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Passage Island Light Station went into operation on July 1, 1882 on an island of the same name, three miles northeast of Isle Royale. Sounds simple. Another lighthouse to aid the increasing ship traffic on Lake Superior. But it wasn’t.
The United States owns Isle Royale and the waters approximately six miles out on the northern sides of Isle Royale, towards Canada, including Passage Island and most of the smaller Gull Islands northeast of Passage. Also, the United States had no reason or desire to build a lighthouse there. It would serve no purpose for United States vessels.
Going back to the early 1600s, few white men ventured onto Lake Superior. Its size was unknown, the winters long and the storms could rise up in instant fury. Explorers had discovered the St. Mary’s River that connected Lake Huron to Lake Superior and the treacherous rapids at what is now Sault Ste. Marie (also known as the Soo). They came in contact with the Northern Chippewa Indians, who were surprisingly friendly, civilized and capable of taking care of themselves.
Animal hides and furs in abundance was the attraction and the beginning of the fur trading business. This became lucrative and expansion began along the north shore. Thunder Bay, north of Isle Royale, had a large protected harbor, and a settlement grew to great proportions, becoming Fort William and Port Arthur, as did the settlement at the Soo rapids. The Northwest Fur Trading Company, a Canadian firm, was formed and boat traffic between the two settlements began to flourish along the north shore, steadily increasing. It became so busy that the Fur Trading Company built a locking system in 1798 on the Canadian side of the rapids at the Soo to accommodate boats up to about 50 feet in length. The north shore of Lake Superior was very busy with Canadian boat traffic many years before any activity appeared on the American south side. This would change when copper and iron ore was discovered in the early 1840s and the United States government woke up to the value of Upper Michigan and Lake Superior.
When the Soo Locks were opened in 1855, vessel size and numbers increased and they took to deep water out in the lake. Thunder Bay became especially busy when silver mining began. The best and most direct route to the Soo was between Passage Island and Blake Point. The Gull Island chain of small islands and reefs stretched for many miles northeast of this passage. Besides being dangerous, it lengthened the route by more than 50 miles. Canada needed and wanted a lighthouse through this passage as early as the 1860s, especially now that the Silver Islet’s rich silver mine was in full operation. But it was not in their waters and they had no jurisdiction or leverage to have another country supply them favors. They would have to negotiate.
The United States government was not about to spend money to build and man a light station that would only benefit Canadian vessels. They were having enough problems getting appropriations for building the growing United States Lighthouse system. Negotiations were on-going between the Dominion of Canada and the United States.
By 1870, an agreement was reached. The United States would build and man a lighthouse on Passage Island and install a gas buoy at Blake Point across the three mile passage. In turn, the Dominion of Canada would build and man a lighthouse that the United States wanted, at Colchester Reef on the Canadian side near the entrance to the Detroit River on Lake Erie. But getting the money was another thing.
The governments of both countries delayed this process even though it would be a mutual international courtesy. By 1880 enough progress was made and the U.S. government released $18,000 for a light station, with a fog signal, on Passage Island. Construction would begin in 1881. It would be several more years before Canada was able to honor their obligation.
The Lighthouse Service had been building the troublesome Stannard Rock Lighthouse in the middle of Lake Superior, and crews and lighthouse vessels were in the area. It was decided to build Passage Island Lighthouse and Sand Island Lighthouse (in the Apostle Islands) at the same time. They would use the same blueprints as used to build the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse in 1871, to reduce construction costs and time.
For some reason they modified the blueprints for Passage Island, placing the tower on the left side instead of the right side as at Sand Island and Eagle Harbor. Rubble stone was used on both, along with a privy and oil house. Both were completed for $18,000 each.
In 1881 and early 1882, it was extremely busy for the crew of the lighthouse tender Warrington and others, shuttling materials and workers between three lighthouses in the open lake. Several other lighthouses on Lake Michigan were also built from the same blueprints, but Passage Island would have the reversed tower.
The lights were lit on Sand Island in June 1882, Passage Island on July 1, 1882 and Stannard Rock on July 4, 1882. A lighted gas buoy was anchored at Blake Point to mark the south side of the channel passage. This was replaced in 1917 with a battery powered light on a 20-foot steel tower on the point after numerous complaints. It remains today, solar powered.
At first, a mechanically-struck fog bell was installed in the front of the Passage Island Lighthouse. Due to excessive fog and complaints that it could not be heard, the fog bell was quickly replaced with a dual ten-inch steam whistle system and a new building to house the boilers and coal. Supplies and coal were taken by a tramway from a dock in front of the whistle house.
A small enclosed harbor on the northeast side of the island was perfect to build a boathouse and dock for the station boat. The 44-foot high tower housed the four-bullseyed 4th order Fresnel lens, powered by a clockwork rotation unit and a kerosene incandescent oil vapor (IOV)-type lamp, displaying a flashing white light every ten seconds, visible for 16 miles at a height of 97 feet above lake level.
Getting on and off the station for the keepers for shore leave was time-consuming. The station boat would take them to Rock Harbor where they had to catch a mail, passenger or other supply boat to take them to either Grand Marais, or Grand Portage, Minnesota. At times they would go to Houghton. This was time-consuming and aggravating, shortening actual shore time, but what could they do? It went with the job. After 1960, Coast Guard buoy tenders shuttled the keepers.
Canadian vessel captains were now happy-but the Passage Island lighthouse didn’t solve all the problems. Vessel compasses went wild from the Isle Royale mineral-laden rock makeup. Then there was the dreaded Canoe Rock underwater reefs on the south side of the passage. Vessels leaving Thunder Bay headed almost due south to a point, then changed course to the southeast, which would take them directly through the passage, on to Whitefish Point and the Soo. Quite a few vessels wrecked or grounded going through this three-mile-wide passage from both directions, even with the lighthouse aids in place.
Life for the keepers on isolated light stations in the early days was not at all easy. Each station had its own unique problems. Isolation and boredom was the worst. Passage Island keepers were out in the middle of nowhere. It was the northernmost station in the continental United States, with the exception of Cape Flattery Light in the state of Washington. It was totally isolated from the world. The only contact was by station launch to Rock Harbor on Isle Royale, which wasn’t often and had little to offer. Other than season opening and closing, lighthouse tenders made only a few supply visits. Passing ships, practically all Canadian, were their only signs of life. They’d sometimes give them a blast of the ship’s whistle, signaling a greeting and possibly a thanks for being there.
At first only three keepers resided there. Daily chores in the early years before electricity and modern technology involved turning off the oil lamp and after cooling, filling the kerosene reservoir, cleaning the IOV lamp, cleaning and polishing the lens of soot, and the lens shade was closed around the unit. The lens room and windows were then cleaned to a sparkle, the clockwork unit that rotated the lens at night was then wound and checked. Everything was now ready for relighting at sunset. This was the most important chore and the reason they were there. Another keeper was in the whistle house, cleaning and checking the boilers and steam whistle apparatus. Everything had to be 100 percent ready for operation at all times. A banked fire was usually maintained to have steam ready when fog moved in quickly and unannounced. During freezing temperatures, their work load increased to prevent frozen pipes and ice forming on the lens room windows from condensation. The third keeper who had the night watch was usually sleeping by this time. Day work always consisted of painting, cleaning and maintenance of station buildings and equipment. This also relieved boredom by keeping busy and the reason most light stations are in such good condition to this day.
In time, the keeper had his family with him and then an assistant’s dwelling was needed. A small crude wood house was built just north of the lighthouse for the two assistants. In later years and up to about 1950, the keeper and 1st assistant often had their families on the island, and the 2nd assistant resided in one room upstairs of the lighthouse. Not the best of accommodations.
Living conditions were confining, and very impersonal, with only the very basics for some sort of a life style. Most of the creature comforts for the keepers and their families had to be brought with them or scavenged from wherever they could. When there were children there, they kept the wives busy, along with preparing the meals and maintaining a clean and neat household. No one knew when the lighthouse inspector would stop by unannounced. Without the unannounced inspections, station order and conditions could soon deteriorate, human nature being what it is. To this day the lighthouse and dwellings are in excellent condition, minus the assistant keepers dwelling. After World War II, it slowly became a bachelor’s station manned by Coast Guard personnel. The fog signal had been changed to compressed air horns, powered by diesels, and generators supplied electricity to the station, a radio beacon and radio communication to the outside world.
On December 20, 1978, Passage Island Light Station was automated. After 96 years, human life ceased to exist on the island. Vessels still pass by, hauling mostly grain from Canada, and the surroundings are now like they were hundreds of years ago.
The 4th order lens was removed in 1989 from the tower and is now displayed inside the entrance at the new Portage Coast Guard Station at Dollar Bay. It was replaced by a modern solar-powered optic and electronic horn, which is maintained by the Coast Guard. The Isle Royale Park Service has custodial care of the light station and gives boat tours to the island during the summer season. Through its life and into the future, its purpose was to aid mainly Canadian vessels, as a mutual courtesy to a foreign country, unique to the lighthouse system of the world.
This story appeared in the
October 2001 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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