The town of Sault Ste. Marie lies at the northeastern tip of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula along the banks of the St. Mary’s River, about 60 miles north of Mackinac Island. Often referred to as “the Sault” or “the Soo” by locals, it has an incredibly important role in America’s transportation infrastructure as the St. Mary River connects Lake Huron and Lake Superior and is one of the busiest shipping channels in the country. The channel and associated locks were built to bypass a set of rapids that prevented ships from traversing farther up into the Great Lakes. Sault Ste. Marie proper sits on an island between the shipping channel and the St. Mary River but has expanded to encompass areas on the mainland to the south of the shipping channel.