door County

I agree with the above said, why is 30,000 important? Now I want to know why a county in Wisconsin (Door) that according to the statistics is under 30,000 is included? Oh yea and, it is a county not a city! I suggest get rid of the 30,000 rule and even city distinction, maybe important shoreline communities. I have not changed anything but I will remove Door if no one changes or removes! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.186.114.73 (talk) 04:57, 7 May 2007 (UTC).[reply]

I agree and have removed the "30,000 rule" from the text. Zariane (talk) 15:34, 5 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Chicago River image

I removed the Chicago River image [4] because (a) article was crowded with images, and (b) didn't really offer a view of the lake or any important content to the article. --mtz206 (talk) 14:53, 17 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Polar Bears

I think a section of "fun facts" or something like that could be added, where there could be a mention of the Polar Bear Club in Jacksonport, WI

fish?

No mention of fish, can someone add? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 209.206.165.61 (talk) 09:48, 29 January 2007 (UTC).[reply]

i added a small section about fish but it would need more work on it and perhaps a link of data about stocking and such (i found much of the information on other pages mentioning the great lakes and from personal experiance) Huzzahmaster018 02:43, 17 August 2007

Coordinates

{{geodata-check}} The coordinates need the following fixes:

Write here

216.163.33.178 (talk) 14:45, 10 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Coordinates in article are okay. BrainMarble (talk) 02:20, 10 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Lake Michigan and Lake Huron rankings

I think the problem on the ranking is that it is second in volume but third in area (before/after Lake Huron, so that the term "largest" creates an unintended ambiguity. 7&6=thirteen (talk) 15:49, 19 June 2009 (UTC) Stan[reply]

I would rank Lake Michigan third, as most people think of surface area when speaking of size of lakes. Lake Ontario has nearly 3 1/2 times the volume of Lake Erie, but most people think of them as roughly the same size. Phizzy

19:34, 19 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Cities on the lake

I was just wondering what was the determining factor for which cities are listed? Because there are towns on the lake in other states that have much larger populations than some of the ones listed for Michigan. There is, for instance, a town listed for Michigan that has a population of less than 2,000 people. Tad Lincoln (talk) 03:23, 3 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Good article on Great Lakes levels

Lynch, Jim, November 08. 2010 Low Great Lakes levels prompt new call for action: U.S., Canada look at options to slow flow out of Lake Huron Detroit News. (subscription required) 7&6=thirteen (☎) 15:18, 17 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Michigan and Huron together form one single lake.

Michigan and Huron together form one single lake. both are merely larges bays of that lake.

i believe that a six-mile straight connects them, and they certainly rise and fall together.

so there are not really five great lakes, but instead only four.

Michigan is not the sole entirely US great lake because it is not a lake.

Lake Huron-Michigan is the largest great lake by surface area, and the second largest by volume.

people would come to recognize this if Wikipedia combined its articles on the two supposed lakes into one article and called them Huron-Michigan. Huron is the larger, and many Canadians would very likely feel offended or slighted if priority were given to the entirely US bay of the lake.

23:27, 3 March 2013 (UTC) Michael Christian

I do not claim to have come up with this argument. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.23.224.120 (talk) 23:27, 3 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Lake Michigan is indeed a LAKE and is entirely within the United States. How can that offend anyone? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.32.50.241 (talk) 12:44, 17 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

For some people it doesn't take much. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.32.56.189 (talk) 17:35, 6 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Number of lakes in (or on) each great lake?

I was looking at a map of Lake Michigan while visiting Chicago recently, and noticed an interesting feature that most people probably never considered about that, or any of the great lakes. That feature is that the lake is so large, that it contains numerous islands that in themselves are large enough to contain bodies of water that are large enough to themselves be lakes.

So I thought that the following would be some interesting facts to add to the wiki articles about not only each of the great lakes, but also to the articles about all other lakes in the world that also contain lakes:

How many total lakes are in (or on) each of the great lakes? What islands are they located on? What are their names? 99.153.192.158 (talk) 15:32, 5 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There's the page Islands of the Great Lakes—there are very very many. Lake Manitou is fairly famous for being the world's largest lake on an island in a lake. Pfly (talk) 23:06, 5 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

No map?

The article's lack of a modern map indicating the lake's geographical features (islands, bays, etc.) and surrounding cities is a curious omission. For that matter, there is not such a map accompanying any of the main articles for the five Great Lakes. Starling2001 (talk) 19:03, 26 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Michigan Triangle

I added a brief section on the Michigan Triangle. I'm not sure if it's noteworthy enough to be a standalone article, I'll let others be the judge of that. But, it has been covered by several local media outlets in both Wisconsin and Michigan, and has been covered by CNN, all over the span of several years, so I believe that it is an important section to include in the article on Lake Michigan. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Fredsteve3 (talk • contribs) 21:08, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

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Does anybody know what the nicknames for Lake Michigan are? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.125.157.220 (talk) 18:23, 20 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Ojibwe Language

I believe Lake Michigan is the Great Water and that is spelled Gichigami. It doesn't begin with a M. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mmallonen (talk • contribs) 18:50, 8 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Lake Michigan–Huron

Moved to Wikipedia:No original research/Noticeboard § Lake Michigan–Huron

– As it seems the talks for these pages aren't very active. ProcrastinatingReader (talk) 12:47, 28 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Environmental threats and damage

This article could arguably use a standalone section that digs more deeply into environmental damage to Lake Michigan -- including pollution, invasive species, overdevelopment, destruction of specific habitats, changes to fisheries, changes to drinkable water quality, etc. I see references scattered across other sections, but no standalone treatment. Not sure if there's a protocol for discussion of environmental issues that's already being used in similar articles that could be copied. Earnestmidwest (talk) 19:06, 25 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Minimum Width

The article lists the minimum width of the lake as 91 miles. I am confused about where this came from, as the lake at points is clearly less than 91 miles wide. This section, for example, is around 60 miles wide. https://i.imgur.com/E18fbUL.png WhiteWaterBottle (talk) 22:03, 24 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]