and two
train ferries, 1943 Europeans first recorded navigating the Detroit River in the 17th century. The
Iroquois traded
furs with the
Dutch colonists at
New Amsterdam by traveling through the Detroit River. Later, when the French began settling in the area, they navigated the river using
canoes made of
birch or
elm bark. Handcrafted vessels were a common mode of travel across the river, and
pirogues and
bateaux were also used. As the
North American fur trade intensified, European settlers expanded their trade westward into uncharted territories. French explorer
Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac sailed up the Detroit River on July 23, 1701. The next day, he established
Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit, which developed as Detroit. The French named the river as
Rivière Détroit.
Détroit is
French for "
strait". The river was known literally as the "River of the Strait". When
Great Britain defeated the French in the Seven Years' War (known as the
French and Indian War on the American front), it took over control of the Detroit River, as well as other French territory east of the Mississippi River. The newly formed
United States claimed this territory during the
American Revolution, but the British did not transfer it until 1796. During the
War of 1812, the Detroit River served as a major barrier between the American
Michigan Territory and British
Upper Canada, especially during the
Battle of Fort Detroit in August 1812. Detroit briefly fell to the British. After the completion of the
Erie Canal in 1817, which opened up easier travel to Lake Erie from the
East Coast of the United States, connecting the Great Lakes to the Hudson River and the port of New York City, the Detroit River became a route for many migrating settlers traveling to northern Michigan. Detroit rapidly attracted a share of new residents. Following the
Patriot War, in which British regulars and Michigan militia nearly came to armed conflict on the ice-covered Detroit River, the United States built
Fort Wayne at Detroit to counter Britain's riverside
Fort Malden at Amherstburg across the river. The Detroit River served as a final stop on the
Underground Railroad and was the most active entry point along the United States–Canada border for fugitive slaves. Escaping slaves often chose to cross through the Detroit River rather than flee to Mexico because of the river's location near free states made it less risky than traveling through slaveholding states that border Mexico. The strong Underground Railroad networks in the Canadian border region also assisted Blacks hoping to flee from the U.S. once the
Fugitive Slave Act was strengthened in 1850. Canada also granted legal immigration status to Blacks, while Mexico did not for many years. Individuals and organizations assisted escaping slaves hoping to cross the Detroit River from the United States into Canada. The
Second Baptist Church of Detroit and First Baptist Church of Amherstburg coordinated ferrying thousands of Blacks across the Detroit River into Canada, and Detroit's Colored Vigilant Committee assisted over 1,500 fugitives in crossing into Canada. Famous abolitionists and Underground Railroad conductors including
George DeBaptiste and William Lambert worked individually and with these organizations to assist fleeing slaves and condemn slavery. There was considerable transnational fluidity between the Canadian and American sides of the river until the middle of the 19th century. With their freedom in Canada secured, crossing the Detroit River out of the United States became an imperative for escaping slaves. During the
American Civil War (1861–1865), the
Union feared the seceded
Confederate States of America (CSA) would plan a northerly attack from Canada, which was controlled by the British Empire and remained neutral in the war. The Union feared the CSA would cross the Detroit River to launch this attack. For that reason, Union forces regularly patrolled the Detroit River and the fortification at Fort Wayne improved, although it was far removed from any major combat. A Confederate plot to capture the U.S. Navy warship,
USS Michigan, and liberate Confederate prisoners from
Johnson Island, in western Lake Erie, was narrowly averted only after the Confederates had captured two passenger steamships. At the beginning of the 20th century, Detroit's industrialization took off on an unprecedented scale. The Detroit River became the world's busiest commercial river and in 1908 was dubbed "the Greatest Commercial Artery on Earth" by
The Detroit News. In 1907, the Detroit River carried 67,292,504 tons (61 billion kg) of shipping commerce through Detroit to markets all over the world. By comparison,
London shipped 18,727,230 tons (16 billion kg), and
New York shipped 20,390,953 tons (18 billion kg). The Detroit River,
Lake St. Clair, and the
St. Clair River are estimated to have carried 75% of all liquor smuggled into the United States during Prohibition. Government officials were unable or unwilling to deter the flow. The rum-running industry died when prohibition was repealed in 1933 by the
Twenty-first Amendment.
Submerged objects Because of the booming businesses and long history of
Metro Detroit and
Windsor, Ontario, the Detroit River has been the site of many artifacts, some lost with sunken ships and others abandoned, such as murder weapons or stolen bronze statues. A
DMC DeLorean has also been recovered from the river. The artifacts recovered are well preserved due to the river's
fresh water but low visibility makes them difficult to find. A 1940s-era bronze statue depicting a classical nude woman was originally installed to overlook a reflecting pool in the
Grosse Pointe War Memorial. It was nicknamed "The Nude", and, in 2001, was believed to have been successfully stolen for display in some art collector's private cache. During a police diving exercise near a submerged
Jeep, the statue was found in 2009, restored, and returned to the memorial. Anchors from the SS
Greater Detroit, a luxury
steamship that toured the Detroit River from 1924 to 1950, and the famed , a
lake freighter that sank in a 1975 storm on
Lake Superior, have notably both been recovered from the river. The anchor of the SS
Greater Detroit was raised in November 2016. It was installed at the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority Building. The lost anchor of the SS
Edmund Fitzgerald was recovered during a July 1992 project, and the anchor was installed in the yard of the
Dossin Great Lakes Museum on
Belle Isle. Since the 1980s, divers have recovered a total of six 1700s-era
cannons from the river. The last was found in 2011 near the
Cobo Center. They are believed to have been part of the pre-
War of 1812 inventory kept by the
British garrison in this area. Historians believe another three cannon may still be in the river. Inventory documents record a total of 17 cannons and 14 have been accounted for. It is believed that the British dragged the cannons onto the frozen river so they would sink with the spring thaw, and be kept from use by the American enemy. Another seven, larger cannons may have fallen off a
barge closer to
Amherstburg,
Ontario, and may yet be found in the river. In 1961, a congressional order founded the Wyandotte National Wildlife Refuge. That began the government's placing tighter restrictions on industries; substantial government funding at various levels has been allocated to clean up the river. In this early period, opponents believed that such efforts would adversely affect Detroit's industry and economy. In 1970, toxic levels of
mercury in the water resulted in the total closing of the
fishing industry in the
St. Clair River,
Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River, and Lake Erie. Finally, a massive conservation effort was initiated to clean up the Detroit River. It is the only river in North America to have such dual designations. In 2001, the Wyandotte National Wildlife Refuge was absorbed into the larger
Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, a cooperative effort between the United States and Canada to preserve the area as an ecological refuge. The millions of dollars spent since that time to dredge pollutants out of the Detroit River has led to a remarkable restoration, although problems remain. ==Economy==