Soo Locks - Sault Ste Marie, MI, USA

This live camera from StreamTime Live is mounted on the Tower of History, 64 metres above Sault Ste Marie, looking across the St Marys River and the Soo Locks, the busiest waterway by tonnage in North America. The locks connect Lake Superior to Lake Huron, overcoming a 6.4-metre difference in water levels that would otherwise make navigation between the two Great Lakes impossible.

The Soo Locks handle approximately 80 million tonnes of cargo annually, primarily iron ore, coal, and grain moving between the Great Lakes ports. The largest lock, the Poe Lock completed in 1968, measures 366 metres long and is the only lock large enough to handle the 1,000-foot Great Lakes freighters that carry the majority of bulk cargo on the system.

The city of Sault Ste Marie on the Canadian side is visible across the river in the background, making this one of the few live cameras in the world that simultaneously shows two different countries in a single frame. The Tower of History, from which this camera operates, stands 64 metres tall and has two observation decks open to visitors overlooking the locks and the international border.

Did You Know? The Soo Locks are the busiest waterway by tonnage in North America, handling more cargo annually than the Panama Canal, yet they are closed entirely every winter from January to March when ice makes navigation impossible.

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