Along America's northern frontier sprawls an aquatic kingdom spanning 94,600 square miles - the largest surface freshwater system on Earth. Encompassing Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario, this watery realm contains over 117 trillion gallons supplying 40 million people while supporting economies from Canada to Minnesota to New York.
Gaze north from America across the Great White North and Canada appears a boundless land brimming with rugged wilderness, sawtooth mountains and remote tundra plains. But in fact just 10% of Canada's nearly 40 million populace resides in those iconic frigid hinterlands. A full 90% instead clusters within a narrow strip along the southern border - often not far north of U.S. territory at all.