Sarnia is a city in
Southwestern Ontario, Canada, and had a
2011 population of 72,366. It is the largest city on
Lake Huron and in
Lambton County. Sarnia is located on the eastern bank of the junction between the Upper and Lower
Great Lakes where
Lake Huron flows into the
St. Clair River, which forms the Canada-United States border, directly across from
Port Huron, Michigan. The city's natural harbour first attracted the French explorer
La Salle, who named the site "The Rapids" when he had horses and men pull his 45-tonne barque "
Le Griffon" up the almost four-knot current of the St. Clair River on 23 August 1679.