History
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 had 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 midpoint between the two lights.
Congress apparently was unimpressed with the request and it was five years before it was approved and funded. The plan for this light is nearly identical to the one for the Big Bay Point Lighthouse on Lake Superior that was 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 (presumably for the keeper and the assistant keeper, but ordinarily the assistant got a smaller, not 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 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 ( /freɪˈnɛl/) 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. The lens now in place is the third or fourth such lens to occupy that position.
Read more about this topic: Forty Mile Point Light
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