Correction: Corrected September 17, 2026: the water-level paragraph now reports the archived NOAA station observations and their limits. Unsupported navigation implications were withdrawn. NOAA measurement context.
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Five downbound vessels were strung out on the Keweenaw-to-Soo run as of early Saturday morning, and Algoma Harvester is holding the point position. Her last AIS report, timed at 23:38 Friday night, put her ETA at the Soo Locks at 11:05 this morning, a full two hours ahead of the vessel behind her.
That vessel is Frontenac, reported at 02:01 with an ETA of 13:13. Then come Walter J. McCarthy at 13:58 and Algoma Endeavour at 14:09, eleven minutes separating the pair. Capt. Henry Jackman, last reported at 04:04 this morning, closes the line with a 15:21 ETA.
From Harvester's expected arrival to Jackman's, the Soo will be absorbing downbound traffic across more than four hours of the afternoon. Harvester has not led these pages this week, which is reason enough to watch her clear the locks well before that afternoon queue stacks up behind her.
Joyce L. VanEnkevort was pushing upbound through the Soo approach at 04:37 this morning, her locks ETA showing 05:37. She was the lone upbounder threading north through the same corridor where the downbound parade was forming.
Saginaw, the boat we tracked through her lay-up end earlier this week, was downbound from Harbor Beach toward Port Huron at 03:39 this morning, ETA 08:08 at the Port Huron vantage point. She is making time on Lake Huron.
Sam Laud, last reported at 04:14 near Southeast Shoal, was upbound toward the Detroit River with a 09:14 ETA at the Dossin Museum position. The Laud we tracked Thursday is still putting in miles.
Evans Spirit and Victory were both working upbound in the St. Clair and Detroit corridors before dawn, reported at 04:31 and 00:27 respectively, moving in the same direction but hours apart.
Archived NOAA station observations: Lake Superior, Sault Ste. Marie (NOAA station 9076027): 1.663 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-08-28 23:54 local standard time. Lake Michigan, Chicago (NOAA station 9087031): 2.074 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-08-28 23:54 local standard time. Lake Huron, Harbor Beach, MI (NOAA station 9075002): 1.942 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-08-28 23:54 local standard time. Lake Erie, Cleveland (NOAA station 9063053): 2.854 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-08-28 23:54 local standard time. Lake Ontario, Rochester, NY (NOAA station 9052030): 3.35 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-08-28 23:54 local standard time. These are individual gauge readings, not lake-wide averages or channel depths. They do not establish vessel clearance, cargo limits or comparative navigability.
High pressure is holding over the central Great Lakes through early Saturday on Lake Huron, with one-to-two-foot seas reported across the system. The easy window is measured: an active pattern returns late Sunday into Monday as a warm front lifts through the area, bringing showers and storms. Downbound vessels making the Huron run today have the better conditions; by Sunday night the picture changes.
One hundred years ago, the steamer City of Bangor ran hard aground near Copper Harbor during a November storm, carrying a cargo of new automobiles out of Detroit. The recovery of those cars from a wrecked vessel in the cold of January became one of the stranger salvage operations in Lake Superior's record. The Keweenaw Historical Society marked the centennial this week, and a painting by Upper Peninsula artist Clyde Mikkola depicting the wreck and the automobile salvage was presented to the society's maritime chairman. The image captures a moment the Keweenaw shore has not forgotten.