Forty Mile Point Light
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| Forty Mile Point Light | |
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 Forty Mile Point Light |
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| Location: | Presque Isle County, Michigan |
| Coordinates WGS-84 (GPS) |
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| Year first lit: | 1897 |
| Automated: | 1969 |
| Foundation: | Limestone |
| Construction: | Brick |
| Tower shape: | Square |
| Markings/Pattern: | white w/black lantern |
| Height: | Tower - 52 feet (16 m) |
| Elevation: | Focal plane - 66 feet (20 m) |
| Original lens: | Fourth order Fresnel lens |
| Range: | 16 miles (26 km) |
| Characteristic: | white flash every 6 seconds.[1] |
Forty Mile Point Light is a lighthouse in Northern Michigan, in Presque Isle County on Hammond Bay on the western shore of Lake Huron near Rogers City USA. Unlike many Great Lakes Lighthouses, Forty Mile Point Light does not mark a significant harbor or river mouth. Rather, it was constructed with the intent that as one sailed from Mackinaw Point to the Saint Clair river, one never was out of viewing range of a lighthouse.[2] With no river or harbor to use for a name, the light is named on the basis that it is 40 miles (64 km) as the ship sails from Mackinaw Point.
It is part of U.S. Coast Guard District No. 9.[3]
While the Presque Isle Peninsula had been lighted since 1840, and the entrance to the Cheboygan River fifty miles to the north had been lighted since 1851, the New Presque Isle Light's range of visibility of 19 miles (31 km) and the Cheboygan Crib Light's visible range of 13 miles (21 km) left an unlighted 18-mile (29 km) intervening stretch of coastline along which mariners were forced to navigate blind. In its annual report for fiscal 1890, the Board recommended that $25,000 be appropriated for the construction of a new light and fog signal at Forty Mile Point near Hammond's Bay, at the approximate mid point between the two lights.[4]
Congress apparently was unimpressed with this request and it was 5 years before the concept was agreed to and funded. The plan for this light is nearly a clone of the plan for the Big Bay Point Lighthouse on Lake Superior being constructed at the same time. The penury of Congress concerning light stations on the Great Lakes was not limited to Forty Mile Point. See, e.g., Port Sanilac lighthouse.
The footings are 20" limestone and the structure is 35' x 57'. The integrated tower is 12' square and 52' high. The house contains two identical apartments (probably for the keeper and the assistant keeper, but usually the assistant got a smaller, not an identical apartment). A unique feature is a skylight in the stairs so the keeper or his assistant could observe the light working without going outside or climbing the tower.
The light was completed in November of 1896, but traffic on the Great Lakes is not a year round event, so it wasn't until the spring of 1897 that it was first lit. The station was automated in 1969 and is still operational. Foundation materials are wood pilings, and it is constructed of brick in a square shape. Markings are white with a black lantern. Another structure is attached to the tower. The original lens was a Fourth Order Fresnel lens (pronounced [freɪ'nel])[5]designed and manufactured by Henry-Lepaute in Paris. It had six bulls-eye flash panels, and the clockwork would rotate it so that it would emit a white flash every ten seconds.[6] The lens now in place is the third or fourth such lens to occupy that position.[7]
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[edit] Current operations, maintenance, viewing and events
During the Big Blow of 1905, twenty-seven wooden vessels were lost. The steamer Joseph S. Fay ran aground, and a part of its hull rests on the beach approximately 200 feet north of the Lighthouse. there is a Michigan historical marker honoring Forty Mile Light, there is a marker concerning the "Graveyard of Ships."[8] The marker states:
- Registered Historical Marker Site L2186 was erected 2007 Forty Mile Point Lighthouse / Graveyard of Ships. The Graveyard of Ships marker states:
- Named by seventeenth century French explores La Mer Douce the sweet or freshwater sea, Lake Huron is the second largest of the five Great Lakes. It has over 3,800 miles of shoreline and contains 30,000 islands, among them Manitoulin, the world's largest freshwater island. Violent storms on the "sweet sea" have made it dangerous for ships. As of 2006, 1,200 wrecks had been recorded. During the Big Blow of 1905, twenty-seven wooden vessels were lost. One of these, the steamer Joseph S. Fay, ran aground. A portion of its hull rests on the beach approximately 200 feet north of the Forty Mile Lighthouse. The Great Storm of 1913 was responsible for sinking many modern ships.[9]
Indeed, skeletons of ships are only a short distance from the light station. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. National Register Reference #84001830 Name of Listing: FORTY MILE POINT LIGHT STATION (U.S. COAST GUARD/GREAT LAKES TR).
It is in a county park (well-marked) 6-mile (9.7 km) north of Rogers City on 
US 23, a/k/a the Sunrise Side Coastal Highway. A map with the lights in the area is available at lighthousesRus. If you are going there, the park is accessible of from the highway -- do not turn on to 40 Mile Point road.[10]
It is owned operated by the 40 Mile Point Lighthouse Society, and the grounds are open to the public year round from 10.00 AM to 10.00 PM. The lighthouse is open on weekends (Memorial Day through mid October). More information on hours may be obtained from the Rogers City Chamber of Commerce at (800) 622-4148.
Importantly, the many structures that were part of the installation remain: lighthouse; Lighthouse keeper quarters; bunkhouse (newly renovated in 2006-2007),[11] foghorn signal building (the diaphone has been removed), oil house, and brick outhouse. The surrounding park also houses the wheelhouse of the first Calcite freighter.[12]
The fourth order Fresnel lens is in place, and access to the tower provides a view of it and the Lakeshore.[13] This is a rarity, as few originally installed Fresnel lenses remain in use on the Great Lakes.[14]
There are many recurrent events at the lighthouse. A calendar is available.[15]
The lighthouse is now being used one half as a museum, and the other half as caretaker's quarters.[16]
Membership in the 40-Mile Point Lighthouse Society is $20.00 per year, and the Society may be reached at: 40 Mile Point Lighthouse Society, PO Box 205, Rogers City, MI 49779.[17]
[edit] References
- ^ Volume 7, US Coast Guard Lightlist (PDF).
- ^ Detroit News, Interactive map on Michigan lighthouses.
- ^ National Park Service, Maritime Heritage Project, 40 Mile Point Light.
- ^ Terry Pepper, Seeing The Light - Forty Mile Point Lighthouse
- ^ USCG's complete list and summary of Michigan lights, including facts and photographs.
- ^ Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light - Forty Mile Point Light
- ^ Lens, Forty Mile Lighthouse Society.
- ^ Michigan Historical Markers.
- ^ Michigan Historical Markers
- ^ Forty Mile Point Lighthouse Society.
- ^ Bunkhouse photograph, Forty Mile Lighthouse Society.
- ^ Wobser, David, Boatnerd.com Forty Mile Point Light.
- ^ Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light - Forty Mile Point Light.
- ^ See, National Park Service Maritime Light Inventory, Grosse Point Light study which disregards Forty Mile Point, and proffers a count of four remaining lenses -- it lists them -- on the Great Lakes. Sturgeon Point Light also has a lens in service and open to public view, and is not on the list. However, if may be that the article is only intending to list lights that have "their original lens in situ", and by that definition, Forty Mile Point and Sturgeon Point would not be on the list, as they have a replacement lens.
- ^ Forty Mile Point Lighthouse Society.
- ^ Forty Mile Point Lighthouse Society.
- ^ Forty Mile Point Lighthouse Society.
[edit] Bibliography and further reading
- Bibliography on Michigan lighthouses.
- Crompton, Samuel Willard & Michael J. Rhein, The Ultimate Book of Lighthouses (2002) ISBN 1592231020; ISBN 978-1592231027.
- Hyde, Charles K., and Ann and John Mahan. The Northern Lights: Lighthouses of the Upper Great Lakes. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1995. ISBN 0814325548 ISBN 9780814325544.
- Jones, Ray & Bruce Roberts, American Lighthouses (Globe Pequot, September 1, 1998, 1st Ed.) ISBN 0762703245; ISBN 978-0762703241.
- Jones, Ray,The Lighthouse Encyclopedia, The Definitive Reference (Globe Pequot, January 1, 2004, 1st ed.) ISBN 0762727357; ISBN 978-0762727353.
- Noble, Dennis, Lighthouses & Keepers: U. S. Lighthouse Service and Its Legacy (Annapolis: U. S. Naval Institute Press, 1997). ISBN 1557506388; ISBN 9781557506382.
- Oleszewski, Wes, Great Lakes Lighthouses, American and Canadian: A Comprehensive Directory/Guide to Great Lakes Lighthouses, (Gwinn, Michigan: Avery Color Studios, Inc., 1998) ISBN 0-932212-98-0.
- Penrod, John, Lighthouses of Michigan, (Berrien Center, Michigan: Penrod/Hiawatha, 1998) ISBN 9780942618785 ISBN 9781893624238.
- Pepper, Terry. Seeing the Light: Lighthouses on the western Great Lakes.
- Putnam, George R., Lighthouses and Lightships of the United States, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1933).
- United States Coast Guard, Aids to Navigation, (Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1945).
- United States Coast Guard, Aids to Navigation Historical Bibliography.
- Wagner, John L.. Beacons Shining in the Night: The Lighthouses of Michigan. Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University.
- Wagner, John L., Michigan Lighthouses: An Aerial Photographic Perspective, (East Lansing, Michigan: John L. Wagner, 1998) ISBN 1880311011 ISBN 9781880311011.
- Wargin, Ed, Legends of Light: A Michigan Lighthouse Portfolio (Ann Arbor Media Group, 2006). ISBN 9781587262517.
- Wright, Larry and Wright, Patricia, Great Lakes Lighthouses Encyclopedia Hardback (Erin: Boston Mills Press, 2006) ISBN 1550463993
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Detroit News, Interactive map on Michigan lighthouses.
- Forty Mile Point Lighthouse Society.
- Interactive map, list, information for lighthouses in North and West Lake Huron.
- Lighthouses in the Mackinac Straits.
- Michigan Lighthouse fund, Forty Mile Point.
- Michigan.gov website has Map of Michigan Lighthouses
- Michigan Historical Markers.
- National Park Service Maritime Heritage Project, 40 Mile Point Light.
- Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light - Forty Mile Point Light.
- United States Coast Guard's complete list of Michigan lights.
- Volume 7, US Coast Guard Lightlist (PDF).
- U.S. Lighthouses, Forty Mile Point Light.
- Wobser, David, Boatnerd.com Forty Mile Point Light.
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