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Location

Location The City of Sault Ste Marie is situated on the eastern side of "Lake Superior" in Ontario. Sault Ste. Marie sits on route 17 of the Trans-Canada Highway connecting Northern Ontario to East and Southern Ontario. The city is at 46 deg. 29 min. North latitude; and 84 deg. 30 min. West longitude, and lies 187 metres above sea level.. We are in Eastern standard time, The same as Toronto and New York, and 6 hours earlier than western Europe.

Name

The first name given to the area by the native Indians was Bawating or Pawating meaning "fast rushing waters or rapids". Then city was named "Sault du Gaston" in honour of the brother of the King of France at that time. It wasn't until 1669 that the Jesuits (missionary priests) re-name the city "Sault Ste. Marie", meaning The Rapids of St. Mary.

Population

The population of Sault Ste. Marie is 80,000. With Sault Ste. Marie Michigan having around 18,000 citizens.

Ontario is the most populous of Canada's provinces, and was one of the original provinces in Canada’s Confederation in 1867. Ontario has 11 million residents in its 1,100,000 square kilometres (413,000 sq miles). Sault Ste. Marie is 672 kilometres (420 miles) north of the province’s capital city, Toronto.

Industries

The major industry in Sault Ste. Marie comes from its Steel Plant, and Paper Mill. The city also has a Tube Factory and an Oxygen Plant.

Weather

It boasts an average of 1959.5 hours of sunshine annually but because of its northern climate can almost expect snow in any month with an "R" in it, excluding September. Average temperature in January is -10.4°C. Summer has an average temperature of 16°C. Average annual rainfall is 633 mm (about 25 inches), and average monthly summer rainfall is less than 8 cm (3 inches), with September being the wettest month. In the summer time, you can generally expect hot and sunny weather, with occasional precipitation. In the fall and spring time, expect cooler weather and cloud. The winters are typical of northern Canada, being both continuous and generally cold. Travellers should wear sweaters in fall, and appropriate warm coats and boots in the winter.

Average daily temperatures are:

An approximate guide to Celsius Temperatures is as follows:

Tipping

Some hotels include tips or gratuities with group programs to simplify bookkeeping. This will usually include gratuities for housekeeping, bell service and food service. In a hotel, bell service should be tipped about $1 per bag, and housekeeping $1 to $5 dollars a day (in proportion to your room rate). Visitors should know that the standard tip in restaurants is 10%-15% (on restaurant bills, an average tip will be 50% higher the GST & tax), with 20% (about double the GST & tax) for very outstanding service. This is especially important for visitors from countries where tipping on meals is not done: here the waitering staff depend on tips for a significant portion of their incomes. Tip taxis about 10%, and a dollar a bag they carry for you (not just unload), or at the very least round fares up to the nearest dollar.

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