Ile Aux Galets Light, also known as Skillagalee Island Light, is located on

Ile Aux Galets Ile Aux Galets, also known as ''Skillagallee'' or ''Skillagalee Island'', is located in northeast Lake Michigan, between Beaver Island and the mainland, approximately northwest of Cross Village in Emmet County, Michigan. The island's Ile Aux Gal ...

(more commonly known as ''Skillagalee Island''), a gravelly, low-lying island in northeast

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

, between Beaver Island and the mainland, approximately northwest of

Cross Village Cross Village Township is a civil township of Emmet County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the township population was 281. Communities * Cross Village is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in the town ...

Emmet County, Michigan Emmet County is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the northernmost county in the Lower Peninsula. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 34,112. The county seat is Petoskey. Emmet County is located at the top of the Low ...

. Along with nearby Grays Reef, Waugoshance, and White Shoal Lights, it warns shipping away from the

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...

s and

shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It ...

s of

Waugoshance Point Waugoshance Point (GNIS ID#) is a cape or peninsula that juts into Lake Michigan from the northwest coast of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan in Emmet County. It separates the Straits of Mackinac to its north from Sturgeon B ...

, which pose an imminent hazard to navigation.Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, Skillagallee Island Light Station.
/ref>

United States Lighthouse Board The United States Lighthouse Board was the second agency of the U.S. federal government, under the Department of Treasury, responsible for the construction and maintenance of all lighthouses and navigation aids in the United States, between 1852 ...

records initially used both names when referring to the lighthouse, but by 1889 Skillagalee started to be used exclusively. Around 1910, Ile Aux Galets started to be used again, and it is listed by that name on modern light lists published by the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

History

The islet is home to a significant colony of

ring-billed gulls The ring-billed gull (''Larus delawarensis'') is a medium-sized gull. The genus name is from Latin ''Larus'' which appears to have referred to a gull or other large seabird. The specific ''delawarensis'' refers to the Delaware River. Description ...

. Its name, given by early French explorers, means "Isle of

Pebble A pebble is a clast of rock with a particle size of based on the Udden-Wentworth scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered larger than granules ( in diameter) and smaller than cobbles ( in diameter). A rock made predominant ...

s." It is said that the English speakers found the French name unpronounceable, and "Ile aux Galets"—soon misheard, misunderstood and mispronounced—transmuted into "Skillagalee" (or some variant) which took hold. By the "mid 1800s references to the original French name all but disappeared." There are many wrecks near Skillagalee island. However, on September 27, 1850, the loss of the A.D. Patchin—a wood

sidewheeler A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses wer ...

, long and built in

Trenton, Michigan Trenton is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, United States. At the 2010 census, the city population was 18,853. A Shawnee village was built in the area by war chief Blue Jacket after the 1795 Treaty of Greenville. The area later became the site ...

in 1846—led to the construction of the first light on the island. Loaded with general goods, the Patchin's course into Grays Reef Passage was disrupted by currents that pulled her onto Skillagalee's shore. Her crew escaped and was rescued, but foul winds and weather thwarted many attempts to set her free. She was "pounded to pieces, becoming yet another of Lake Michigan's many victims." Congress appropriated sums to construct a light on Skillagalee Island in 1851, and the task was undertaken by the Department of the Treasury, the administrative predecessor to the Lighthouse Board. Due in part to the extreme exposure of the location, that lighthouse badly and quickly deteriorated and was replaced in 1868. In 1888, the

built the current tower and equipped it with a 'state of the art' fourth order

Fresnel lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens developed by the French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827) for use in lighthouses. It has been called "the invention that saved a million ships." The design allows the c ...

. This is the third lighthouse on the island. This "handsome" lighthouse shares its design and shape with only one other, Port Sanilac Light, on

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrology, Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Strait ...

. In 1890, the station's

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 ...

s were upgraded from the existing steam siren to

steam whistle A steam whistle is a device used to produce sound in the form of a whistle using live steam, which creates, projects, and amplifies its sound by acting as a vibrating system (compare to train horn). Operation The whistle consists of the fo ...

s. On October 4, the Lighthouse steam barge RUBY delivered a work party and the necessary equipment for the upgrade. Within the month the task was completed, and the old sirens were thereupon transferred to Beaver Island Head Light. "Life was busy for the keepers . . . that following year, since in addition to tending the light and maintaining the equipment, they operated the station's new steam whistles . . . 268 hours, toking26 tons of coal into their boilers." In 1894 the boathouse, boatways and landing crib were moved fifteen feet toward the lake, due to the ever fluctuating water levels. The islet and lighthouse were occupied by

lighthouse keeper A lighthouse keeper or lightkeeper is a person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as ...

s from 1850 until 1969, when the Fresnel lens was retired. At the time, a Coast Guard crew razed all the structures (

building, keeper's house, oil storage shed and boathouse), leaving only the tower in the middle of the island. An automated ML-300

Tideland Signal Tideland Signal, sometimes referred to as Tidelands, was a privately held, Houston, Texas based manufacturer of marine navigational aids, with main offices in Lafayette, Louisiana, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Burgess Hill, UK, Dubai, Un ...

acrylic Acrylic may refer to: Chemicals and materials * Acrylic acid, the simplest acrylic compound * Acrylate polymer, a group of polymers (plastics) noted for transparency and elasticity * Acrylic resin, a group of related thermoplastic or thermosett ...

plastic lens was placed in the lantern, powered by 12-volt batteries attached to a

photovoltaic Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...

array mounted on the parapet's railing. Except for the light itself, the

fog horn 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 ...

sound building, keeper's dwelling and all other structures were razed. In June 2011, the Lighthouse was declared excess to the needs of the Coast Guard and made available (along with eleven others) by the

General Services Administration The General Services Administration (GSA) is an independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. GSA supplies products and communications for U.S. gover ...

to eligible organizations under the provisions of the

National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act The National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000 (NHLPA; Public Law 106-355; 16 U.S.C. 470w-7) is American legislation creating a process for the transfer of federally owned lighthouses into private hands. It was created as an extension o ...

Current status

The light is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

Reference #84001389; Name of Listing: SKILLAGALEE LIGHT STATION. As of July, 2015, the light is for sale through an on line auction process.

Getting there

The island is accessible by small boat or

sea kayak A sea kayak or touring kayak is a kayak developed for the sport of paddling on open waters of lakes, bays, and the ocean. Sea kayaks are seaworthy small boats with a covered deck and the ability to incorporate a spray deck. They trade off the man ...

. Due to variable weather conditions, shallow water and dangerous

s and shoals, any close approach to the island is hazardous. There are no landing areas or other facilities on the island, and the light is closed.

References

External links

Lighthouses in the Mackinac Straits.
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20030518033305/http://www.lighthousefriends.com/macstraits.html Lighthouse Friends, Lighthouses in the Mackinac Straits, (Skillagalee Island Light).
Map of Michigan Lighthouse
in PDF Format. {{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1888 Houses completed in 1888 Buildings and structures in Emmet County, Michigan Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Emmet County, Michigan

History

Current status

Getting there

References

Further reading

External links