Grand Lake St. Marys

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Grand Lake Saint Marys
Grand Lake
Celina-ohio-grand-lake.jpg
Location: Ohio (USA)
Drain: Beaver Creek → Wabash River
Larger places on the shore: St. Marys , Celina
Grand Lake Saint Marys (Ohio)
Grand Lake Saint Marys
Coordinates 40 ° 31 '36 "  N , 84 ° 30' 3"  W Coordinates: 40 ° 31 '36 "  N , 84 ° 30' 3"  W.
Data on the structure
Lock type: lock
Construction time: Early 19th century
Data on the reservoir
Altitude (at congestion destination ) 265  m
Water surface 51 km²
Reservoir length 13 km
Reservoir width 4.7 km
the largest artificial lake in the world when it was built

The Grand Lake St. Marys (official, but rarely used name: Grand Lake , literally "Big Lake") is an artificial lake in the counties Mercer and Auglaize in the US state Ohio .

history

The lake was created from 1837 as a reservoir for the Miami-Erie Canal near the eponymous place St. Marys . When it was completed in 1845, it was the largest man-made lake in the world with an area of ​​54 km².

After oil was discovered in the area in the 1890s, a number of derricks stood in the lake, which is rarely more than 1.5 to 2 meters deep.

In 1949, Ohio's first state parks were established with Grand Lake and a few other reservoirs along the Miami-Erie Canal . The state park covers the entire lake area. At 2.4 km², Grand Lake St. Marys State Park's portion of the land area is relatively small. Today the lake is primarily used as a recreation area. There is a campsite on the lakeshore with 198 caravan spaces.

Web links

Commons : Grand Lake St. Marys  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files