On the west bank of St. Marys River at the eastern end of Lake Superior, lies the City of Sault Ste. Marie -- a city in the midst of a land of history and romance -- the site of the second oldest white settlement in the United States that for centuries stood as a sentinel on the gateway to the "Northwest Passage".
Etienne Brule, early in the 17th Century, was the first white man known to set foot in the Upper Great Lakes region. He called the Falls “Sault de Gaston" in honor of the younger brother of King Louis Xlll of France Jean Nicollet was there in 1634. Jesuit Fathers opened a mission in 1641 and renamed the site Sault Ste. Marie -- The Falls of St. Mary. Father Marquette, also a Jesuit, established the first white place of worship in what is now Michigan. Sault Ste. Marie was claimed for France in 1671, and the French flag flew until 1762, when France lost its big colony in America to England, The United States Flag has flown since June 15, 1820, and Fort Brady was established there in July, 1822.
When the Soo Line entered Sault Ste. Marie on December 10, 1887, it was entering a city that was over 200 years old. It was a city whose people had long awaited, and even prayed, for the coming of the Iron Horse. People who were thankful that the horrors and hardships or winter time isolation were past. It was a heartening transformation.
Between the time the last boat went through the Lock (built in 1855), generally November 15, until the ice would foot travel with the help of skis and snowshoes, horse-drawn sleighs or dog teams.
January 18, 1888 was declared a Civic Holiday. The city celebrated the coming of the railroad and opening of the International Bridge "which forms the last link of a route across the continent". A banquet, an elaborate affair, was held at the Hotel Iroquois. Two hundred people attended. The town was profusely decorated, triumphal arches spanned the principal streets and an impressive parade was a leading feature of the ceremonies.
The people of Sault Ste. Marie feted the new road and paid tribute to its builders in such an enthusiastic manner that the event was one long to be remembered. Officers of the road and several Something is missing friends from Minneapolis and St. Paul were among the prominent guests.
The Minneapolis "Saturday Evening Spectator" of January 21, in reporting the event, said, "From Minneapolis to the Seaboard the Great "Soo" Road completed. The Great International Bridge, which is to connect the United States and Canada, and the Soo Road to the Canadian Pacific, and thereby Minneapolis with Boston and New York, absolutely ready for business".