The Ile Parisienne Light was built in 1911 on the southern tip of remote Ile Parisienne in the middle of

Whitefish Bay Whitefish Bay is a large bay on the eastern end of Lake Superior between Michigan, United States, and Ontario, Canada. It is located between Whitefish Point in Michigan and Whiskey Point along the more rugged, largely wilderness Canadian Shield ...

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 ...

on a major shipping lane for ingress/egress to the

Soo Locks The Soo Locks (sometimes spelled Sault Locks but pronounced "soo") are a set of parallel Lock (water navigation), locks, operated and maintained by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, that enable ships to travel between ...

. It is now a well-known landmark to shipping traffic and pleasure craft. The light is automated and remains seasonally active.

Construction

The Ile Parisienne Light Station was established on the southern tip of the Ile ParisienneIle Parisienne Land Use Policy, 1. in 1911 after construction of the

increased upper

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 ...

shipping traffic and the need for navigational aids.Canada's Register of Historic Places. The white tower is a well-known landmark to lake traffic and pleasure craft. The tower's cast-in place concrete, hexagonal structure was built with 6 tapered exterior wall buttresses, flared ribs at the platform, a gable roofed entrance, small windows, and a prominent, 10-sided, red lantern topped with a beaver

weathervane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an list of weather instruments, instrument used for showing the wind direction, direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ' ...

.Boatnerd. It is considered a good example of early modern, functional design.

History

The first recorded shipwreck on Lake Superior was off Ile Parisienne. During a fur trading feud in August 1816, Lord Selkirk ordered the arrest of key

Northwest Company The North West Company was a Canadian fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in the regions that later became Western Canada and Northwestern Ont ...

leaders at Fort William. Selkirk sent the arrested Northwesters by Montreal canoe to eastern Canada for trial. The canoe commanded by Lieutenant Fauche capsized off Ile Parisienne drowning, by varying reports, 9 or ll people. At least one

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. It results from the event of ''shipwrecking'', which may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately thre ...

and the rescue of one

castaway A castaway is a person who is cast adrift or ashore. While the situation usually happens after a shipwreck, some people voluntarily stay behind on a desert island, either to evade kidnapping, captors or the world in general. A person may also be ...

near the island shores is owed to the light station's location in the middle of Whitefish Bay on the major shipping lane upbound and downbound from the Soo Locks. The steamship ''Panther'' sank 26 June 1916, following a collision during fog with the ''James H. Hill'', off Parisienne Island in Whitefish Bay, with no loss of life. When the steamship ''Myron'' sank 23 November 1919, the

Vermilion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color family and pigment most often used between antiquity and the 19th century from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide). It is synonymous with red orange, which often takes a moder ...

lifesaving crew searched Lake Superior in a raging gale for survivors all the way from their station to Ile Parisienne, but found nothing. The captain of the ''Myron'' was rescued 20 hours afterward, found near death drifting on wreckage near Ile Parisienne, his clothes frozen to his body. In July 1920, three bodies washed ashore Ile Parisienne from the shipwreck ''John Owen'' that foundered off Stannard Rock on 12 November 1919. The bodies were buried on Ile Parisienne. Life at the Ile Parisienne Light Station was lonely and perilous. On April 18, 1922, the small Canadian

buoy tender A buoy tender is a type of vessel used to maintain and replace navigational buoys. This term can also apply to an actual person who does this work. The United States Coast Guard uses buoy tenders to accomplish one of its primary missions of main ...

''Lambton'' set out to deliver the lighthouse keepers for the upcoming shipping season to Caribou Island,

Michipicoten Island Michipicoten Island is an island in Ontario, Canada, in the northeastern part of Lake Superior, about northwest of Sault Ste. Marie and southwest of Wawa, Ontario. At its closest point to mainland Ontario, the island is located about from t ...

, and Ile Parisienne in Lake Superior. The ''Lambton'' disappeared during a heavy northeast gale on Whitefish Bay on April 19, 1922, taking the lives of all 16 hands and 5 lighthouse keepers, including John Douglas, Ile Parisienne lighthouse keeper, and his assistant keeper, John Kay.

Heritage site

The Ile Parisienne light tower was listed on the Canadian Register of Historic Places in 1991 as "a Recognized Federal Heritage building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental values." The light station is owned by the

Canadian Coast Guard The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; ) is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues in Canadian waters, such as navigation aids and i ...

. The light is now a seasonal, automated, solar powered modern optic. The light is not open to the public because it is located in an area of very high volume shipping traffic and it is considered a critical aid to navigation. The light can be viewed by boat or plane tours.Rowlett. The light tower of Ile Parisienne was petitioned for designation as a Heritage Lighthouse of Canada on or before 29 May 2015.

References

External links

Ile Parisienne Light photographs from Marinas.com

Aids to Navigation
''Canadian Coast Guard'' {{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1911 Lighthouses in Ontario 1911 establishments in Ontario Historic buildings and structures in Ontario

Construction

History

Heritage site

See also

References

External links