The Scourge of St. Clair

"What an excellent print of Lake St. Clair," your friends will exclaim upon seeing this 11 x 17 inch digital reproduction. "But is that a sea monster in the middle? Delightful!"

Comes with this description: An excellent view of Lake St. Clair and Detroit Michigan taken, as the print notes, from the Canadian side. This image dates from 1837, an era of great growth for the city as it asserted itself as a viable industrial center and shipping port. The final impediment to progress, the monster in the lake known simply as The Scourge of St. Clair, was slowly and patiently tamed over the course of the decade by a consortium of Canadian trappers and American industrialists looking to expand opportunities for international trade. Soon the Scourge was no longer menacing boats but waving a friendly hello to the delight of families everywhere, like those pictured at the bottom left.