Point Iroquois Light

Point Iroquois Light

Point Iroquois light
Location	Whitefish Bay, Michigan
Coordinates	46°29.021′N 84°37.541′W / 46.483683°N 84.625683°W / 46.483683; -84.625683Coordinates: 46°29.021′N 84°37.541′W / 46.483683°N 84.625683°W / 46.483683; -84.625683
Year first lit	1856 / 1870
Deactivated	1963
Foundation	Cement
Construction	Brick[1]
Tower shape	Frustum of a cone
Markings / pattern	White tower, black parapet and lantern
Height	65 feet (20 m)[2]
Focal height	72 feet (22 m)[3]
Original lens	Fourth-order Fresnel lens[4][5]
Current lens	None
Range	13 nautical miles; 24 kilometres (15 mi)
Characteristic	flash every 30 seconds
ARLHS number	USA-624[6][7]
Point Iroquois Light Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Michigan State Historic Site
Nearest city	Brimley, Michigan
Area	less than 1-acre (0.40 ha)
Built	1870
NRHP Reference #	75000940[8]
Added to NRHP	May 30, 1975

Point Iroquois Light is a lighthouse on a Chippewa County bluff in the U.S. state of Michigan. Point Iroquois and its light mark the division line between Whitefish Bay and the western end of the St. Marys River, the connection between Lake Superior and other Great Lakes.

Point Iroquois includes a larger geographic area than the light station site. It was named for the Iroquois warriors massacred there by the Ojibwe in 1662. Native Algonkians called the point "Nadouenigoning", composed of the words "Nadone" (Iroquois) and "Akron" (bone).^[9]

History

In 1620, French explorers Étienne Brûlé and Grenoble became the first recorded white men to the area. "From that time, Point Iroquois became a familiar landmark" for French explorers, fur traders and missionaries who followed. Sault Ste. Marie was the first white settlement in what became known as Michigan.^[9]

First lighthouse

In 1853 Congress, which had approved the construction of the first Soo Locks on the St. Mary's River, appropriated $5,000 for the construction of what would be the first lighthouse at Point Iroquois.^[10] In 1855-1856 the United States Lighthouse Board implemented this appropriation and built a wood and rubble stone lighthouse at the Point; this aid to navigation commenced operations on June 18, 1856.^[11] The first Point Iroquois light was a 45-foot-tall (14 m) rubble stone tower with a wooden lantern deck, outfitted with a flashing white fourth order Fresnel lens. Being built on the Point's highest ground, this first light had a 63-foot (19 m) focal plane, and a range of visibility of 10 nautical miles (19 km; 12 mi). A dwelling for a full-time lightkeeper was included as part of the complex.^[9][10] The St. Martin Reef Light is a twin of this first light station.^[12]

However, as early as 1867, only eleven years after the first light went into operation, a government inspector was questioning the construction quality of the first light station and preparing the ground for its replacement.^[10] Furthermore, following the American Civil War, the United States Lighthouse Board had entered a lighthouse (and life saving station) building boom on the Great Lakes.^[13]

Second lighthouse and light station

In 1870, after the first lighthouse and keepers' quarters building were torn down. the second and current Point Iroquois Light was constructed, this time at an estimated cost of $18,000.^[10] The present Cape Cod style white brick lighthouse was built and ran continuously for 93 years, guiding ships in and out of the Soo Locks. It has a 65-foot (20 m) tower height, and a focal plane that is variously reported as 68 or 72 feet (21 or 22 m).^[3][4] The new Light and keepers' quarters became visual focuses of the shoreline lumber community of Brimley, Michigan.^[14]

Its buildings

In 1885, a bell tower was erected, which incorporated a Stevens automatic bell striking machine.^[15] In 1890, the bell tower was torn down, and a fog signal building was built with steam whistles installed. In 1926 they were replaced by Type F diaphone fog horns.^[10]

In 1905, a two-floor extension was added to the 1871 building,^[10] providing living space for another assistant keeper, bringing the staff to three Lighthouse keepers. At peak operation, the station was manned by a Head Keeper and two Assistant Keepers. The children of the keepers and local fisherman were enough to populate a local school on the grounds for a period.^[16][17] Other buildings on the site included: an assistant keeper's quarters, fog signal building (now gone), three barns, a chicken house, boat house, oil house, outhouse and well house.^[18]

Deactivation

The station was deactivated in 1962, replaced by the Canadian operated Gros Cap Reefs Light, an unmanned buoy-type beacon in the St. Marys River channel.^[19][20]

In 1993 the light quarters and light were completely renovated.^[21]

In 1975 the Point Iroquois Light was listed on the National Register of Historic Places Reference #75000940. It is also on the state list.^[4][22]

The Point Iroquois Light today

It is considered to be iconic, and has been the subject of memorabilia.^[23]

The land and lighthouse are now part of the Hiawatha National Forest and the light is a Marine Museum. Restoration efforts are being conducted under the auspices of the Bay Mills/Brimley Historical Research Society, to whom the site is leased.^[9]

In 1963, the original lens was sent to the Smithsonian Institution.^[18] A fourth order Fresnel lens taken from Martin Reef Light is on display in the Lighthouse keeper's house.^[4]

The museum has one apartment furnished to give an idea of the lightkeepers' everyday lives. Other rooms show lighthouse technology, history of navigational aids, and historical photos. This light station housed three families.^[17] The double residence houses volunteers who work on the lighthouse restoration and give tours of the museum, gift shop and tower.^[18]

• The tower and museum are open to the public from Memorial Day through October 15. Operations are seven days per week. Everyday from 10:00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m., seven days a week. Open weekends, Friday through Sunday, they reopen from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
• M-221 into Brimley, Michigan then turn left onto 6 Mile Rd which leads to the lighthouse about 7.5 miles (12.1 km) down the road.^[24]

See also

• Comet (steamboat)
• Lighthouses in the United States
• Great Lakes Storm of 1913 and Shipwrecks of the 1913 Great Lakes storm

Further reading

• Bacon, Betty Byrnes, (1989) Lighthouse Memories: Growing Up at Point Iroquois in the 1920s (Bay Mills, Michigan: Bay Mills-Brimley Historical Research Society).^[17]
• "Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, Point Iroquois Light.". 

Notes

External links

• Point Iroquois Light Station - U.S. Forest Service
• Aerial photos, Point Iroquois Light, marinas.com.
• Interactive map of lighthouses in eastern Lake Superior.

Lighthouses in Michigan
Northern Upper Peninsula	Au Sable Big Bay Point Copper Harbor Copper Harbor Front Range Crisp Point Eagle Harbor Eagle Harbor Range Lights Eagle River Fourteen Mile Point Grand Island East Channel Grand Island Harbor Rear Range Grand Island North Grand Marais Range Lights Granite Island Gull Rock Huron Island Isle Royale Manitou Island Marquette Breakwater Outer Marquette Harbor Mendota (Bete Grise) Munising Front Range Munising Rear Range Ontonagon Ontonagon Harbor West Breakwater Portage River (Jacobsville) Passage Island Rock Harbor Rock of Ages Sand Hills Sand Point Light (Baraga) St. Martin Island Stannard Rock Thunder Bay Island Whitefish Point
Southern Upper Peninsula	DeTour Reef Lansing Shoals Manistique East Breakwater Martin Reef Menominee Pier Minneapolis Shoal Naubinway Island Peninsula Point Poverty Island Sand Point Seul Choix Squaw Island St. Martin Island
St. Mary's River	Frying Pan Island Pipe Island Point Iroquois Round Island Light (St. Mary's River) Six Mile Point Range Rear Winter Point Range Front
Portage River/Ship Canal	Keweenaw Waterway Lower Entrance Keweenaw Waterway Upper Entrance Portage Lake Rouleau Point Range Front and Rear Lights
Straits of Mackinac	Bois Blanc McGulpin Point Old Mackinac Point Round Island Round Island Passage St. Helena Island
Western Lower Peninsula	Beaver Island Harbor Beaver Island Head Big Sable Point Cedar River Charlevoix Charlevoix South Pier Frankfort Frankfort South Range Grand Haven North Pierhead Grand Haven South Pierhead Entrance Grand Haven South Pierhead Inner Grand Traverse Grays Reef Holland Harbor Ile Aux Galets Little Sable Point Little Traverse Ludington Manistee Pierhead Manning Memorial Mission Point Mission Point (1933) Muskegon Breakwater Muskegon Pier North Manitou Shoal Pentwater North Pierhead Pentwater South Pierhead Point Betsie Portage Lake South Fox Island South Haven South Manitou Island St. Joseph North Pier Inner St. Joseph North Pier Outer South Manitou Island Waugoshance White River White Shoal
Eastern Lower Peninsula	Alpena Caseville Harbor Charity Island Cheboygan Crib Cheboygan River Front Range DeTour Reef Detroit River Fort Gratiot Forty Mile Point Fourteen Foot Shoal Gibraltar Gravelly Shoal Harbor Beach Lake St. Clair Mariners Memorial Middle Island Miller Memorial New Presque Isle Old Presque Isle Peche Island Rear Range Poe Reef Pointe aux Barques Port Austin Port Sanilac Saginaw Bay Saginaw River Rear Range Spectacle Reef St. Clair Flats Front and Rear Range Light Sturgeon Point Tawas Point Thunder Bay Island Tri-Centennial Light of Detroit William Livingstone Memorial Windmill Point
Historical (lost) lights	Au Sable North Pierhead Belle Isle Clinton River Ecorse Ecorse Range Rear Gibraltar Grassy Island Grassy Island North Channel Range Lights Grassy Island South Channel Range Lights Grosse Ile North Channel Range Lights Grosse Ile South Channel Range Lights Harwood Point East Range Front Kalamazoo River Mama Juda Mama Juda Range Front Manistee Main Middle Lake George Monroe Pier New Buffalo North Manitou Island Saginaw Bay Sand Beach North Entrance East Squaw Point St. Mary's River Lower Range Front Vidal Shoals Channel Range Front and Rear Lights Windmill Point Range Front and Rear Lights
Related	Lightship Huron List of lifesaving stations in Michigan