Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal
Shipping canal connecting Sturgeon Bay on the Bay of Green Bay with Lake Michigan, across the Door Peninsula at the city of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. The canal consists of two parts: a dredged portion of Sturgeon Bay, and an approximately 1.3 mile long canal dug between 1872 and 1881, is approximately 7 miles in length. Although smaller craft began using the canal in 1880, it was not open for large-scale watercraft until 1890. In 1893, this group sold all interest in the canal to the United States government. Since that time, the canal has been maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The canal was 7,400 feet long (2.3 km), 100 feet wide (32.2 m), and 6 feet deep (1.9 m). At this date, the modern canal is 25 to 30 feet deep (8 m). A jetty extends into Lake Michigan 1,350 feet (410 m) and 800 feet wide (242 m) at the mouth. The canal is a short cut into Green Bay and the city of Green Bay at the south end of the bay. Boats from Milwaukee and Chicago can save a good deal of time if they use this short cut instead of going around the north end of the peninsula. Sturgeon Bay is a natural bay off the east side of Green Bay, so only a short cut was needed to make this portage navigable into Lake Michigan.
Above: Sturgeon Bay Shipping Canal
Below: View of the mouth of the Sturgeon Bay Shipping Canal from the Coast Guard Pier.
Bottom: Sturgeon Bay Lighthouse viewed from Coast Guard Pier
Historical Information
In the mid 1800's, Sturgeon Bay cut like a knife from Green Bay into Door County, almost completely bisecting the peninsula and joining with Lake Michigan. Indians and Voyageurs alike had long portaged their canoes between the two waterways, thereby avoiding the treacherous Porte Des Morts passage at the northernmost end of the peninsula.
