Sault Ste. Marie
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Sault Ste. Marie is the name of two cities on the Saint Mary's River, which forms part of the boundary between the United States and Canada.
- Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (population 74,566) is a Canadian city,
- Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan (population 16,542) is an American city.
The Ontario city is also served by the Sault Ste. Marie electoral district.
Formally founded in 1668 by Father Jacques Marquette as one city, then split into two in 1818 (when the Upper Peninsula was finally transferred from the British province of Upper Canada to the United States), Sault Ste. Marie has the distinction of being the oldest city in both the province of Ontario and the state of Michigan.
Sault Sainte Marie is Old French meaning "Saint Mary's Rapids," a reference to the rapids in the Saint Mary's River, which joins Lake Superior to Lake Huron. In English, "Sault Sainte Marie" -- written without the hyphen and typically abbreviated to "Sault Ste. Marie" -- is pronounced "Soo Saint Marie." Either city, or the vicinity as a whole, can also be informally called "The Sault" or "The Soo".
The two cities are joined by the International Bridge, which connects Highway I-75 in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Huron Street in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Shipping traffic in the Great Lakes system by-passes the Saint Mary's Rapids via the Soo Locks - the world's busiest canal in terms of tonnage that passes through it.
See also twin cities.