Marquette MI (Michigan, Lake Superior)

Marquette is a Lake Superior cruise port and city in Michigan USA (Marquette County) with population around 20,000. Port Marquette (locode USMQT) is a major cargo port shipping mainly pelletized iron ore (hematite/Fe2O3) from the mines near Teal Lake (to the west of the city). By population, Marquette MI is the third-largest on Lake Superior - after Duluth MN and Superior WI.

Marquette WI also includes in its land area several small islands in Lake Superior. Marquette Charter Township (1848-founded, land area approx 55 mi2 / 143 km2, population around 3,000) is to the northwest of the city. It is an unincorporated community (consisting of Brookton Corners and Trowbridge Park) and is administered autonomously.

As cruise port, Marquette was introduced and included in the 2023-2024 schedule of American Queen Voyages/AQV on ship Ocean Navigator.

Next table shows the 15-night itinerary "Lakeside Treasures- Chicago Roundtrip CruiseTour" with pricing from USD 6300 per person with double occupancy.

This AQV voyage starts with an overnight hotel in Chicago and also ends in Chicago (on DAY 16), cruising on three lakes (Michigan, Huron, Superior) passing through Mackinac Straits (connecting the lakes Michigan and Huron) and under Mackinac Bridge, and transmitting the Soo Locks.

Sawyer Airport is approx 20 mi (32 km) south of Marquette (via highway M-554). The airport serves regularly scheduled daily flights (by American Airlines' American Eagle, and Delta Air Lines' Delta Connection) connecting to Chicago Illinois and Detroit Michigan. Highways US-41 and M-28 connect Marquette with Houghton, Wakefield, Escanaba, Sault Ste Marie. Highways M-553 and M-554 connect to Gwinn.

As one of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior has surface area (31700 mi2/82000 km2), water volume (2900 mi3/12000 km3) max depth (1333 ft/406 m), largest cities in the USA (Duluth MN, Marquette MI, Sault Ste Marie MI, Superior WI, and in Canada (Sault Ste Marie ON, Thunder Bay ON).

Marquette's area was first visited by Europeans (French missionaries) in the early-17th-century and started to develop in the mid-19th-century when the iron deposits were discovered. The village (as New Worcester) was founded in 1849, and renamed Marquette in 1850, honoring Jacques Marquette (1637-75, French Jesuit missionary who in 1668 founded Sault Sainte Marie/Michigan's first settlement). Marquette was incorporated as a city in 1871. Besides its booming iron mining, in the 1890s Marquette also started to develop a tourism industry (hotels and resorts) becoming a popular summer vacation destination with thousands of tourists visiting mainly on steamships cruising the Great Lakes.

The city's current-day economy continues to be largely based on shipping the hematite ores which are enriched and pelletized at the local processing plants and exported via Presque Isle Harbor Port. By annual cargo shipping volumes (~8 million tons) the Port is ranked the USA's 140th-largest.

Presque Isle Park (1886-established public park sized 323 acres/131 hectares/0,5 mi2) is the city's best-known recreational facility featuring a marina (yachting/boating dock), a shell (for band music concerts), a concession stand, park pavilion, gazebo, picnic zones (tables and BBQ pits), outdoor playgrounds, nature trails (for walking/skiing), and a Nature Center. The city has two beaches (South Beach Park and McCarty's Cove) both served by lifeguards and having picnic areas, BBQ grills, kids' playgrounds.

The other nature parks are named Tourist, LaBonte, Cemetery, Shiras, Williams, Harlow, Pocket, Spring Street, Father Marquette, Mattson Lower Harbor, Founder's Landing. Pupular tourist activities include sports fishing (trout, salmon, whitefish), biking, snowboarding, downhill skiing, hiking/trailing/trekking, camping (at Tourist Park).