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| White River Light | Seeing The Light |
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Historical
Information While some of the lumber from these mills was used for construction in the area, the vast majority ended up being shipped to the growing cities of Chicago and Milwaukee on the Lake's southern shores. As a result, increasing numbers of vessels began tying-up at White River to be loaded with the area's bounty. With a growing frequency of wrecks in the area, the Michigan Legislature officially approached Congress requesting a lighthouse at the entrance to White Lake on Jan 19, 1853. While the lighthouse was undeniably necessary, for obvious reasons the lumber barons and merchants of White Lake felt that the creation of a new channel from White Lake into Lake Michigan was of even more importance. Thus they too began lobbying the State and Federal Governments to commence such an undertaking as quickly as possible.
Work on the new channel began the following year and progressed slowly. In 1869, Congress appropriated an additional $45,000 to cover cost overruns. After four years, the channel project was completed in 1871. $1,059 of the lighthouse appropriation was spent on the construction of a beacon at the end of the short south pier guarding the channel. The square white pyramidal tower was of wooden construction, and stood 27 feet in height. The iron lantern room was prefabricated, and outfitted with a Fifth Order Fresnel lens. With a focal plane of thirty-three feet, the fixed red light was visible for approximately eleven and a half miles at sea. With the construction of a small oil storage building to house the tin containers of lard oil used to fuel the lamp, the White River station was complete
1875 was a busy year at the White River entrance. In August, a Lighthouse Service crew and a local contractor began construction of an elevated wooden catwalk to the pierhead light, and Keeper Robinson was instructed to employ five men to assist Lighthouse Service construction Foreman E. Rhodes in the construction of the new shore-based station. Grading was completed on September 28, and construction of the building began with Keeper Robinson helping-out with all phases of construction including the masonry work.
With two lights now guarding the entrance to the White River, one would assume that shipwrecks had become all but non-existent. Unfortunately this was not the case, and a number of vessels ran aground in the area over the ensuing years. The Lighthouse Service assumed that the nature of the light signature was to blame. On November 1, 1890, the Lighthouse Service Lampist arrived at the White River Light Station and took measurements of the original Fresnel lens and flash panels in order to fabricate new frames and order parts from France. After notifying mariners of the impending change, the light was modified on December 12 of 1892. Thus the character of the light was changed to a steady white light, varied by a red flash every forty seconds.
In 1902 the Pierhead Light Fresnel was removed, and replaced with a smaller sixth order lens, reducing its visibility to nine miles. Things remained relatively stable at White River for the next nine years until a crew arrived in 1910 to convert the entire Pierhead catwalk to cast iron. The Lighthouse Service was still dissatisfied with the characteristics of the light in the shore-based station, and in February of 1912 the Keeper received instructions to disassemble the lens and clockwork assembly and ship them to the Milwaukee Depot. At the Depot, the red flash panels were removed, and when reinstalled the light's characteristic was changed to a cycle of a white flash of ten-second duration followed by darkness for ten seconds.
While the pierhead light had thus been electrified in 1917, the main light and dwelling would not be electrified until 1924, when electrical power finally made its way around the south shore of White Lake.
Finally the end came for the old Pierhead Light in 1930, when the pier was completely refaced with concrete, and the wooden tower replaced by a skeletal steel structure. The Lighthouse Tender Hyacinth arrived in November and took the lantern, lens and other reusable components back to the Lighthouse Depot in Milwaukee. The new tower was equipped with an acetylene lamp controlled by a sun valve. This sun valve was a source of constant trouble until the light was electrified in 1949.
At some time during the 1980's, the
skeletal steel tower installed in 1930 was demolished and replaced with
a simple steel pole with a triangular red daymark at its top, along with
a flashing red electric light. Thus, while no where near as romantic, a
light still faithfully guides vessels into the White River, as it has
since 1871. Thomas A. Tag has an
written an excellent book covering the history of the White River
lighthouse in detail. Click
here
to visit Tom's web site, and find out how to purchase a copy of
his book. |
In 1866, the pressure being applied by
the Michiganders was felt, and Congress appropriated $67,000 for the
construction of a new channel between White Lake and Lake Michigan, and
$10,000 for the construction of a lighthouse at the harbor entry.
However, it was realized that the final outcome of the channel project
would have a significant impact on the location and construction of the
lighthouse. Thus the caveat was added, "…no expenditure shall be
made upon the aforesaid works until a careful survey shall have been
made, and the character of the structure required shall have been thus
determined.
William Robinson became the first
keeper of the beacon light in 1872, and that same year the Lighthouse
Board requested that the sum of $4,000 be appropriated for the
construction of a keeper's dwelling on the shore near the pierhead
light. With no positive response to the request for a keeper's dwelling,
and significant growth in vessel passages into White Lake, the following
year the Lighthouse Board recommended to Congress that the appropriation
be increased to $15,000 to allow for the construction of a larger
shore-based light station. Congress finally reacted favorably, and a
survey of the area was conducted and land was obtained for the new
lighthouse in 1874.
The foundation was laid from native limestone blocks, and the walls constructed of yellow Michigan brick.
The spiral cast iron stairs were manufactured in Muskegon, and the cast
iron lantern room was prefabricated at the Milwaukee lighthouse Depot,
and delivered by lighthouse tender. The crews working on the new catwalk
finished their job in November, and work continued on the new lighthouse
until December 28, when Rhodes and his team left the site for the
season.
At this point, all external structural work was complete on the
building, with only interior work and the installation of a light in the
empty lantern room remaining. The building featured a full cellar, with
an oil storage room accessible from the spiral staircase, which lead
from the cellar to the tower.
The Lighthouse Service Lampist arrived
to install the 
The results of the light modification
must not have achieved the desired results, as the Lampist again arrived
at White River on November 8, 1901 and increased its rotation speed to
one revolution every forty seconds. In order to achieve this speed
increase, ball bearings were installed in the carriage wheels on which
the lens rotated. With this modification, the characteristic was changed
to alternating red and white flashes with twenty seconds intervals
between. After this modification the light was visible for a distance of
fourteen miles at sea. Also in 1901, part of the wooden catwalk on the
pier was replaced with an iron assembly.
As was becoming the practice during
this period on the Great Lakes, the Pierhead light was painted red in
1917. The following year a jute covered electrical cable was run across
the bottom of the channel from the north shore and a 9.600 candlepower
incandescent light bulb was installed in the light station tower. Keeper
Robinson passed away at 10.10 AM on April 2, 1919, after faithfully
tending the White River light for 47 years. At 87 years of age, he was
the oldest active keeper in service at the time of his death. 
Ever since its original installation,
the Pierhead Light catwalk had been plagued constant maintenance
requirements resulting from vessels making contact while passing through
the channel. Exasperated with the cost of constant annual maintenance,
the catwalk was completely removed in May 1925, and the components were
shipped to the Milwaukee Depot for possible use elsewhere.
The shore-based light station was
decommissioned in 1960, and the Fresnel removed, crated and shipped to
the Detroit Coast Guard Depot. Fruitland Township purchased the
structure in 1966, with plans of converting it into a maritime museum.
The museum was opened for the first time in the summer of 1970. In 1972
the Coast Guard returned the Fresnel lens to the museum, where it was
reinstalled in the lantern room. The lens stood proudly in the tower
until 1975 when someone with a rifle and little intelligence shot
through the lantern room windows, chipping the irreplaceable lens. To
prevent a reoccurrence, the lamp was once again removed from the tower,
and redisplayed on the first floor of the museum, where it can be seen
to this day.