Poe Reef Lighthouse - 1932
Photograph Courtesy U.S. Coast Guard
NAVIGATION - LAKE HURON
Cheboygan Lighthouse was built in 1851 to guide mariners through the South Channel that passes between the northern end of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula and the southern side of Bois Blanc Island. As vessels with deeper drafts became more common on the Great Lakes, shoals in the South Channel started to pose a significant threat, especially during storms. Numerous lightships were stationed in these regions, with the first one on September 29, 1893. The Lake Carriers’ Association had requested a permanent lighthouse and fog signal for Poe Reef as early as 1913, but it wasn’t until 1926 that the Commissioner of Lighthouses requested funds for such a project. Besides being less costly to maintain, lighthouses had an additional advantage over lightships: they could remain on station throughout the year rather than having to be withdrawn when ice started to form on the lakes. Congress made an initial appropriation of $78,000 in early 1927 that allowed work to begin that summer on a timber crib to serve as the lighthouse’s foundation. A site on Cheboygan River, seven miles from the reef, was leased as a base for operations, and the construction camp on Government Island used while building Martin Reef Lighthouse was moved there. A district force under the direction of Foreman John Sellman built the crib using twelve-inch-square timbers, and when it was complete, the crib was towed out into the lake by the tenders Marigold and Aspen and sunk in twenty-four feet of water on the southeast end of Poe Reef. Once the deck was completed and the frame for the lighthouse was erected, a bunkhouse was hoisted atop the crib on September 13, 1928 so the men could live on-site. Before the lighthouse was completed, several tyfon and diaphone fog horns were mounted outside the structure and tests were conducted on June 28 and 29 of 1929. Poe Reef Lighthouse commenced operation on August 15, 1929, and the last lightship, LV 99 was withdrawn and transferred to the twelfth district. The entire pier above the crib top is of mass concrete with steel reinforcing in the overhang and elsewhere as needed. Basement and storage vaults lighted from the deck are provided within the pier. The superstructure is of steel with masonry backing. The tower is rectangular with buttressed corners supporting a watch room with gallery and a third-order lens and lantern; focal plane, 71 feet above water level. The tower proper comprises three floors. The first floor houses the mechanical equipment and the second and third floors provide living accommodations which are adequate for three keepers. Illuminating apparatus: Original lens - electric in a third-order fixed lens giving a candlepower of about 24,000. Current lens - 14.8" (375 mm) Tideland Signal acrylic Optic. The double-flashing characteristic (Iso W 2s) is produced by motor-driven flashers. Range: 9 nautical miles (17 km). Fog signal: The fog signal is an air diaphone of powerful type supplied with air from oil-engine-driven air compressors, 1 every 30 seconds. A low power radiobeacon forms a part of the equipment. The entire fog-signal and radiobeacon equipment is in duplicate, including the electric generating equipment.
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