Eagle Harbor Rear Range Light

Eagle Harbor Rear Range Light, Eagle Harbor, Keweenaw County, Michigan

EAGLE HARBOR RANGE LIGHTS

Location: FRONT RANGE ON SOUTH SHORE OF HARBOR/LAKE SUPERIOR;
REAR RANGE ABOUT 1000 FEET SE OF FRONT RANGE.
Station Established: 1877
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 
Operational? NO
Automated? 
Deactivated: 1911
Foundation Materials: 
Construction Materials: WOOD
Tower Shape: BOTH TOWERS SQUARE; REAR RANGE IN KEEPERS DWELLING.
Markings/Pattern: BOTH PAINTED WHITE
Relationship to Other Structure: 1000 FEET APART.
Original Lens: 12” DIAMETER LENS LANTERNS IN BOTH TOWERS.

Historical Information:

• Rear Range also known as Cedar Creek Range Rear.
• 1863 – Lighthouse Board recommended range lights for this location.
• 1875 – Congress appropriated $8,000 to build the lights.
• 1877 – Lights lit for the first time on September 20.
• 1884 – Rear range raised to put in a basement and a new foundation.
• 1885 – Catwalk built to the front range.
• 1894 – Lanterns improved and lens lanterns installed.
• 1901 – Rear dwelling raised and concrete floor poured. Two story barn built.
• 1930 – Rear light sold via public auction. Now used as private residence.

Keepers:

• George W. Howard (Acting Keeper 1877 – 1878, Keeper 1878 – 1879)
• Henry Pearce (1879 – 1889)
• Thomas Thomson (Acting Keeper 1889 – 1890, Keeper 1890 – 1893)
• James Carson (Acting Keeper 1893 – 1894, Keeper 1894 – 1898)
• Alexander McLean (1898)
• Mary A. Wheatley (1898 – 1905)
• Mrs. C. E. Thomson (Acting Keeper 1905)
• Thomas G. Thomson (1905 – 1908)
• Norman W. Smith (1908 – 1911)

Researched and written by Marie Vincent, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.