Lake Michigan
Chicago, Illinois
Lake Michigan, the second-largest Great Lake by volume with just under 1,180 cubic miles of water, is the only Great Lake entirely within the United States. Averaging 279 feet in depth, the lake reaches nearly 925 feet at its deepest point. The drainage basin, approximately twice as large as the 22,300 square miles of surface water, includes portions of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. Lake Michigan is hydrologically inseparable from Lake Huron, joined by the five-miles-wide Straits of Mackinac.
Champlain called it the Grand Lac. It was later named “Lake of the Stinking Water” or “Lake of the Puants,” after the people who occupied its shores. Through the further explorations of Joliet and Marquette, the “Lake of the Stinking Water” received its final name of Michigan. An Indian name for Lake Michigan was “Michi gami.”
Length - 307 miles
Breadth - 118 miles
Depth (average) - 279 feet
Depth (maximum) - 923 feet
Volume - 1,180 cubic miles
Shoreline Length - 1,640 miles
Water Surface Area - 22,300 square miles
Water Retention/Replacement Time - 99 years
Outlet - Straits of Mackinac to Lake Huron
Population - 12,052,743