Interesting History of Lake Erie

Word Origin and History of Lake Erie: "A lake between the northeast central United States and southeast central Canada: the southernmost lake of the Great Lakes; Commodore Perry's defeat of the British in 1813. 239 miles (385 km) long; 9940 square miles (25,745 square km). "One of the Great Lakes, named for a native Iroquoian people who lived nearby, from French Erie, shortening of Rhiienhonons, said to mean 'raccoon nation', perhaps in reference to a totemic animal." http://www.dictionary.com/browse/lake--erie Jedidiah Morse; The American Gazetteer: Exhibiting, in Alphabetical Order, a Much More Full and Accurate Account Than Has Been Given, of the States, Provinces, Counties, Cities ... on the American Continent, Also of the West India Islands, and Other Islands Appendant to the Continent, and Those Newly Discovered ...; printed in Boston, New England, reprinted for C Dilly ..., J Stockdale ... and TN Longman; 1708 Jedidiah Morse writes: "ERIE's, an Indian nation, called by the French du Chat, or Cat-nation. They were extirpated by the Iroquois about the year 1655. Were it not for the lake which still bears the name of that nation, one would not have known that they ever existed."