Granite Island is a island in

Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

located about northwest of Marquette in the

Upper Peninsula The Upper Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by ...

of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. Built upon it is the Granite Island Lighthouse, also known as Granite Island Light Station, "one of the oldest surviving lighthouses on Lake Superior".Interactive map on Michigan lighthouses

Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the ''Detroit Tribune'' on Februar ...

. It is part of Marquette Township, in Marquette County.

Geography

The island is

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

rock that rises nearly perpendicularly to above the surface of Lake Superior, surrounded by deep water. The Native Americans called the island ''Na-Be-Quon''.Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, Granite Island Light.
/ref> That apparently meant something like 'vessel'. They called a steamship an ''ishcoda nabequon''. which was roughly translated as 'fire vessel.'

Navigational aid

On March 2, 1867, Congress appropriated $20,000 for construction of the lighthouse on the island. Granite Island Light. In 1868, spring brought the arrival of the

lighthouse tender A lighthouse tender is a ship specifically designed to maintain, support, or tend to lighthouses or lightvessels, providing supplies, fuel, mail, and transportation. In the United States, these ships originally served as part of the Lighthou ...

''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 A foghorn or fog signal is a device that uses sound to warn vehicles of navigational hazards such as rocky coastlines, or boats of the presence of other vessels, in foggy conditions. The term is most often used in relation to marine transport. W ...

was installed. Life on the island was difficult and did entail loss of life. Although the island is privately owned, an automated aid to navigation on a gray steel tower (with a focal plane) and a range of is maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard. Its characteristic is a white flash every 6 seconds.

Current status

Despite its remoteness, and because of its picturesque location, form and color it is often the subject of photographs, and drawings. The island's infrastructure is host to an Internet relay station operated by

Northern Michigan University Northern Michigan University (Northern Michigan, Northern or NMU) is a public university in Marquette, Michigan. It was established in 1899 by the Michigan Legislature as Northern State Normal School. In 1963, the state designated Northern a uni ...

to provide live real-time classes to the rural area of Big Bay and its school system. Power on the island is remote controlled year round and consists of solar panels, wind generators with back up propane generators. The island's owners have donated a sophisticated weather research station. This station is operated by Northern Michigan University and the data is made available to the National Weather Service to aid in Near Shore Forecasting and to study the evaporative effects on the rise and fall of the water levels in the Great Lakes. The highest recorded wind speed on the island was on January 18, 2003. In July 2018 NASA installed a station to measure radiation and cloud cover as part of the Clouds and the Earth Radiant Energy System.Why this tiny Michigan island was picked by NASA to measure Earth's radiation
mlive.com, Tanda Gmiter, July 12, 2018 The living quarters of the light station is made available to the NMU English Department for creative writing retreats.

Notes

External links

Aerial photos, Granite Island Light, marinas.com.

Granite Island home page (including webcams and virtual tour).
{{authority control Islands of Marquette County, Michigan Uninhabited islands of Michigan Islands of Lake Superior in Michigan Private islands of Michigan Private islands of the Great Lakes

Geography

Navigational aid

Current status

Notes

Further reading

External links