 This was the first time anything other than a canoe or other oar @-@ powered vessel had sailed into Lake Huron , and La Salle 's voyage was thus germinal in the development of commercial shipping on the Great Lakes . Located in the natural harbour , the Sarnia port remains an important centre for lake freighters and oceangoing ships carrying cargoes of grain and petroleum products . The natural port and the salt caverns that exist in the surrounding areas , together with the oil discovered in nearby Oil Springs in 1858 led to the massive growth of the petroleum industry in this area . Because Oil Springs was the first place in Canada and North America to drill commercially for oil , the knowledge that was acquired there led to oil drillers from Sarnia travelling the world teaching other nations how to drill for oil . 
