Squaw Island Light is a privately owned
lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses mar ...
located on
Ojibwa Island (formerly Squaw Island) in
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 ...
, about six miles (10 km) north of
Beaver Island. The island is part of
St. James Township in
Charlevoix County of the
U.S. state of
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
. There are of land on the island. Squaw Island and the lighthouse are privately owned and views of the lighthouse from the water are limited due to vegetation.
History
The
U.S. Congress appropriated $25,000 to construct the light on March 3, 1891. Construction began the following spring. Work was completed on September 16, 1892. William H. Shields was appointed as the station's head keeper, and entered the structure for the first time on the evening of October 10, 1892. The original dwelling, which was too small for both the head keeper, the assistant keeper and their families, was expanded in 1894.
Waters approaching the island become very shallow, less than six feet deep even though far out.
Lighthouses in tbbbhe Mackinac Straits, Lighthouse Friends.
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Construction of the Lansing Shoals Light Station
The Lansing Shoals Light Station is a lighthouse located in northeastern Lake Michigan, southeast of Point Patterson, in Newton Township, Mackinac County, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
History: Lig ...
offshore in 1928 made the Squaw Island light obsolete, and the station was abandoned. The lighthouse deteriorated over many years of neglect until Squaw Island passed into private ownership. Restoration of the station is being done by Bernie Hellstrom of Boyne City, Michigan. There is also a functioning unmanned light on another, much smaller Squaw Island in the St. Mary's River.
References
Squaw Island: Block 1078, Census Tract 9805, Charlevoix County, Michigan
United States Census Bureau
Further reading
LaFave, Michael (Mackinac Center
), ''Privatization Shines'' (article on the general subject of privatization of lighthouses.">Mackinac Center">LaFave, Michael (Mackinac Center
), ''Privatization Shines'' (article on the general subject of privatization of lighthouses.
External links
Squaw Island Lighthouse
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Lighthouses in Michigan
Buildings and structures in Charlevoix County, Michigan
Squaw Island (Michigan)