The Alpena Light, also known as the Thunder Bay River Lighthouse
/ref> or Alpena Breakwater Light, is a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is shared on the north and east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south and west by the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the lake is derived from early French ex ...

near Alpena,

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. Standing on the north

breakwater Breakwater may refer to: * Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour Places * Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia * Breakwater Island, Antarctica * Breakwater Islands, Nunavut, Canada * ...

of Alpena Harbor, the light marks the entrance to the

Thunder Bay River The Thunder Bay River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed November 21, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Michigan. It drains much of Alpena County and Montmorency County, ...

from

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario. Its population i ...

. The current lighthouse, built in 1914, replaced earlier wooden structures which had been in use since 1877 and 1888.Beacons in the Night: Michigan Lighthouse Chronology
Clarke Historical Library,

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a Public university, public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, United States. It was established in 1892 as a private normal school and became a state institution in 1895. CMU is one of the eigh ...

. The current light is a weather-protected structure on a

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

frame. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2006, and the state inventory list the same year.

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

Maritime Heritage Program, Inventory of Historic Light Stations - Michigan Lighthouses, Alpena Light

History and description

The history of the Alpena Lights closely follows the history of the local

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

industry. Shipping in and out of the Thunder Bay River has historically concentrated on logs, cut

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

, and rolls of

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

and

newsprint Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper consisting mainly of wood pulp and most commonly used to print newspapers and other publications and advertising material. Invented in 1844 by Charles Fenerty of Nova Scotia, Canada, it usually has ...

. The first petition for a lighthouse at the mouth of the Thunder Bay River, from a consortium of men active in the local lumber industry, came in 1857. Other pleas followed. Congress partly responded to these appeals in 1867 with an appropriation of $10,000 to build a light at nearby Trowbridge Point. After further appeals directly to the

United States Lighthouse Board The United States Lighthouse Board was the second agency of the U.S. federal government, under the Department of Treasury, responsible for the construction and maintenance of all lighthouses and navigation aids in the United States, between 18 ...

, the Board advised Congress to move the location of the prospective light to the mouth of the Thunder Bay River. This recommendation was a key element in the final location of the Alpena Light. Congress approved the recommendation in 1868.

First and second lights

In August 1875, the first Alpena Light was established as a temporary -tall "pole light" approximately ten miles off shore. Alpena04

In 1877, a second light was built from a timber design of Major

Godfrey Weitzel Godfrey (Gottfried) Weitzel (November 1, 1835 – March 19, 1884) was a German-American major general in the Union army during the American Civil War. He was the acting Mayor of New Orleans during the Union occupation of the city and also captur ...

. It was a brown wooden

pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

al tower, complete with a Sixth Order

Fresnel lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens (optics), lens which reduces the amount of material required compared to a conventional lens by dividing the lens into a set of concentric annular sections. The simpler Dioptrics, d ...

. In July 1888 it burned with much of the town. After it burnt, keeper E.G. Howard—who had managed to save the keeper's house from the conflagration—again put up a temporary pole with a light. The original fog bell from the "1870 light" icis on display at the Huron Lights Museum north of town.

Current (third) light

The current Alpena Light (1914), the third light of that name, is thought to be the only lighthouse of this type in the U.S. Russ Rowlett, who maintains the online Lighthouse Directory, flatly states that: "this tower is the only surviving example of its design." However, the structure of this light is similar in concept to

Lake Superior Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. Lake Michigan–Huron has a larger combined surface area than Superior, but is normally considered tw ...

's Chequamegon Point Light.Wobser, David, Chequamegon Point Light, from an article that originally appeared in Great Laker Magazine
at

Boatnerd The Boatnerd corporation is a registered not-for-profit corporation intended to spread information about vessels that ply the North American Great Lakes. Services The organization holds annual festivals at sites of interest to those intere ...

. There are also skeletal towers of various other designs in the western

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

. Originally painted black, its

daymark A daymark is a navigational aid for sailors and maritime pilot, pilots, distinctively marked to maximize its visibility in daylight. The word is also used in a more specific, technical sense to refer to a signboard or daytime identifier that ...

function was enhanced in 1950 by painting it bright red. The current lens was installed circa 1996. The original Fresnel lens is presently located at the Grand Traverse Lighthouse.Anderson, Kraig, Lighthouse Friends, Alpena Harbor Lighthouse.
/ref> From 1878 to 1965 there were five

lighthouse keeper A lighthouse keeper or lightkeeper is a person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as ...

s at this location. The Alpena Light

fog horn A foghorn or fog signal is a device that uses sound to warn vehicles of navigational hazards such as rocky coastlines, or boats of the presence of other vessels, in foggy conditions. The term is most often used in relation to marine transport. ...

has gone through different iterations. In 1891, there was a fog bell with an automated striking mechanism, which was upgraded in 1920 to an electric alarm, and in 1932 to the current modern automated fog horn. The Alpena Light onshore complex once included a brick oil storage building, built in 1896; it was removed after the light's electrification. The light was automated in 1974. The current Alpena Light is tall; references in some sources to this light being " tall" are factually incorrect. ''Compare'' the U.S. Coast Guard Light List, the Terry Pepper Seeing the Light database of heights, and the Lighthouse Directory.

Getting there

The Alpena Light is best viewed from the transient

docks The word dock () in American English refers to one or a group of human-made structures that are involved in the handling of boats or ships (usually on or near a shore). In British English, the term is not used the same way as in American Engli ...

at the City of Alpena’s

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : "related to the sea") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo ...

. It has been variously called "

Sputnik Sputnik 1 (, , ''Satellite 1''), sometimes referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space progra ...

" and "Little Red" by locals. Others are dismissive, opining that it is "Long on duty, short on beauty." Another colorful local phrase is, "Don't kick the can." The light marks the Alpena harbor of refuge and is located just east of downtown Alpena.

The light today

Over the years, this light has been a source of civic pride, and has been the subject of many postcards. The Great Lakes lighthouse festival is centered in Alpena in the second weekend of each October, and this light was used in 1999 as a pictorial cancellation of stamps celebrating the event. Passing freighters in the river come very close to the light. As of 2010, the Alpena Light is an active

aid to navigation In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. The ...

. In June 2011, the

General Services Administration The General Services Administration (GSA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. G ...

made the Alpena Light (along with 11 others) available at no cost to public organizations willing to preserve them.

Replica

A scaled down

replica A replica is an exact (usually 1:1 in scale) copy or remake of an object, made out of the same raw materials, whether a molecule, a work of art, or a commercial product. The term is also used for copies that closely resemble the original, without ...

of this light was built on

Lake Havasu Lake Havasu () is a large reservoir formed by Parker Dam on the Colorado River, on the border between San Bernardino County, California, and Mohave County, Arizona. Lake Havasu City sits on the Arizonan side of the lake with its Californian coun ...

Lake Havasu City Lake Havasu City (, ) is a city in Mohave County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 57,144, up from 52,527 in 2010. It is served by Lake Havasu City Airport. History The community first started dur ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

.Photo of Lake Havasu Alpena Light replica.
The replica is in

Mohave County, Arizona Mohave County occupies the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona, one of 15 List of counties in Arizona, counties in the state. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 213,267. The county seat is Kingman ...

, was sponsored by the County Board of Supervisors, and was built by members of th
Lake Havasu Lighthouse Club
It was dedicated on November 5, 2006, and is at GPS:3 4° 26.99' N - 114° 22.38' W. It is on the western tip of Havasu Island, under Alpena Replica and has a red light that flashes sixty times per minute.

References

External links

Alpena Lighthouse - United States Lighthouses

Satellite view of Alpena Light.

Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panorama, interactive panoramic views of streets (Google Street View, Street View ...

. {{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1875 Lighthouses completed in 1877 Lighthouses completed in 1914 Buildings and structures in Alpena County, Michigan Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Transportation in Alpena County, Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Alpena County, Michigan 1875 establishments in Michigan