The Nation’s Largest Collection Of Lighthouse Bloopers, Part 4

Continuing an examination of the series of articles on the lighthouses of the Apostle Islands appearing on the maritime web site, boatnerd.com.

Back to Part 3

Part Four: The Raspberry and Outer Island Lighthouses

Under discussion:

The Raspberry Island Lighthouse, by Dave Wobser

The Outer Island Lighthouse, by Dave Wobser

Raspberry Island Lighthouse and Fog Signal, c. 1903-05

Moving across the archipelago to the next lighthouse in historic sequence, we tie our boat at the dock at Raspberry Island. The Boatnerd article on this site varies slightly from the pattern, with four introductory paragraphs by someone named Colt Ledin preceding the reprinted Great Laker article. Let’s see if Mr. Ledin does better than his colleague:

This is one of the few surviving wood framed lighthouses left on Lake Superior. It was built in 1863 to mark the west channel through the Apostle Islands….  The light was extinguished in 1957 but has been maintained since then by the National Park Service who keeps the station open for tours.

Sigh…

First of all, to be picky, the light was built in 1862, and then placed in service the following spring. I’d overlook this if not for what comes next: the light was absolutely not extinguished in 1957. The Raspberry Island station was automated in 1947, but the lamp remained in the tower. Then, in 1957, the Fresnel lens was removed from the historic tower and a modernized beacon placed atop a metal pole on the bluff out in front, where it still shines today. Moreover, the National Park Service had nothing to do with Raspberry Island until years later: the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore was not established until 1970 and only took title to the lighthouse in 1975.  In the interim, an architectural firm from the Twin Cities leased the structure from the Coast Guard and used it as a corporate retreat.

Mr. Wobser takes over from here:

An original USLHS traveling library is on display

This one gave me a chuckle. The Raspberry Island lighthouse is the only one of the Apostle Island lights restored to give an authentic lived-in appearance with appropriate furnishings. Among these is a “traveling library” of the sort the Lighthouse Service provided keepers and their families – sturdy wooden cases containing an assortment of books, exchanged for fresh material every six months or so. What you will see at Raspberry Island is  a nicely-done replica,  one of a half-dozen put together in 1996 by high school shop students from White Bear Lake, Minnesota.

How can I be so sure? I worked with the kids.

The original tramway leading up from the boat dock remains, and a rare tram cart is located at the top.

The original wooden tramway was built in 1902 and replaced by the current concrete structure in 1932. The tram cart is modern.

Restoration of the dwelling interior is an on-going project by NPS volunteers… The grounds are well maintained, including a vegetable garden and a number of flower beds that have been designed to replicate a 1920’s photo of the station... National Park Service volunteer keepers are on the island during the summer months and the Annual Celebration.

These statements are wrong about the staffing, and drastically misrepresent the nature and scope of the 2005-2007 restoration of the lighthouse structure, interior, and grounds.

First of all, the heavily visited Raspberry Island lighthouse is the only one in the park staffed by actual National Park Service employees, not volunteer guides. Second, the restoration was not done by well-meaning volunteers poring over an old photograph or two. The planning that went into the project included top-to-bottom examination of the buildings by historic architects and structural engineers,  analysis of scores of historic blueprints and photos,  archival research in keepers’ logbooks and other administrative records, interviews with surviving lighthouse family members, and more. The job was primarily carried out by professional contractors working under general NPS supervision.

(Thank you, Congressman Dave Obey, for funding all this.)

We’ve got time and the lake is calm today, so let’s travel to the farthest corner of the archipelago.

Outer Island Lighthouse and Fog Signal

What does our friend at Boatnerd have to say about this light?

As traffic increased between the Soo and Duluth-Superior in the later part of the 1800's, a light was built on Outer Island which is the most northeastern of the Apostles. Put in operation in October, 1874 the light was a welcome aid to the growing vessel traffic carrying ore, lumber and grain between Duluth-Superior and the lower lakes…

 

Good so far, but,

A tramway that was built in 1874 to haul goods from the boat landing was washed away in the first year of the station's operation. It was replaced in 1884.

There was no tramway in 1874, just a staircase. The construction of an actual tramway took place in 1883, not 1884. The station logbook and the agency’s annual reports pin it down.

The fog signal was a locomotive whistle with coal fired boiler to produce steam.

Nope. The fog signal worked on the same principle as a locomotive whistle, but it was considerably larger than anything you’d find on a train.

In… 1925, the steam fog whistle was converted to an air diaphone run by air compressors and diesel engines.

Off by four years; it was 1929. The keeper’s log gives us the exact date: October 31, 1929, “Air signal in commission."

I find myself wondering, “Where is this guy getting all these almost-but-not-quite-correct dates?”

Next: The Sand Island Lighthouse