Helena; on the Missouri River, and on the Great Northern and other railroads (Map: Montana, D 2). It is in a productive mining region, and is noted for its great copper, gold, and silver smelting works; besides these metals, lead, iron, bituminous coal, and sandstone are found in the vicinity. The city has also extensive manufactures of flour. There are two steel wagon bridges 1000 feet long, two railroad bridges, a public library, and a park system which includes seven parks, aggregating 530 acres. The locality presents great scenic attractions. The most notable of its waterfalls are Rainbow and Great Falls, from the latter of which the city derives its name. The water-power, at medium low water, equals 350,000 horse-power, and this, together with inestimable mineral wealth, has contributed to the rapid growth of the city. Great Falls was settled in 1884, and incorporated four years later. The government is administered by a mayor, elected biennially, and a unicameral city council, the subordinate officials being nominated by the executive and confirmed by the council. The city owns and operates its water-works. Population, in 1890, 3979; in 1900, 14,930.
GREAT FISH, or BACK, RIVER. A river of Mackenzie and Keewatin, Dominion of Canada, rising in a small lake near the north shore of Lake Aylmer (Map: Canada, K 9). It flows through lakes Beechy, Pelley, and Garry, and enters the Arctic Ocean by a wide estuary, off the entrance to which is King William Land, after a northeast course of about 500 miles. It was explored in 1834-35 by Sir George Back (q.v.), who describes the Ah-hel-Dessy, or Parry Falls, on one of the tributaries, as “surpassing Niagara Falls in splendor of effect.” Montreal Island, in the estuary, has a melancholy interest in connection with the discovery of the final relics of Franklin in 1859.
GREAT FISH RIVER. A river in Cape Colony, rising in the Sneeuwberg, or Snowy Mountains, and, after a generally southeasterly course of 230 miles, entering the Indian Ocean about 5 miles northeast of Port Alfred (Map: Cape Colony, K 8). A bar at its mouth renders it inaccessible to ships. The Midland Railway from Port Alfred and Port Elizabeth skirts its banks upward from Commadagga to Middleburg.
GREAT HARRY. A three-masted vessel built under Henry VII. in 1509, at a cost of £14,000, the first double-decker to be built in England, and the first war-vessel of the British Navy. She was burned by accident at Woolwich in 1553.
GREAT HAR′WOOD. A coal-mining town in Lancashire, England, three miles northwest of Accrington (Map: England, D 3). Population, in 1891, 9100; in 1901, 12,000.
GREAT′HEART, Mr. The brave guardian of Christiana and her children, and their guide to the Celestial City, in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.
GREAT HORNED OWL. See Eagle-Owl.
GREAT KANAWHA, kȧ-na̤′wȧ. A large river of West Virginia. It rises between the Blue Ridge and Iron Mountains, in northwestern North Carolina, whence it flows north-northeast under the name of the New River through the western part of Virginia; then turning to the northwest, it breaks through several ridges of the Alleghanies (Map: West Virginia, C 3). After receiving Gauley River in Fayette County, W. Va., it takes the name of Great Kanawha, flows for about 100 miles through a picturesque region abounding in coal, salt, and iron, and joins the Ohio River at Point Pleasant, after a total course of about 400 miles. By means of a system of locks and movable dams, constructed at a cost of $4,000,000, slack-water navigation has been made possible throughout the year up to the picturesque Kanawha Falls, about two miles below the mouth of the Gauley.
GREAT LAKES. A series of inland seas comprising lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Saint Clair, Erie, and Ontario. They lie on the frontier of the United States and Canada and are drained by the Saint Lawrence River into the Atlantic. Their aggregate area is over 90,000 square miles, exceeding that of any other series of fresh-water lakes in the world. Lake Superior, the largest, has an area of about 31,000 square miles. The Great Lakes occupy depressions that are only slightly defined from the drainage system of the Mississippi and from the depression of Hudson Bay. Their elevation ranges from about 600 feet in Lake Superior to 250 feet in Lake Ontario, but from Lake Superior to Lake Erie the fall is less than 30 feet, so that almost the entire descent is accomplished in the Niagara and Saint Lawrence rivers. The Great Lakes exercise a very beneficial influence upon the climate of the country, particularly by moderating the temperature. This explains the extensive development of fruit culture in parts of the Great Lake region, notably in the vicinity of Lake Erie.
The magnitude and importance of transportation upon the Great Lakes are not generally realized. More than one-half of the number of vessels registered in the United States are found upon the Great Lakes, and excepting the vessels belonging to one particular ocean steamship line, the average tonnage of the Lake vessels exceeds that of all other American craft. A greater tonnage annually passes through the Detroit River than that which enters and clears in the foreign trade of the Atlantic and Pacific coast ports. No other artificial channel equals the canal at Saint Mary's Falls in the amount of traffic which annually goes through it, the tonnage even exceeding that of the Suez Canal. With respect to rapidity, economy, and efficiency, the lake traffic excels that of the ocean. The coastal line of the Great Lakes touches eight of our States. Their aggregate population is over one-third that of the Union. The sailing distance from Duluth to Buffalo is 997 miles, from Chicago to Buffalo, 929 miles, and from Duluth to Ogdensburg, 1235 miles. The vast region tributary to the Great Lakes is the richest part of the country in the products of farm, forest, and mine. The bulkiness of these products is such that a water route becomes of especial value in their transportation. The greatest significance of the lakes is due to their relation to the mining of iron ore and the manufacture of iron products. Viewed in this light, lake transportation is found to be the key to the modern industrial progress and supremacy of the United States. It is generally admitted that but for the cheapness of the lake transportation the iron ore resources of the Lake Superior region would have been scarcely exploited. Without the supply of iron ore many vast industries could not have thrived.
