Granite Island (Michigan)

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Granite Island
Native name: Na-Be-Quon Island
Geography
Granite Island (Michigan)
Granite Island
Granite Island
Granite Island (Michigan)
Location Lake Superior, Michigan
Coordinates 46°43′15″N 87°24′41″W / 46.72083, -87.41139


Administration
Flag of Michigan Michigan
County Marquette County


Granite Island (Michigan)

Granite Island lighthouse
Location: Granite Island, Michigan
Year first constructed: 1868
Year first lit: 1869
Automated: 1937
Markings/Pattern: red brick with white lantern
Height: Tower - 40 feet (12 m)
Elevation: Focal plane - 93 feet (28 m)[1]
Original lens: Fourth order Fresnel lens
Range: 0 miles (0 km)[2]
Characteristic: white flash 6 seconds.

Granite Island is a 2 1/2 acre island in Lake Superior located about 12 miles northwest of Marquette in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan.

Contents

[edit] Geography

The island is granite rock that rises nearly perpendicularly to 60 feet above the surface of Lake Superior, surrounded by deep water. The Native Americans called it to Na-Be-Quon Island.[3] That apparently meant something like 'vessel'. They called a steam ship an "ishcoda nabequon." which was roughly translated as 'fire vessel.'[4]

[edit] Navigational aid

On March 2, 1867, Congress appropriated $20,000 for construction of the lighthouse on the island. In 1868, spring brought the arrrive of the lighthouse tender "Haze", which landed a construction crew and building supplies. Flattening the top of the island to provide a foundation was difficult, and required blasting. Davits were installed, as there was originally no plan for a dock. After a lengthy delay, a fog signal was installed. Life on the island was difficult, and did entail loss of life.[5]

Because it was positioned near the busy shipping lanes of the mid-1800s, a lighthouse was built on Granite Island in 1868 by the U.S. Lighthouse Board and commissioned in 1869. [6]

The Lighthouse keeper's dwelling and the square tower attached to it are built of cut stone with white limestone decorations on the corners and windows. The 1½-story dwelling shares its design with the lighthouses the Marquette Harbor Light and those on Gull Rock and Huron Island.

The Granite Island Light was operated by Lighthouse Keepers and assistant Keepers until the facility was automated in 1937 and the living quarters was abandoned. Aids to navigation consisted of a 4th order Fresnel lens and a fog bell tower. The focal height is 89 feet. At one time it had a red flash every 90 seconds.[7]

[edit] Private ownership

Modern navigation moved shipping lanes away from the island and the light, and farther out into Lake Superior,[8] This tended to make the Coast Guard view it as "surplus," and it was put up for private sale. The sale in fact helped precipitate a later reaction by the U.S. Congress, which enacted a preference for selling such facilities to communities and charitable organizations under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, which was sponsored by Michigan Senator Carl Levin and passed in 2000. Nevertheless, this island's sale and its results have advocates.[9]

Granite Island and the lighthouse were purchased by Scott and Martine Holman in 1999 from the U.S. Coast Guard. The facilities underwent a three year restoration process at large expense, and which has inured to the public good.[10] The house was completely gutted and rebuilt, with waste being boated out and materials bought in. This is a challenging place to reach and live upon -- they have to transport all of their water in, for example; composting toilets must be used, so not many visitors are welcomed. The web site, www.graniteisland.com, has live camera feeds, history, videos of the restoration process and photographs and discussion of its ecology and geology. The lighthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

[edit] Current status

Despite its remoteness, and because of its picturesque location, form and color it is often the subject of photographs, and drawings.[11]

Although the island is privately owned, an automated aid to navigation on a gray steel tower (with a 96 feet (29 m)focal plane) and a range of 10 miles is maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard. Its characteristic is a white flash every 6 seconds.[12]

Granite Island Light is one of 149 lighthouses in Michigan. Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state. See Lighthouses in the United States.

The highest recorded wind speed on the island was 143 miles per hour on January 18, 2003.[13]

[edit] Additional reading

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Terry Pepper, List of focal Planes.
  2. ^ Volume 7, US Coast Guard Lightlist (PDF).
  3. ^ Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, Granite Island Light.
  4. ^ Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe, Narrative of the Expedition of 1820 (1855, Lippincott, Grambo, and Co.) 596 pages (Original from Harvard University, Digitized Sep 14, 2006), p. 212.
  5. ^ Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, Granite Island Light.
  6. ^ Wagner, John L., Beacons Shining in the Night, Michigan Lighthouse Bibliography, Chronology, History, and Photographs, Clarke Historical Library, Central, Michigan University.
  7. ^ Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, Granite Island Light.
  8. ^ Wobser, David, "Granite Island Light," Boatnerd.com
  9. ^ *LaFave, Michael (Mackinac Center), Privatization Shines (article on the general subject of privatization of lighthouses.
  10. ^ Excerpt from LaFave, Michael (Mackinac Center), Privatization Shines specifically on Granite Island.
  11. ^ Mulgrew, Marilyn, Drawing of Granite Island Light.
  12. ^ Volume 7, US Coast Guard Lightlist (PDF).
  13. ^ Granite Island weather station.
  14. ^ Michigan History Arts and Letters, review of Legends of Light: A Michigan Lighthouse Portfolio, which has many pictures of this light.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

USCG archive image of Granite Island Light
USCG archive image of Granite Island Light


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