PELEE ISLAND

island, in Lake Erie, southern Ontario, Canada. It lies near the Ohio boundary, a few miles south of Point Pelee National Park and has an area of 18 square miles (47 square km). Originally leased from the Indians by Thomas McKee in 1788, it was acquired in 1823 by William McCormick. Viticulture was practiced until 1855, when John Scudder drained marshes for raising vegetables and tobacco. Soybeans later became the leading crop. Middle Island, a rock off its southern coast, is the southernmost point of Canada. Pop. (1991) 272.