Chapter IV: Front Matter (4)

Among the numerous churches of the city the most important is the cathedral of St Aegidius, a Gothic building erected by the emperor Frederick III. in 1450-1462 on the site of a previous church mentioned as early as 1157. It has been several times modified and redecorated, more particularly in 1718. The present copper spire dates from 1663. The interior is richly adorned with stained-glass windows of modern date, costly shrines, paintings and tombs. In the immediate neighbourhood of the cathedral is the mausoleum church erected by the emperor Ferdinand II. Worthy of mention also are the parish church, a Late Gothic building, finished in 1520, and restored in 1875, which possesses an altar piece by Tintoretto; the Augustinian church, appropriated to the service of the university since 1827; the small Leech Kirche, an interesting building in Early Gothic style, dating from the 13th century, and the Herz Jesu-Kirche, a building in Early Gothic style, finished in 1891, with a tower 360 ft. high. Of the secular buildings the most important is the Landhaus, where the local diet holds its sittings, erected in the 16th century in the Renaissance style. It possesses an interesting portal and a beautiful arcaded court, and amongst the curiosities preserved here is the Styrian hat. In its neighbourhood is the Zeughaus or arsenal, built in 1644, which contains a very rich collection of weapons of the 15th-17th centuries, and which is maintained exactly in the same condition as it was 250 years ago. The town hall, built in 1807, and rebuilt in 1892 in the German Renaissance style, and the imperial castle, dating from the 11th century, now used as government offices, are also worth notice.

At the head of the educational institutions is the university founded in 1586 by the Austrian archduke Charles Francis, and restored in 1817 after an interruption of 45 years. It is now housed in a magnificent building, finished in 1895, and is endowed with numerous scientific laboratories and a rich library. It had in 1901 a teaching staff of 161 professors and lecturers, and 1652 students, including many Italians from the Kustenland and Dalmatia. The Joanneum Museum, founded in 1811 by the archduke John Baptist, has become very rich in many departments, and an additional huge building in the rococo style was erected in 1895 for its accommodation. The technical college, founded in 1814 by the archduke John Baptist, had in 1901 about 400 pupils.

An active trade, fostered by abundant railway communications, is combined with manufactures of iron and steel wares, paper, chemicals, vinegar, physical and optical instruments, besides artistic printing and lithography. The extensive workshops of the Southern railway are at Graz, and since the opening of the railway to the rich coal-fields of Koflach the number of industrial establishments has greatly increased.

Amongst the numerous interesting places in the neighbourhood are: the Hilmteich, with the Hilmwarte, about 100 ft. high; and the Rosenberg (1570 ft.), whence the ascent of the Platte (2136 ft.) with extensive view is made. At the foot of the Rosenberg is Maria Grun, with a large sanatorium. All these places are situated to the N. of Graz. On the left bank of the Mur is the pilgrimage church of Maria Trost, built in 1714; on the right bank is the castle of Eggenberg, built in the 17th century. To the S.W. is the Buchkogel (2150 ft.), with a magnificent view, and a little farther south is the watering-place of Tobelbad.

_History._--Graz may possibly have been a Roman site, but the first mention of it under its present name is in a document of A.D. 881, after which it became the residence of the rulers of the surrounding district, known later as Styria. Its privileges were confirmed by King Rudolph I. in 1281. Surrounded with walls and fosses in 1435, it was able in 1481 to defend itself against the Hungarians under Matthias Corvinus, and in 1529 and 1532 the Turks attacked it with as little success. As early as 1530 the Lutheran doctrine was preached in Graz by Seifried and Jacob von Eggenberg, and in 1540 Eggenberg founded the Paradies or Lutheran school, in which Kepler afterwards taught. But the archduke Charles burned 20,000 Protestant books in the square of the present lunatic asylum, and succeeded by his oppressive measures in bringing the city again under the authority of Rome. From the earlier part of the 15th century Graz was the residence of one branch of the family of Habsburg, a branch which succeeded to the imperial throne in 1619 in the person of Ferdinand II. New fortifications were constructed in the end of the 16th century by Franz von Poppendorf, and in 1644 the town afforded an asylum to the family of Ferdinand III. The French were in possession of the place in 1797 and again in 1805; and in 1809 Marshal Macdonald having, in accordance with the terms of the peace of Vienna, entered the citadel which he had vainly besieged, blew it all up with the exception of the bell-tower and the citizens' or clock tower. It benefited greatly during the 19th century from the care of the archduke John and received extended civic privileges in 1860.

See Ilwof and Peters, _Graz, Geschichte und Topographie der Stadt_
(Graz, 1875); G. Fels, _Graz und seine Umgebung_ (Graz, 1898); L.
Mayer, _Die Stadt der Grazien_ (Graz, 1897), and Hofrichter,
_Ruckblicke in die Vergangenheit von Graz_ (Graz, 1885).

GRAZZINI, ANTONIO FRANCESCO (1503-1583), Italian author, was born at Florence on the 22nd of March 1503, of good family both by his father's and mother's side. Of his youth and education all record appears to be lost, but he probably began early to practise as an apothecary. In 1540 he was one of the founders of the Academy of the Humid (degli Umidi) afterwards called "della Fiorentina," and later took a prominent part in the establishment of the more famous Accademia della Crusca. In both societies he was known as _Il Lasca_ or _Leuciscus_, and this pseudonym is still frequently substituted for his proper name. His temper was what the French happily call a difficult one, and his life was consequently enlivened or disturbed by various literary quarrels. His Humid brethren went so far as to expel him for a time from the society--the chief ground of offence being apparently his ruthless criticism of the "Arameans," a party of the academicians who maintained that the Florentine or Tuscan tongue was derived from the Hebrew, the Chaldee, or some other branch of the Semitic. He was readmitted in 1566, when his friend Salviati was "consul" of the academy. His death took place on the 18th of February 1583. Il Lasca ranks as one of the great masters of Tuscan prose. His style is copious and flexible; abundantly idiomatic, but without any affectation of being so, it carries with it the force and freshness of popular speech, while it lacks not at the same time a flavour of academic culture. His principal works are _Le Cene_ (1756), a collection of stories in the manner of Boccaccio, and a number of prose comedies, _La Gelosia_ (1568), _La Spiritata_ (1561), _I Parentadi_, _La Arenga_, _La Sibilla_, _La Pinzochera_, _L' Arzigogolo_. The stories, though of no special merit as far as the plots are concerned, are told with verve and interest. A number of miscellaneous poems, a few letters and _Four Orations to the Cross_ complete the list of Grazzini's extant works.

He also edited the works of Berni, and collected _Tutti i trionfi,
larri, mascherate, e canti carnascialaschi, andati per Firenze dal
tempo del magnifico Lorenzo de' Medici fino all' anno 1559_. In 1868
Adamo Rossi published in his _Ricerche per le biblioteche di Perugia_
three "novelle" by Grazzini, from a MS. of the 16th century in the
"Comunale" of Perugia: and in 1870 a small collection of those poems
which have been left unpublished by previous editors appeared at
Poggibonsi, _Alcune Poesie inedite_. See Pietro Fanfani's "Vita del
Lasca," prefixed to his edition of the _Opere di A. Grazzini_
(Florence, 1857).

GREAT AWAKENING, the name given to a remarkable religious revival centring in New England in 1740-1743, but covering all the American colonies in 1740-1750. The word "awakening" in this sense was frequently (and possibly first) used by Jonathan Edwards at the time of the Northampton revival of 1734-1735, which spread through the Connecticut Valley and prepared the way for the work in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut (1740-1741) of George Whitefield, who had previously been preaching in the South, especially at Savannah, Georgia. He, his immediate follower, Gilbert Tennent (1703-1764), other clergymen, such as James Davenport, and many untrained laymen who took up the work, agreed in the emotional and dramatic character of their preaching, in rousing their hearers to a high pitch of excitement, often amounting to frenzy, in the undue stress they put upon "bodily effects" (the physical manifestations of an abnormal psychic state) as proofs of conversion, and in their unrestrained attacks upon the many clergymen who did not join them and whom they called "dead men," unconverted, unregenerate and careless of the spiritual condition of their parishes. Jonathan Edwards, Benjamin Colman (1675-1747), and Joseph Bellamy, recognized the viciousness of so extreme a position. Edwards personally reprimanded Whitefield for presuming to say of any one that he was unconverted, and in his _Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion_ devoted much space to "showing what things are to be corrected, or avoided, in promoting this work." Edwards' famous sermon at Enfield in 1741 so affected his audience that they cried and groaned aloud, and he found it necessary to bid them be still that he might go on; but Davenport and many itinerants provoked and invited shouting and even writhing, and other physical manifestations. At its May session in 1742 the General Court of Massachusetts forbade itinerant preaching save with full consent from the resident pastor; in May 1743 the annual ministerial convention, by a small plurality, declared against "several errors in doctrine and disorders in practice which have of late obtained in various parts of the land," against lay preachers and disorderly revival meetings; in the same year Charles Chauncy, who disapproved of the revival, published _Seasonable Thoughts on the State of Religion in New England_; and in 1744-1745 Whitefield, upon his second tour in New England, found that the faculties of Harvard and Yale had officially "testified" and "declared" against him and that most pulpits were closed to him. Some separatist churches were formed as a result of the Awakening; these either died out or became Baptist congregations. To the reaction against the gross methods of the revival has been ascribed the religious apathy of New England during the last years of the 18th century; but the martial and political excitement, beginning with King George's War (i.e. the American part of the War of the Austrian Succession) and running through the American War of Independence and the founding of the American government, must be reckoned at the least as contributing causes.

See Joseph Tracy, _The Great Awakening_ (Boston, 1842); Samuel P.
Hayes, "An Historical Study of the Edwardean Revivals," in _The
American Journal of Psychology_, vol. 13 (Worcester, Mass., 1902); and
Frederick M. Davenport, _Primitive Traits in Religious Revivals_ (New
York, 1905), especially chapter viii. pp. 94-131. (R. We.)

GREAT BARRIER REEF, a vast coral reef extending for 1200 m. along the north-east coast of Australia (q.v.). The channel within it is protected from heavy seas by the reef, and is a valuable route of communication for coasting steamers. The reef itself is also traversed by a number of navigable passages.

GREAT BARRINGTON, a township of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, U.S.A., on the Housatonic river, in the Berkshire hills, about 25 m. S.W. of Pittsfield. Pop. (1890) 4612; (1900) 5854, of whom 1187 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 5926. Its area is about 45 sq. m. The township is traversed by a branch of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad, and the Berkshire Street railway (controlled by the N.Y., N.H. & H.) has its southern terminus here. Within the township are three villages--Great Barrington (the most important), Housatonic and Van Deusenville; the first two are about 5 m. apart. The village of Great Barrington, among the hills, is well known as a summer resort. The Congregational church with its magnificent organ (3954 pipes) is worthy of mention. There is a public library in the village of Great Barrington and another in the village of Housatonic. Monument Mt. (1710 ft.), partly in Stockbridge, commands a fine view of the Berkshires and the Housatonic Valley. The Sedgwick School (for boys) was removed from Hartford, Connecticut, to Great Barrington in 1869. There are various manufactures, including cotton-goods (in the village of Housatonic), and electric meters, paper, knit goods and counterpanes (in the village of Great Barrington); and marble and blue stone are quarried here; but the township is primarily given over to farming. The fair of the Housatonic Agricultural Society is held here annually during September; and the district court of South Berkshire sits here. The township was incorporated in 1761, having been, since 1743, the "North Parish of Sheffield"; the township of Sheffield, earlier known as the "Lower Housatonic Plantation" was incorporated in 1733. Great Barrington was named in honour of John Shute (1678-1734), Viscount Barrington of Ardglass (the adjective "Great" being added to distinguish it from another township of the same name). In 1761-1787 it was the shire-town. Great Barrington was a centre of the disaffection during Shays's rebellion, and on the 12th of September 1786 a riot here prevented the sitting of court. Samuel Hopkins, one of the most eminent of American theologians, was pastor here in 1743-1769; General Joseph Dwight (1703-1765), a merchant, lawyer and brigadier-general of Massachusetts militia, who took part in the Louisburg expedition in 1745 and later in the French and Indian War, lived here from 1758 until his death; and William Cullen Bryant lived here as a lawyer and town clerk in 1816-1825.

See C. J. Taylor, _History of Great Barrington_ (Great Barrington,
1882).

GREAT BASIN, an area in the western Cordilleran region of the United States of America, about 200,000 sq. m. in extent, characterized by wholly interior drainage, a peculiar mountain system and extreme aridity. Its form is approximately that of an isosceles triangle, with the sharp angle extending into Lower California, W. of the Colorado river; the northern edge being formed by the divide of the drainage basin of the Columbia river, the eastern by that of the Colorado, the western by the central part of the Sierra Nevada crest, and by other high mountains. The N. boundary and much of the E. is not conspicuously uplifted, being plateau, rather than mountain. The W. half of Utah, the S.W. corner of Wyoming, the S.E. corner of Idaho, a large area in S.E. Oregon, much of S. California, a strip along the E. border of the last-named state, and almost the whole of Nevada are embraced within the limits of the Great Basin.

The Great Basin is not, as its name implies, a topographic cup. Its surface is of varied character, with many independent closed basins draining into lakes or "playas," none of which, however, has outlet to the sea. The mountain chains, which from their peculiar geologic character are known as of the "Basin Range type" (not exactly conterminous in distribution with the Basin), are echeloned in short ranges running from N. to S. Many of them are fault block mountains, the crust having been broken and the blocks tilted so that there is a steep face on one side and a gentle slope on the other. This is the Basin Range type of mountain. These mountains are among the most recent in the continent, and some of them, at least, are still growing. In numerous instances clear evidence of recent movements along the fault planes has been discovered; and frequent earthquakes testify with equal force to the present uplift of the mountain blocks. The valleys between the tilted mountain blocks are smooth and often trough-like, and are often the sites of shallow salt lakes or playas. By the rain wash and wind action detritus from the mountains is carried to these valley floors, raising their level, and often burying low mountain spurs, so as to cause neighbouring valleys to coalesce. The plateau "lowlands" in the centre of the Basin are approximately 5000 ft. in altitude. Southward the altitude falls, Death valley and Coahuila valley being in part below the level of the sea. The whole Basin is marked by three features of elevation--the Utah basin, the Nevada basin and, between them, the Nevada plateau.

Over the lowlands of the Basin, taken generally, there is an average precipitation of perhaps 6-7 in., while in the Oregon region it is twice as great, and in the southern parts even less. The mountains receive somewhat more. The annual evaporation from water surfaces is from 60 to 150 in. (60 to 80 on the Great Salt Lake). The reason for the arid climate differs in different sections. In the north it is due to the fact that the winds from the Pacific lose most of their moisture, especially in winter, on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada; in the south it is due to the fact that the region lies in a zone of calms, and light, variable winds. Precipitation is largely confined to local showers, often of such violence as to warrant the name "cloud bursts," commonly applied to the heavy down-pours of this desert region. It is these heavy rains, of brief duration, when great volumes of water rapidly run off from the barren slopes, that cause the deep channels, or arroyas, which cross the desert. Permanent streams are rare. Many mountains are quite without perennial streams, and some lack even springs. Few of the mountain creeks succeed in reaching the arid plains, and those that do quickly disappear by evaporation or by seepage into the gravels. In the N.W. there are many permanent lakes without outlet fed by the mountain streams; others, snow fed, occur among the Sierra Nevada; and some in the larger mountain masses of the middle region. Almost all are saline. The largest of all, Great Salt Lake, is maintained by the waters of the Wasatch and associated plateaus. No lakes occur south of Owens in the W. and Sevier in the E. (39 deg.); evaporation below these limits is supreme. Most of the small closed basins, however, contain "playas," or alkali mud flats, that are overflowed when the tributary streams are supplied with storm water.

Save where irrigation has reclaimed small areas, the whole region is a vast desert, though locally only some of the interior plains are known as "deserts." Such are the Great Salt Lake and Carson deserts in the north, the Mohave and Colorado and Amargosa (Death Valley) deserts of the south-west. Straggling forests, mainly of conifers, characterize the high plateaus of central Utah. The lowlands and the lower mountains, especially southward, are generally treeless. Cottonwoods line the streams, salt-loving vegetation margins the bare playas, low bushes and scattered bunch-grass grow over the lowlands, especially in the north. Gray desert plants, notably cactuses and other thorny plants, partly replace in the south the bushes of the north. Except on the scattered oases, where irrigation from springs and mountain streams has reclaimed small patches, the desert is barren and forbidding in the extreme. There are broad plains covered with salt and alkali, and others supporting only scattered bunch grass, sage bush, cactus and other arid land plants. There are stony wastes, or alluvial fans, where mountain streams emerge upon the plains, in time of flood, bringing detritus in their torrential courses from the mountain canyons and depositing it along the mountain base. The barrenness extends into the mountains themselves, where there are bare rock cliffs, stony slopes and a general absence of vegetation. With increasing altitude vegetation becomes more varied and abundant, until the tree limit is reached; then follows a forest belt, which in the highest mountains is limited above by cold as it is below by aridity.

The successive explorations of B. L. E. Bonneville, J. C. Fremont and Howard Stansbury (1806-1863) furnished a general knowledge of the hydrographic features and geological lacustrine history of the Great Basin, and this knowledge was rounded out by the field work of the U.S. Geological Survey from 1879 to 1883, under the direction of Grove Karl Gilbert. The mountains are composed in great part of Paleozoic strata, often modified by vulcanism and greatly denuded and sculptured by wind and water erosion. The climate in late geologic time was very different from that which prevails to-day. In the Pleistocene period many large lakes were formed within the Great Basin; especially, by the fusion of small catchment basins, two great confluent bodies of water--Lake Lahontan (in the Nevada basin) and Lake Bonneville (in the Utah basin). The latter, the remnants of which are represented to-day by Great Salt, Sevier and Utah Lakes, had a drainage basin of some 54,000 sq. m.

See G. K. Gilbert in Wheeler Survey, _U.S. Geographical Survey West of
the Hundredth Meridian_, vol. iii.; Clarence King and others in the
_Report of the Fortieth Parallel Survey_ (U.S. Geol. Exploration of
the Fortieth Parallel); G. K. Gilbert's _Lake Bonneville_ (U.S.
Geological Survey, _Monographs_, No. 1, 1890), also I. C. Russell's
_Lake Lahontan_ (Same, No. 11, 1885), with references to other
publications of the Survey. For reference to later geological
literature, and discussion of the Basin Ranges, see J. E. Spurr,
_Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer._ vol. 12, 1901, p. 217; and G. D. Louderback,
same, vol. 15, 1904, p. 280; also general bibliographies issued by the
U.S. Geol. Survey (e.g. _Bull._ 301, 372 and 409).

GREAT BEAR LAKE, an extensive sheet of fresh water in the north-west of Canada, between 65 deg. and 67 deg. N., and 117 deg. and 123 deg. W. It is of very irregular shape, has an estimated area of 11,200 sq. m., a depth of 270 ft., and is upwards of 200 ft. above the sea. It is 175 m. in length, and from 25 to 45 in breadth, though the greatest distance between its northern and southern arms is about 180 m. The Great Bear river discharges its waters into the Mackenzie river. It is full of fish, and the neighbouring country, though barren and uncultivated, contains quantities of game.

GREAT CIRCLE. The circle in which a sphere is cut by a plane is called a "great circle," when the cutting plane passes through the centre of sphere. Treating the earth as a sphere, the meridians of longitude are all great circles. Of the parallels of latitude, the equator only is a great circle. The shortest line joining any two points is an arc of a great circle. For "great circle sailing" see NAVIGATION.

GREAT FALLS, a city and the county-seat of Cascade county, Montana, U.S.A., 99 m. (by rail) N.E. of Helena, on the S. bank of the Missouri river, opposite the mouth of the Sun river, at an altitude of about 3300 ft. It is 10 m. above the Great Falls of the Missouri, from which it derives its name. Pop. (1890) 3979; (1900) 14,930, of whom 4692 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 13,948. It has an area of about 8 sq. m. It is served by the Great Northern and the Billings & Northern (Chicago, Burlington & Quincy system) railways. The city has a splendid park system of seven parks (about 530 acres) with 15 m. of boulevards.[1] Among the principal buildings are a city hall, court house, high school, commercial college, Carnegie library, the Columbus Hospital and Training School for Nurses (under the supervision of the Sisters of Charity), and the Montana Deaconess hospital. There is a Federal land office in the city. Great Falls lies in the midst of a region exceptionally rich in minerals--copper, gold, silver, lead, iron, gypsum, limestone, sapphires and bituminous coal being mined in the neighbourhood. Much grain is grown in the vicinity, and the city is an important shipping point for wool, live-stock and cereals. Near Great Falls the Missouri river, within 7-1/2 m., contracts from a width of about 900 to 300 yds. and falls more than 500 ft., the principal falls being the Black Eagle Falls (50 ft.), from which power is derived for the city's street railway and lighting plant, the beautiful Rainbow Falls (48 ft.) and Great Falls (92 ft.). Giant Spring Fall, about 20 ft. high, is a cascade formed by a spring on the bank of the river near Rainbow Falls. The river furnishes very valuable water-power, partly utilized by large manufacturing establishments, including flour mills, plaster mills, breweries, iron works, mining machinery shops, and smelting and reduction works. The Boston & Montana copper smelter is one of the largest in the world; it has a chimney stack 506 ft. high, and in 1908 employed 1200 men in the smelter and 2500 in its mining department. Great Falls ranked second (to Anaconda) among the cities of the state in the value of the factory product of 1905, which was $13,291,979, showing an increase of 42.4% since 1900. The city owns and operates its water-supply system. Great Falls was settled in 1884, and was chartered as a city in 1888.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] Great Falls was a pioneer among the cities of the state in the
development of a park system. When the city was first settled its
site was a "barren tract of sand, thinly covered with buffalo-grass
and patches of sage brush." The first settler, Paris Gibson, of
Minneapolis, began the planting of trees, which, though not
indigenous, grew well. The city's sidewalks are bordered by strips of
lawn, in which there is a row of trees, and the city maintains a
large nursery where trees are grown for this purpose. A general state
law (1901) placing the parking of cities on a sound financial basis
is due very largely to the impulse furnished by Great Falls. See an
article, "Great Falls, the Pioneer Park City of Montana," by C. H.
Forbes-Lindsay, in the _Craftsman_ for November 1908.

GREAT HARWOOD, an urban district in the Darwen parliamentary division of Lancashire, England, 4-1/2 m. N.E. of Blackburn, on the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway. Pop. (1901) 12,015. It is of modern growth, a township of cotton operatives, with large collieries in the vicinity. An agricultural society is also maintained.

GREATHEAD, JAMES HENRY (1844-1896), British engineer, was born at Grahamstown, Cape Colony, on the 6th of August 1844. He migrated to England in 1859, and in 1864 was a pupil of P. W. Barlow, from whom he became acquainted with the shield system of tunnelling with which his name is especially associated. Barlow, indeed, had a strong belief in the shield, and was the author of a scheme for facilitating the traffic of London by the construction of underground railways running in cast-iron tubes constructed by its aid. To show what the method could do, it was resolved to make a subway under the Thames near the Tower, but the troubles encountered by Sir M. I. Brunel in the Thames Tunnel, where also a shield was employed, made engineers hesitate to undertake the subway, even though it was of very much smaller dimensions (6 ft. 7 in. internal diameter) than the tunnel. At this juncture Greathead came forward and offered to take up the contract; and he successfully carried it through in 1869 without finding any necessity to resort to the use of compressed air, which Barlow in 1867 had suggested might be employed in water-bearing strata. After this he began to practise on his own account, and mainly divided his time between railway construction and taking out patents for improvements in his shield, and for other inventions such as the "Ejector" fire-hydrant. Early in the 'eighties he began to work in conjunction with a company whose aim was to introduce into London from America the Hallidie system of cable traction, and in 1884 an act of Parliament was obtained authorizing what is now the City & South London Railway--a tube-railway to be worked by cables. This was begun in 1886, and the tunnels were driven by means of the Greathead shield, compressed air being used at those points where water-bearing gravel was encountered. During the progress of the works electrical traction became so far developed as to be superior to cables; the idea of using the latter was therefore abandoned, and when the railway was opened in 1890 it was as an electrical one. Greathead was engaged in two other important underground lines in London--the Waterloo & City and the Central London. He lived to see the tunnels of the former completed under the Thames, but the latter was scarcely begun at the time of his death, which happened at Streatham, in the south of London, on the 21st of October 1896.

GREAT LAKES OF NORTH AMERICA, THE. The connected string of five fresh-water inland seas, Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario, lying in the interior of North America, between the Dominion of Canada on the north and the United States of America on the south, and forming the head-waters of the St Lawrence river system, are collectively and generally known as "The Great Lakes." From the head of lake Superior these lakes are navigable to Buffalo, at the foot of lake Erie, a distance of 1023 m., for vessels having a draught of 20 ft.; from Buffalo to Kingston, 191 m. farther, the draught is limited, by the depth in the Welland canal, to 14 ft.; lake Superior, the largest and most westerly of the lakes, empties, through the river St Mary, 55 m. long, into lake Huron. From Point Iroquois, which may be considered the foot of the lake, to Sault Ste Marie, St Mary's Falls, St Mary's Rapids or the Soo, as it is variously called, a distance of 14 m., there is a single channel, which has been dredged by the United States government, at points which required deepening, to give a minimum width of 800 ft. and a depth of 23 ft. at mean stage water. Below the Sault, the river, on its course to lake Huron, expands into several lakes, and is divided by islands into numerous contracted passages. There are two navigated channels; the older one, following the international boundary-line by way of lake George, has a width of 150 to 300 ft., and a depth of 17 ft.; it is buoyed but not lighted, and is not capable of navigation by modern large freighters; the other, some 12 m. shorter, an artificial channel dredged by the United States government in their own territory, has a minimum width of 300 ft. and depth of 20 ft. It is elaborately lighted throughout its length. A third channel, west of all the islands, was designed for steamers bound down, the older channel being reserved for upbound boats.

Between lake Superior and lake Huron there is a fall of 20 ft. of which the Sault, in a distance of 1/2 m., absorbs from 18 to 19-1/2 ft., the height varying as the lakes change in level. The enormous growth of inter-lake freight traffic has justified the construction of three separate locks, each overcoming the rapids by a single lift--two side by side on the United States and one on the Canadian side of the river. These locks, the largest in the world, are all open to Canadian and United States vessels alike, and are operated free from all taxes or tolls on shipping. The Canadian ship canal, opened to traffic on the 9th of September 1895, was constructed through St Mary Island, on the north side of the rapids, by the Canadian government, at a cost of $3,684,227, to facilitate traffic and to secure to Canadian vessels an entrance to lake Superior without entering United States territory. The canal is 5967 ft. long between the extremities of the entrance piers, has one lock 900 ft. long and 60 ft. wide, with a depth on the sills at the lowest known water-level of 20-1/2 ft. The approaches to the canal are dredged to 18 ft. deep, and are well buoyed and lighted. On the United States side of the river the length of the canal is 1-2/3 m., the channel outside the locks having a width varying from 108 to 600 ft. and depth of 25 ft. The locks of 1855 were closed in 1886, to give place to the Poe lock. The Weitzel lock, opened to navigation on the 1st of September 1881, was built south of the old locks, the approach being through the old canal. Its chamber is 515 ft. long between lock gates, and 80 ft. wide, narrowing to 60 ft. at the gates. The length of the masonry walls is 717 ft., height 39-1/2 ft., with 17 ft. over mitre sills at mean stage of water. The Poe lock, built because the Weitzel lock, large and fully equipped as it is, was insufficient for the rapidly growing traffic, was opened on the 3rd of August 1896. Its length between gates is 800 ft.; width 100 ft.; length of masonry walls 1100 ft.; height 43-1/2 to 45 ft., with 22 ft. on the mitre sill at mean stage.

The expenditure by the United States government on the canal, with its several locks, and on improving the channel through the river, aggregated fourteen million dollars up to the end of 1906.[1] Plans were prepared in 1907 for a third United States lock with a separate canal approach.

The canals are closed every winter, the average date of opening up to 1893 being the 1st of May, and of closing the 1st of December. The pressure of business since that time, aided possibly by some slight climatic modification, has extended the season, so that the average date of opening is now ten days earlier and of closing twelve days later. The earliest opening was in 1902 on the 1st of April, and the latest closing in 1904 on the 20th of December.

The table below gives the average yearly commerce for periods of five
years, and serves to show the rapid increase in freight growth.

_Statement of the commerce through the several Sault Ste Marie canals, averaged for every five years._[2]

+------------+--------+------------+--------+-----------+-----------+------------+------------+------------+---------+------------+---------+------------+
| | Pass- | Registered | Passen-| Coal. | Flour. | Wheat. | Other | General | Salt. | Iron Ore. | Lumber. | Total |
| Years. | ages. | Tonnage. | gers. | Net Tons. | Barrels. | Bushels. | Grains. |Merchandise.| Barrels.| Net Tons. | M. ft. | Freight. |
| | | | | | | | Bushels. | Net Tons. | | | B.M. | Net Tons. |
+------------+--------+------------+--------+-----------+-----------+------------+------------+------------+---------+------------+---------+------------+
| 1855-1859* | 387 | 192,207 | 6,206 | 4,672 | 19,555 | None. | 34,612 | 2,249 | 1,248 | 27,206 | 320 | 55,797 |
| 1880-1884 | 4,457 | 2,267,166 | 34,607 | 463,431 | 681,726 | 5,435,601 | 936,346 | 81,966 | 107,225 | 867,999 | 79,144 | 2,184,731 |
| 1885-1889 | 7,908 | 4,901,105 | 29,434 | 1,398,441 | 1,838,325 | 18,438,085 | 1,213,815 | 74,447 | 175,725 | 2,497,403 | 197,605 | 5,441,297 |
| 1890-1894 | 11,965 | 9,912,589 | 24,609 | 2,678,805 | 5,764,766 | 34,875,971 | 1,738,706 | 87,540 | 231,178 | 4,939,909 | 510,482 | 10,627,349 |
| 1895-1899 | 18,352 | 18,451,447 | 40,289 | 3,270,842 | 8,319,699 | 57,227,269 | 23,349,134 | 164,426 | 282,156 | 10,728,075 | 832,968 | 19,354,974 |
| 1900-1904 | 19,374 | 26,199,795 | 54,093 | 5,457,019 | 7,021,839 | 56,269,265 | 26,760,533 | 646,277 | 407,263 | 20,020,487 | 999,944 | 31,245,565 |
| 1906 alone | 22,155 | 41,098,324 | 63,033 | 8,739,630 | 6,495,350 | 84,271,358 | 54,343,155 | 1,134,851 | 468,162 | 35,357,042 | 900,631 | 51,751,080 |
+------------+--------+------------+--------+-----------+-----------+------------+------------+------------+---------+------------+---------+------------+
* The first five years of operation.

Around the canals have grown up two thriving towns, one on the Michigan, the other on the Ontario side of the river, with manufactories driven by water-power derived from the Sault. The outlet of lake Michigan, the only lake of the series lying wholly in United States territory, is at the Strait of Mackinac, near the point where the river St Mary reaches lake Huron. With lake Michigan are connected the Chicago Sanitary and Ship canal, the Illinois and Michigan, and the Illinois and Mississippi canals, for which see Illinois. With lake Huron is always included Georgian Bay as well as the channel north of Manitoulin Island. As it is principally navigated as a connecting waterway between lakes Superior and Michigan and lake Erie it has no notable harbours on it. It empties into lake Erie through the river St Clair, lake St Clair and the river Detroit. On these connecting waters are several important manufacturing and shipping towns, and through this chain passes nearly all the traffic of the lakes, both that to and from lake Michigan ports, and also that of lake Superior. The tonnage of a single short season of navigation exceeds in the aggregate 60,000,000 tons. Extensive dredging and embankment works have been carried on by the United States government in lake St Clair and the river Detroit, and a 20-ft. channel now exists, which is being constantly improved. Lake St Clair is nearly circular, 25 m. in diameter, with the north-east quadrant filled by the delta of the river St Clair. It has a very flat bottom with a general depth of only 21 ft., shoaling very gradually, usually to reed beds that line the low swampy shores. To enter the lake from river St Clair two channels have been provided, with retaining walls of cribwork, one for upward, the other for downward bound vessels. Much dredging has also been necessary at the outlet of the lake into river Detroit. A critical point in that river is at Limekiln crossing, a cut dredged through limestone rock above the Canadian town of Amherstburg. The normal depth here before improvement was 12-1/2-15 ft.; by a project of 1902 a channel 600 ft. wide and 21 ft. deep was planned; there are separate channels for up- and down-bound vessels. To prevent vessels from crowding together in the cut, the Canadian government maintains a patrol service here, while the United States government maintains a similar patrol in the St Mary channel.

The Grand Trunk railway opened in 1891 a single track tunnel under the river St Clair, from Sarnia to Port Huron. It is 6026 ft. long, a cylinder 20 ft. in diameter, lined with cast iron in flanged sections. A second tunnel was undertaken between Detroit and Windsor, under the river Detroit.

From Buffalo, at the foot of lake Erie, the river Niagara runs northwards 36 m. into lake Ontario. To overcome the difference of 327 ft. in level between lakes Erie and Ontario, the Welland canal, accommodating vessels of 255 ft. in length, with a draught of 14 ft., was built, and is maintained by Canada. The Murray canal extends from Presqu'ile Bay, on the north shore of lake Ontario, a distance of 6-1/2 m., to the headquarters of the Bay of Quinte. Trent canal is a term applied to a series of water stretches in the interior of Ontario which are ultimately designed to connect lake Huron and lake Ontario. At Peterboro a hydraulic balance-lock with a lift of 65 ft., 140 ft. in length and 33 ft. clear in width, allowing a draught of 8 ft., has been constructed. The ordinary locks are 134 by 33 ft. with a draught of 6 ft. When the whole route of 200 m. is completed, there will not be more than 15 m. of actual canal, the remaining portion of the waterway being through lakes and rivers. For the Erie canal, between that lake and the Hudson river, see ERIE and NEW YORK.

The population of the states and provinces bordering on the Great Lakes is estimated to be over 35,000,000. In Pennsylvania and Ohio, south of lake Erie, there are large coal-fields. Surrounding lake Michigan and west of lake Superior are vast grain-growing plains, and the prairies of the Canadian north-west are rapidly increasing the area and quantity of wheat grown; while both north and south of lake Superior are the most extensive iron mines in the world, from which 35 million tons of ore were shipped in 1906. The natural highway for the shipment of all these products is the Great Lakes, and over them coal is distributed westwards and grain and iron ore are concentrated eastwards. The great quantity of coarse freights, that could only be profitably carried long distances by water, has revolutionized the type of vessel used for its transportation, making large steamers imperative, consolidating interests and cheapening methods. It is usual for the vessels in the grain trade and in the iron-ore trade to make their up trips empty; but in consequence of the admirable facilities provided at terminal points, they make very fast time, and carry freight very cheaply. The cost of freight per ton-mile fell from 23/100 cent in 1887 to 8/100 cent in 1898; since then the rate has slightly risen, but keeps well below 1/10 cent per ton-mile.

The traffic on the lakes may be divided into three classes, passenger, package freight and bulk freight. Of passenger boats the largest are 380 ft. long by 44 ft. beam, having a speed of over 20 m. an hour, making the round trip between Buffalo and Chicago 1800 m., or Buffalo and Duluth 2000 m., every week. They carry no freight. The Canadian Pacific railway runs a line of fine Tyne-built passenger and freight steamers between Owen Sound and Fort William, and these two lines equal in accommodation transatlantic passenger steamers. On lake Michigan many fine passenger boats run out of Chicago, and on lake Ontario there are several large and fast Canadian steamers on routes radiating from Toronto. The package freight business, that is, the transportation of goods in enclosed parcels, is principally local; all the through business of this description is controlled by lines run by the great trunk railways, and is done in boats limited in beam to 50 ft. to admit them through bridges over the rivers at Chicago and Buffalo. By far the greatest number of vessels on the lakes are bulk freighters, and the conditions of the service have developed a special type of vessel. Originally sailing vessels were largely used, but these have practically disappeared, giving place to steamers, which have grown steadily in size with every increase in available draught. In 1894 there was no vessel on the lakes with a capacity of over 5000 tons; in 1906 there were 254 vessels of a greater capacity, 12 of them carrying over 12,000 tons each. For a few years following 1890 many large barges were built, carrying up to 8000 tons each, intended to be towed by a steamer. It was found, however, that the time lost by one boat of the pair having to wait for the other made the plan unprofitable and no more were built. Following 1888 some 40 whale-back steamers and barges, having oval cross-sections without frames or decks, were built, but experience failed to demonstrate any advantage in the type, and their construction has ceased. The modern bulk freighter is a vessel 600 ft. long, 58 ft. beam, capable of carrying 14,000 tons on 20 ft. draught, built with a midship section practically rectangular, the coefficient frequently as high as .98, with about two-thirds of the entire length absolutely straight, giving a block coefficient up to .87. The triple-expansion machinery and boilers, designed to drive the boat at a speed of 12 m. an hour, are in the extreme stern, and the pilot house and quarters in the extreme bow, leaving all the cargo space together. Hatches are spaced at multiples of 12 ft. throughout the length and are made as wide as possible athwartships to facilitate loading and unloading. The vessels are built on girder frames and fitted with double bottoms for strength and water ballast. This type of vessel can be loaded in a few minutes, and unloaded by self-filling grab buckets up to ten tons capacity, worked hydraulically, in six or eight hours. The bulk freight generally follows certain well-defined routes; iron ore is shipped east from ports on both sides of lake Superior and on the west side of lake Michigan to rail shipping points on the south shore of lake Erie. Wheat and other grains from Duluth find their way to Buffalo, as do wheat, corn (maize) and other grains from Chicago. Wheat from the Canadian north-west is distributed from Fort William and Port Arthur to railway terminals on Georgian Bay, to Buffalo, and to Port Colborne for trans-shipment to canal barges for Montreal, and coal is distributed from lake Erie to all western points. The large shipping trade is assisted by both governments by a system of aids to navigation that mark every channel and danger. There are also life-saving stations at all dangerous points.

The Great Lakes never freeze over completely, but the harbours and often the connecting rivers are closed by ice. The navigable season at the Sault is about 7-1/2 months; in lake Erie it is somewhat longer. The season of navigation has been slightly lengthened since 1905, by using powerful tugs as ice-breakers in the spring and autumn, the Canadian government undertaking the service at Canadian terminal ports, chiefly at Fort William and Port Arthur, the most northerly ports, where the season is naturally shortest, and the Lake Carriers' Association, a federation of the freighting steamship owners, acting in the river St Mary. Car ferries run through the winter across lake Michigan and the Strait of Mackinac, across the rivers St Clair and Detroit, and across the middle of lakes Erie and Ontario. The largest of these steamers is 350 ft. long by 56 ft. wide, draught 14 ft., horse power 3500, speed 13 knots. She carries on four tracks 30 freight cars, with 1350 tons of freight. Certain passenger steamers run on lake Michigan, from Chicago north, all the winter.

The level of the lakes varies gradually, and is affected by the general character of the season, and not by individual rainfalls. The variations of level of the several lakes do not necessarily synchronize. There is an annual fluctuation of about 1 ft. in the upper lakes, and in some seasons over 2 ft. in the lower lakes; the lowest point being at the end of winter and the highest in midsummer. In lake Michigan the level has ranged from a maximum in the years 1859, 1876 and 1886, to a minimum nearly 5 ft. lower in 1896. In lake Ontario there is a range of 5-1/2 ft. between the maximum of May 1870 and the minimum of November 1895. In consequence of the shallowness of lake Erie, its level is seriously disturbed by a persistent storm; a westerly gale lowers the water at its upper end exceptionally as much as 7 ft., seriously interfering with the navigation of the river Detroit, while an easterly gale produces a similar effect at Buffalo. (For physiographical details see articles on the several lakes, and UNITED STATES.)

There is geological evidence to show that the whole basin of the lakes has in recent geological times gradually changed in level, rising to the north and subsiding southwards; and it is claimed that the movement is still in gradual progress, the rate assigned being .42 ft. per 100 m. per century. The maintenance of the level of the Great Lakes is a matter of great importance to the large freight boats, which always load to the limit of depth at critical points in the dredged channels or in the harbours. Fears have been entertained that the water power canals at Sault Ste Marie, the drainage canal at Chicago and the dredged channel in the river Detroit will permanently lower the levels respectively of lake Superior and of the Michigan-Huron-Erie group. An international deep-waterway commission exists for the consideration of this question, and army engineers appointed by the United States government have worked on the problem.[3] Wing dams in the rivers St Mary and Niagara, to retard the discharges, have been proposed as remedial measures. The Great Lakes are practically tideless, though some observers claim to find true tidal pulsations, said to amount to 3-1/2 in. at spring tide at Chicago. Secondary undulations of a few minutes in period, ranging from 1 to 4 in., are well marked.

The Great Lakes are well stocked with fish of commercial value. These are largely gathered from the fishermen by steam tenders, and taken fresh or in frozen condition to railway distributing points. In lakes Superior and Huron salmon-trout (_Salvelinus namaycush_, Walb) are commercially most important. They ordinarily range from 10 to 50 lb. in weight, and are often larger. In Georgian Bay the catches of whitefish (_Coregonus clupeiformis_, Mitchill) are enormous. In lake Erie whitefish, lesser whitefish, erroneously called lake-herring (_C. artedi_, Le Sueur), and sturgeon (_Acipenser rubicundus_, Le Sueur) are the most common. There is good angling at numerous points on the lakes and their feeders. The river Nipigon, on the north shore of lake Superior, is famous as a stream abounding in speckled trout (_Salvelinus fontinalis_, Mitchill) of unusual size. Black bass (_Micropterus_) are found from Georgian Bay to Montreal, and the maskinonge (_Esox nobilior_, Le Sueur), plentiful in the same waters, is a very game fish that often attains a weight of 70 lb.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--E. Channing and M. F. Lansing, _Story of the Great
Lakes_ (New York, 1909), for an account of the lakes in history; and
for shipping, &c., J. O. Curwood, _The Great Lakes_ (New York, 1909);
_U.S. Hydrographic office publication_, No 108, "Sailing directions
for the Great Lakes," Navy Department (Washington, 1901, seqq.);
_Bulletin No. 17_, "Survey of Northern and North-western Lakes," Corps
of Engineers, U.S. War Department, U.S. Lake Survey Office (Detroit,
Mich., 1907); _Annual reports of Canadian Department of Marine and
Fisheries_ (Ottawa, 1868 seqq.). (W. P. A.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Statistical report of lake commerce passing through canals. Col.
Chas. E. L. B. Davis, U.S.A., engineer in charge, 1907.

[2] Statistical report of lake commerce passing through canals,
published annually by the U.S. engineer officer in charge.

[3] Report of the Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army, in _Report of War
Department, U.S._ 1898, p. 3776.

GREAT MOTHER OF THE GODS, the ancient Oriental-Greek-Roman deity commonly known as Cybele (q.v.) in Greek and Latin literature from the time of Pindar. She was also known under many other names, some of which were derived from famous places of worship: as Dindymene from Mt. Dindymon, Mater Idaea from Mt. Ida, Sipylene from Mt. Sipylus, Agdistis from Mt. Agdistis or Agdus, Mater Phrygia from the greatest stronghold of her cult; while others were reflections of her character as a great nature goddess: e.g. Mountain Mother, Great Mother of the Gods, Mother of all Gods and all Men. As the great Mother deity whose worship extended throughout Asia Minor she was known as Ma or Ammas. Cybele is her favourite name in ancient and modern literature, while Great Mother of the Gods, or Great Idaean Mother of the Gods (_Mater Deum Magna_, _Mater Deum Magna Idaea_), the most frequently recurring epigraphical title, was her ordinary official designation.

The legends agree in locating the rise of the worship of the Great Mother in Asia Minor, in the region of loosely defined geographical limits which comprised the Phrygian empire of prehistoric times, and was more extensive than the Roman province of Phrygia (Diod. Sic. iii. 58; Paus. vii. 17; Arnob. v. 5; Firm. Mat. _De error._, 3; Ovid, _Fasti_, iv. 223 ff.; Sallust. Phil. _De diis et mundo_, 4; Jul. _Or._ v. 165 ff.). Her best-known early seats of worship were Mt. Ida, Mt. Sipylus, Cyzicus, Sardis and Pessinus, the last-named city, in Galatia near the borders of Roman Phrygia, finally becoming the strongest centre of the cult. She was known to the Romans and Greeks as essentially Phrygian, and all Phrygia was spoken of as sacred to her (Schol. Apollon. Rhod. _Argonautica_, i. 1126). It is probable, however, that the Phrygian race, which invaded Asia Minor from the north in the 9th century B.C., found a great nature goddess already universally worshipped there, and blended her with a deity of their own. The Asiatic-Phrygian worship thus evolved was further modified by contact with the Syrians and Phoenicians, so that it acquired strong Semitic characteristics. The Great Mother known to the Greeks and Romans was thus merely the Phrygian form of the nature deity of all Asia Minor.