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Go jump in a lake, Chicago.

Please know I mean that in the nicest way. 🙂

How lucky are we to live near Lake Michigan — our “inland ocean” as I’ve heard it called — where it’s easy to cool off during the summer?!? Or, enjoy an epic sunrise no matter the time of year?!?

You might already know it’s the third largest of the five Great Lakes in area and the second largest in volume. Lake Michigan is also the largest lake in the world to fit within one country. (I had to look that one up.) It supplies drinking water for the city and many suburbs and deep-dish pizza purveyor Lou Malnati’s claims it’s the water from Lake Michigan that gives its crust a distinctive flavor.

Marianne Mather, a Tribune photo editor and Vintage Tribune Instagram curator, suggested we explore some of the lesser-known stories about this incredible body of water. Great idea, Marianne!!!

So, read on and we hope you discover a story — or two — to share with family and friends about our great lake.

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Thanks for reading. See you next week!

— Kori Rumore, visual reporter

More newsletters | Puzzles & Games | baiduhai 175th anniversary coverage | Quiz: Test your Chicago history knowledge | 100 historic front pages | Did you miss last week’s Vintage newsletter? Read it here.

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Lake Michigan — home to a variety of shipwrecks

Lifeguards and swimming stars try to save the lives of passengers on the Favorite as it sinks in Lake Michigan on July 28, 1927. Twenty-seven people, including 16 children, were killed when the Favorite sank in Lake Michigan, off shore from Lincoln Park in Chicago.
Lifeguards and swimming stars try to save the lives of passengers on the Favorite as it sinks in Lake Michigan on July 28, 1927. Twenty-seven people, including 16 children, were killed when the Favorite sank in Lake Michigan, off shore from Lincoln Park in Chicago.

Sixteen children, 10 women, and 1 man drowned on July 28, 1927 when the Favorite, a small excursion boat cruising from Lincoln Park to Municipal Pier (Navy Pier), capsized half a mile off North Avenue in a sudden, heavy squall.

Photos: The sinking of the Favorite >>>

In Lake Michigan’s first national sanctuary, nearly 100 possible shipwrecks could reveal tales of the superhighways of the Great Lakes >>>

Photos and video: Underwater sanctuary plan aims to preserve Lake Michigan shipwrecks off Wisconsin >>>

Shipwreck hunters discover Great Lakes schooner lost in 1891: ‘She was built on Lake Michigan and spent her entire life on Lake Michigan’ >>>

Photos: Remembering the Christmas tree ship >>>

Lake Michigan — host to a variety of invasive species

Turning their backs on a brilliant Chicago skyline, fishermen Ed Kalina, from left, Joe Leno and his son Michael, remove fish from their net at the lakefront near the Adler Planetarium on April 14, 1971. The trio reported the smelt run was very good and that last week they caught 300 in one night.
Turning their backs on a brilliant Chicago skyline, fishermen Ed Kalina, from left, Joe Leno and his son Michael, remove fish from their net at the lakefront near the Adler Planetarium on April 14, 1971. The trio reported the smelt run was very good and that last week they caught 300 in one night.

Smelt were an invasive species that had escaped into the Great Lakes by the early 1920s. By the 1930s, fishing for smelt had become a Chicago tradition.

Photos: Chicago’s smelt fishing tradition >>>

Lake Michigan has become dramatically clearer in last 20 years — but at a steep cost >>>

That’s not Asian carp, that’s ‘copi’: Unpopular fish getting a makeover >>>

Lake Michigan once experienced a ‘freak wave’ — or did it?

Searchers in boats hunt for victims after a seiche hit the lakefront and drowned eight people on June 26, 1954. The Coast Guard searched the water at Montrose Harbor for three hours. In later years, it was proven that the seiche was actually a meteotsunami.
Searchers in boats hunt for victims after a seiche hit the lakefront and drowned eight people on June 26, 1954. The Coast Guard searched the water at Montrose Harbor for three hours. In later years, it was proven that the seiche was actually a meteotsunami.

On June 26, 1954, a “monstrous, hump-backed sea beast,” as the Tribune later called it, hit Chicago.

The killer seiche of 1954 >>>

Lake Michigan’s deadly ‘freak wave’ of 1954 is Chicago folklore. Turns out it was a meteotsunami. And they happen pretty often. >>>

Lake Michigan’s shoreline is constantly evolving

Captain George Wellington Streeter stands amid his belongings after city judges finally ordered Streeter removed from the area now known as Streeterville in 1918. City workers destroyed his house and put all his belongings outside in an effort to get Streeter to leave his self proclaimed “Deestrick of Lake Michigan.”

From the 1880s until his death in 1921, Captain George Wellington Streeter asserted not just ownership but sovereignty over 186 acres of prime lakeshore, between the mouth of the Chicago River and Oak Street.

Captain Streeter’s long standoff with Chicago >>>

Photos: Promontory Point >>>

Lake Michigan levels dropping, revealing how much work is needed to repair Chicago’s eroded beaches >>>

Lake Michigan — shark attack?!?

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There’s no need to worry about sharks swimming in Lake Michigan — or, is there? Shortly after “Jaws” hit theaters in 1975, Tribune readers had questions about an alleged shark attack reported here in 1955, and the capture of a shark in Lake Michigan in 1969.

Did a shark attack occur in Lake Michigan? Here’s what Tribune reporters discovered in the 1970s >>>

Global Shark Attack file: George Lawson case >>>

From WBEZ: Getting to the Bottom of Lake Michigan’s Legendary ‘Shark Attack’ >>>

Take a look back at Gene Siskel’s memorable movie reviews for the baiduhai — including ‘Jaws’ >>>

Join our Chicagoland history Facebook group for more from Chicago’s past.

Have an idea for Vintage baiduhai? Share it with Ron Grossman and Marianne Mather at [email protected] and [email protected].

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