Port Huron, city (1990 pop. 33,694), seat of St. Clair co., S Mich., a natural, deepwater port of entry at the junction of the St. Clair River with Lake Huron; inc. 1857. It is a shipping center with railroad shops and plants that manufacture transportation equipment, building materials, machinery, salt, metal and paper products, chemicals, consumer goods, and electrical equipment. The earliest European settlement began (1686) with the French fort St. Joseph. The town grew after the building (1826) of Fort Gratiot Turnpike (between Port Huron and Detroit), ushering in a lumbering era. Local deposits of salt, oil, and natural gas were developed. Port Huron is connected by a railway tunnel and an international bridge with Sarnia, Ont. The old Fort Gratiot lighthouse marks the St. Clair straits off Port Huron. Thomas Edison grew up in the city.

Huron, Lake, 23,010 sq mi (59,596 sq km), 206 mi (332 km) long and 183 mi (295 km) at its greatest width, between Ont., Canada, and Mich.; second largest of the Great Lakes. It has a surface elevation of 580 ft (177 m) above sea level and a maximum depth of 750 ft (229 m). Centrally located between the upper and lower Great Lakes, Lake Huron receives the waters of Lake Superior through the St. Marys River and those of Lake Michigan through the Straits of Mackinac; it drains into Lake Erie through the St. Clair River-Lake St. Clair-Detroit River system. Large tributaries flowing into the lake include the Mississagi, Wanapitei, Spanish, and French rivers from Ontario, and the Au Sable and Saginaw rivers from Michigan. The northern shoreline is irregular, with many bays and inlets; the largest are Georgian Bay and North Channel, which indent the Ontario shore and are nearly landlocked by Manitoulin Island and the Bruce Peninsula. Saginaw Bay is the principal indentation on the southern shores. Lake Huron is part of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system and is navigated by oceangoing and lake vessels that carry cargoes of iron ore, grain, coal, and limestone. Navigation is impeded by ice in the shallower sections from mid-December to early April. The lake is subject to occasional violent storms. The principal lakeshore cities are Port Huron, Mich., and Sarnia, Ont., at the lake's outlet; Owen Sound, Midland, and Parry Sound, Ont.; and Bay City, Alpena, and Cheboygan, Mich. The waters of the lake are relatively unpolluted; commercial and sport fishing is important, and several resorts are located along the lake shore. Major salt deposits are worked at the south end of the lake. Georgian Bay, an arm of the lake, is a popular resort area, and recreational facilities are provided at Georgian Bay Islands National Park (Canada), on the islands in Mackinac Strait, and at numerous state and provincial parks along the lake's scenic shores. Samuel de Champlain visited Lake Huron in 1615.

Huron, confederation of four Native North American groups who spoke the Wyandot language, which belongs to the Iroquoian branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). Their name for themselves was Wendat, Huron being the name applied to them by the French. In the early 17th cent. they occupied the region between Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay in Ontario and numbered some 20,000. Their culture was substantially that of the area of the Eastern woodlands. They lived in palisaded villages and cultivated tobacco.

In 1615, when Samuel Champlain visited the Huron, they were at war with the Iroquois. The long-standing enmity between the Huron and the Iroquois reached a climax in 1648, when the Iroquois, armed with Dutch firearms, invaded Huronia and subsequently disrupted (1649) the Huron confederacy. It was at this time that Father Jean de Brébeuf, who established (1626) a Roman Catholic mission among the Huron, and other Jesuit missionaries were killed by the Iroquois. The survivors of the Huron fled in all directions—southwest to the Tobacco Nation, south to the Neutral Nation, southeast to the Erie, and northeast to a French fort near Quebec. The implacable Iroquois hunted the Huron everywhere; in 1649 the Iroquois attacked the Tobacco Nation, causing the migration of these people in company with the Huron. In 1650 the Neutral Nation was invaded by the Iroquois and practically wiped out, and in 1656 the Erie were almost exterminated.

The Huron who had fled to Quebec ultimately received a small reservation at Lorette, where many still live, but the remnants of the Huron and Tobacco Nation went, under pressure from the Iroquois, first to Michigan, then to Wisconsin and Illinois, where the Sioux attacked them. The Tobacco Nation and Huron eventually settled (1750) in villages near Detroit and at Sandusky, Ohio. In Ohio they became known to the British as the Wyandot and as such fought with the British against the Americans in both the American Revolution and the War of 1812. After the War of 1812 possession of their lands was confirmed by the United States, but by 1842 they had sold their tracts and moved to what is now Wyandotte co., Kans. In 1867 they were settled in NE Oklahoma, where they reside as citizens, their tribe having been terminated in 1959. There were some 2,500 Wyandot in the United States in 1990. About 1,500 Huron live in Canada.

Huron, city (1990 pop. 12,448), seat of Beadle co., E central S.Dak., on the James River; inc. 1883. A shipping and trade center for a large livestock and grain area, it has meatpacking, lumbering, and tourism industries, and asphalt and mining equipment are manufactured. It is also the administrative center for a number of state and federal agencies. Huron was the hometown of Hubert Humphrey. The city is the seat of Si Tanka Huron Univ. The South Dakota State Fair is held annually in Huron.

Lake, U.S. and Canada. The second-largest of the Great Lakes of North America, it is bounded by Michigan and Ontario, and is about 206 mi (330 km) long with an area of 23,000 sq mi (59,570 sq km). Inflow comes from Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and numerous streams; the lake discharges at its southern end into Lake Erie. It contains many islands, including Mackinac, and Saginaw Bay indents the Michigan coast. As part of the St. Lawrence Seaway, it supports heavy commercial traffic from April to December. The first of the Great Lakes seen by Europeans, it was explored by the French (1615–79), who named it after the Huron Indians.

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Lake, U.S. and Canada. The second-largest of the Great Lakes of North America, it is bounded by Michigan and Ontario, and is about 206 mi (330 km) long with an area of 23,000 sq mi (59,570 sq km). Inflow comes from Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and numerous streams; the lake discharges at its southern end into Lake Erie. It contains many islands, including Mackinac, and Saginaw Bay indents the Michigan coast. As part of the St. Lawrence Seaway, it supports heavy commercial traffic from April to December. The first of the Great Lakes seen by Europeans, it was explored by the French (1615–79), who named it after the Huron Indians.

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or Wyandot

North American Indian alliance of four bands of the Huron nation together with a few smaller communities that joined them at different periods for protection against the Iroquois Confederacy. Their language is of the Iroquoian family. At first European contact, the people who mostly call themselves Wendot lived in Ouendake (Huronia), between Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe in Ontario, Can. Their villages, sometimes palisaded, consisted of large, bark-covered dwellings that housed several families related through maternal descent. Crops included corn, beans, squash, sunflowers, and tobacco; hunting and fishing supplemented the diet. The Wendat were nearly annihilated by the Iroquois in 1648–50. The survivors dispersed, some joining with remnant Tionontati; these newly formed groups were sometimes known as the Wyandot. In the early 21st century, population estimates indicated some 3,500 Wendat descendants.

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