- published: 16 Jun 2009
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Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. The other four Great Lakes are shared by the U.S. and Canada. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third-largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron (and is slightly smaller than the U.S. state of West Virginia). To the east, its basin is conjoined with that of Lake Huron through the wide Straits of Mackinac, giving it the same surface elevation as its easterly counterpart; the two are technically a single lake. Lake Michigan is shared, from west to east, by the U.S. states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. The word "Michigan" originally referred to the lake itself, and is believed to come from the Ojibwa word mishigami meaning "great water". In earlier maps of the region, the name Lake Illinois has been found in place of "Michigan".
Some of the earliest human inhabitants of the Lake Michigan region were the Hopewell Indians. Their culture declined after 800 AD, and for the next few hundred years, the region was the home of peoples known as the Late Woodland Indians. In the early 17th century, when western European explorers made their first forays into the region, they encountered descendants of the Late Woodland Indians: the Chippewa; Menominee; Sauk; Fox; Winnebago; Miami; Ottawa; and Potawatomi. The French explorer Jean Nicolet is believed to have been the first European to reach Lake Michigan, possibly in 1634 or 1638.
Michigan i/ˈmɪʃᵻɡən/ is a state located in the Great Lakes and midwestern regions of the United States. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake". Michigan is the tenth most populous of the 50 United States, with the 11th most extensive total area (the largest state by total area east of the Mississippi River). Its capital is Lansing, and the largest city is Detroit.
Michigan is the only state to consist of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is often noted to be shaped like a mitten. The Upper Peninsula (often referred to as "the U.P.") is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, a five-mile (8 km) channel that joins Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. The two peninsulas are connected by the Mackinac Bridge. The state has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the world, being bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, plus Lake Saint Clair. As a result, it is one of the leading U.S. states for recreational boating. Michigan also has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds. A person in the state is never more than six miles (9.7 km) from a natural water source or more than 85 miles (137 km) from a Great Lakes shoreline.
let's go down to the lake and take a swim in toxic waste
i dive in the buildings, soar so high i cannot see the sky
there's something strange about this big city
i think i can do without this big city life
i'll move to the mountains and build my own log cabin
and enjoy being alone all by myself
instead of feeling lonely on this crowded train downtown
perhaps it was the industrial revolution that led the way
to the pollution of our planet
that and the evolution of technology
perhaps it couldn't have been avoided
the paradox of technology is that it may save what we've destroyed
but who really cares about having cleaner air
factories roar everyday and poullute the air away
and what about the landfills and the toxic waste
bringing disease to our children, water, and land
when i ride the train sometimes i get a stare
rarely do i get a smile
people are so concerned with their identity
no cares enough to talk as human beings
but how can we find a solution without communication
if it's become too late for our generation
let's go down to the lake and take a swim in our mistakes