Grand Island Harbor Rear Range Light
![]() Rear Range Light | |
![]() | |
Location | Munising Township, Michigan |
---|---|
Coordinates | 46°26′12″N 86°41′28″W / 46.43667°N 86.69111°W |
Tower | |
Constructed | 1868 ![]() |
Foundation | Concrete pier |
Construction | Steel |
Automated | 1914[2] |
Height | 64 feet (20 m)[3] |
Shape | Frustum of a cone |
Markings | Black and white Daymark tower/black lantern |
Heritage | National Register of Historic Places listed place ![]() |
Light | |
First lit | 1914[1] |
Deactivated | 1969 |
Focal height | 70 feet (21 m)[4] |
Lens | Sixth-order Fresnel lens |
Range | 13 nautical miles; 24 kilometres (15 mi)[5] |
Characteristic | F W ![]() |
Grand Island Harbor Rear Range Light | |
Nearest city | Christmas, Michigan |
Area | less than one acre |
Architect | US Coast Guard |
Architectural style | Conical Steel Tower |
NRHP reference No. | 90000906[6] |
Added to NRHP | June 26, 1990 |
The Grand Island Harbor Rear Range Light is a lighthouse located off M-28 in Munising Township, Michigan. It is also known as the Bay Furnace Rear Range Light, Christmas Rear Range Light,[9] or End of the Road Light.[10] The corresponding front range light was replaced in 1968; the rear range light was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.[6] It is no longer an active aid to navigation.
The grounds only are publicly accessible, but a hike is required.[11]
History
The Grand Island Range Lights were lit first in 1868.[1] The original front range light was a wooden pyramid that held a sixth-order Fresnel lens.[1] The original rear range light was a sixth-order Fresnel lens in a wooden tower atop a frame keeper's house,[5] 500 feet (150 m) to the rear of the front range light.[1]
By 1914, these original frame structures were severely rotted, and both were replaced[1] as part of a broader effort of replacing nearly all harbor lights with steel-framed structures.[2] The new front range light was a 23-foot-tall (7.0 m) iron mast.[1] A new automated[2] rear range light was installed 750 feet (230 m) to the rear of the front range light.[1] The new rear range light was a 64-foot (20 m) tower, the upper half (painted white)[12] of which was part of a tower originally located at the Vidal Shoals.[1] near Sault Ste. Marie.[12][13] In 1939, the sixth-order Fresnel lenses were replaced with 350 millimeter glass lenses, which still used acetylene gas.[5] In 1968, the front range light was replaced with a "D9" style tubular steel structure;[5] in 1969 the lights were deactivated.[2]
Rear range light description
The 1914 Rear Range Light is a steel conical tower, 64 feet (20 m) high, with a round lantern.[2] The light of one of the tallest, if not the tallest, of the riveted steel plate light towers installed around the Great Lakes.[2][14] The tower sits on a concrete foundation; a metal door in the base of the tower and interior spiral stair provides access to the light.The tower painted black on the bottom and white on the top, with a black lantern room. The existing light was built in 1914 replacing the original 1868 station.[2][15]
Gallery
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Interior of rear range light
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1968 front range light; foundation of 1914 front range light is to left
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Front range light, with rear in background
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Michigan". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
- ^ a b c d e f g Grand Island Harbor Rear Range Light Archived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine from the state of Michigan, retrieved 1/1/10
- ^ Pepper, Terry. "Database of Tower Heights". Seeing the Light. terrypepper.com. Archived from the original on 2000-09-18.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ Pepper, Terry. "Database of Focal Heights". Seeing the Light. terrypepper.com. Archived from the original on 2008-08-30.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ a b c d Grand Island Range Lights from "Seeing the Light," Terry Pepper, retrieved 1/1/10
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society, Grand Island Harbor Rear Range (Lake Superior) Light ARLHS USA-1080.
- ^ Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society, World List of Lights (WLOL).
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ Publicly accessible lights in Michigan, National Park System, Maritime Heritage Project.
- ^ a b GRAND ISLAND HARBOR RANGE LIGHTS from the US Forest Service
- ^ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of the United States: Michigan's Eastern Upper Peninsula". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
- ^ Pepper, Terry. "Database of Tower Designs". Seeing the Light. terrypepper.com. Archived from the original on 2009-11-15.
{{cite web}}
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ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ National Park Service Maritime History Project, Inventory of Historic LIghts, Grand Island Harbor Rear Range Light.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Aerial photography, Grand Island West Channel Rear Range Lighthouse at Marinas.com.
- Grand Island Harbor Range Lighthouse (Bay Furnace) from the Michigan Lighthouse Conservancy
- Satellite view at Google maps.
- GRAND ISLAND HARBOR RANGE LIGHTS from the US Forest Service