SEUL CHOIX POINT LIGHTHOUSE-MICHIGAN

                                                                                                          Seul Choix Point Lighthouse in 1913
                                                                                                       Photograph courtesy National Archives
In its annual report for 1885, the Lighthouse Board noted the following: “During the prevalence of northwest winds, this coast is followed by many vessels from Chicago and Milwaukee, and Seul Choix offers a good harbor of refuge in these winds, with good anchorage in from 3 ½ to 4 fathoms of water. There is no light on this northern shore between Poverty Island and Saint Helena [lighthouses], a distance of about 100 miles.” Due to the increase of the iron-ore trade at Escanaba, the route along the northern shore of Lake Michigan was becoming more important, and the Lighthouse Board requested $15,000 for a lighthouse to mark Seul Choix Point. Congress appropriated the necessary funds on August 4, 1886, and a site for the station was selected later that month.   

Pursuant to authority granted, the materials were procured and operations at the site were begun August 31. Work was continued until November 16 under very disadvantageous circumstances, the fall weather being exceptionally stormy and severe, involving much loss of time and interruption and delay to the work. Seeing that it would be impracticable to complete the station in time to have it in service by the spring of 1892, I recommended and the Board approved the construction of a temporary tower for the station light, which, in connection with the nearly completed dwelling and other necessary appurtenances, would enable the station to be put in commission. This has been done, but it was found impracticable to complete the permanent tower, which now stands 20 feet high

   A temporary fourth-order light was placed in service on April 15, 1892, and the Lighthouse Board requested $3,500 to finish the lighthouse. On August 18, 1894, Congress approved the use of $5,000 set aside for moving range lights on St. Marys River for completing Seul Choix Lighthouse. At the same time, $5,500 was made available for adding a fog signal to the station. Material for finishing the lighthouse and building the fog signal building were delivered to the point by the lighthouse tenderAmaranth in the spring of 1895, and by the first of July, the oil house was completed, the boat house was nearly finished, the dwelling was replastered, the tower was raised to a height of fifty-six feet four inches, and the fog signal building was enclosed. Seul Choix’s handsome lighthouse, consisting of a stone foundation, brick tower, and metal lantern room, measures seventy-eight feet nine inches from base to ventilator ball, and its third-order Henry-Lepaute Fresnel lens was placed in operation on August 15, 1895. The station’s one-and-a-half story dwelling is attached to the tower by a covered brick passageway. The ten-inch steam whistle was placed in service on September 10, 1895 using water pumped from Lake Michigan. On November 6, 1925, the station’s fog signal was changed from steam to air diaphone, and electric lighting was provided. The last keepers left in 1972, when the station was automated following the removal of the third-order Fresnel lens.