DeTour Reef Light Station, DeTour Village Michigan

Date added: September 11, 2024

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Michigan
Lighthouse

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Located where the Saint Marys River joins Lake Huron at the south end of DeTour Passage, this lighthouse is situated at a choke point for commercial shipping navigating to and from Lake Superior. The volume of maritime traffic passing DeTour Reef has been substantial ever since the Saint Marys River became a thoroughfare for commercial vessels when the St. Marys Falls Canal opened in the middle nineteenth century. Present-day shipping in the DeTour Reef Light Station vicinity continues to be substantial and consists largely of freighters transporting bulk cargoes such as iron ore, grain or coal.

Early twentieth-century mariners regarded the DeTour Passage area as one of the most dangerous places along major shipping routes in the Great Lakes. Several shipwrecks had occurred in the vicinity up to that time, and DeTour Reef was the scene of numerous vessel groundings even though marked with a buoy most of the year. These maritime accidents were most common between late fall and early spring when the buoy was removed to prevent its being dragged away or damaged by ice. Safe navigation through this area became even more problematic whenever fog occurred.

During the 1920's a consensus developed among mariners that establishing an offshore light on DeTour Reef was "among the most important improvements that can be made on the Great Lakes". Maritime community spokesmen requested that a lightship be placed there, and a light and fog signal station built on nearby Crab Island Reef. After assessing the circumstances the U.S. Lighthouse Service decided a better alternative was to establish a light and fog signal station on DeTour Reef. Doing this would replace the reef's buoy with a permanent structure instead of a lightship, and also make a fog signal station on Crab Island Reef unnecessary.

Erecting a new lighthouse on DeTour Reef would also allow the onshore DeTour Point Light Station to be decommissioned. Construction of the old station at DeTour Point began in 1847 and it was established (first lighted) in 1848. Its lighthouse was rebuilt with a skeletal tower in 1861 and remodeled in 1913.

The proposed structure on DeTour Reef was designed by the U.S. Lighthouse Service's Eleventh District in Detroit, Michigan. Construction began in 1930 and was completed in October 1931. The light station was officially established when its optic was first lighted in November 1931. Built to be occupied by resident keepers, it continued to be manned until its aid to navigation equipment was automated in 1974.

This lighthouse has been a shipping traffic control landmark for ships navigating between Lake Superior and Lake Huron from the time of its construction to the present. All vessels using the canal locks at Sault Sainte Marie have been and are still required to report their passing of this landmark to Soo Control, the office regulating maritime traffic on the Saint Marys River.

The DeTour Reef Light Station has been an important aid to navigation throughout its existence. Its signal light and daymark have warned mariners of the treacherous shallows at DeTour Reef night and day from 1931 to the present, and its fog signal has alerted vessels of danger whenever visibility in the area was obscured by fog. The lighthouse's original 1931 equipment included a radio beacon that provided information on a vessel's direction and distance from the lighthouse. That function continues to be fulfilled by the modern RACON radar transponder unit presently mounted on the light tower. No shipwrecks have occurred on DeTour Reef since this lighthouse was established. It is a successful example of the Federal government's involvement in promoting maritime safety on the Great Lakes.

The history of this light station begins with the decision by the U.S. Lighthouse Service to establish a light and fog signal station on DeTour Reef. In addition to marking a dangerous hazard to navigation, the proposed lighthouse was intended to supersede the DeTour Point Light Station established onshore in the middle nineteenth century.

Planning for the DeTour Reef Light Station's construction began in 1929. It was designed and built in 1930-1931 by the U.S. Lighthouse Service Eleventh District, Office of the Superintendent of Lighthouses. Its design plans included a massive timber crib foundation that was assembled onshore at the village of DeTour and completed in June 1930. After submerged land at the structure's proposed site was prepared and leveled, the crib was towed to that offshore location and sunk into place in July 1930. Work building the concrete pier atop the crib progressed to within six feet of its planned completion height when the project's construction halted for the winter. By the end of fiscal year 1930, the costs for the partially finished lighthouse amounted to $95,000.

After work resumed in April 1931 the concrete pier was soon completed. Erection of the lighthouse superstructure began in June. Meanwhile, the third-and-a-half order Fresnel lens, tower stairway and lantern assembly at the onshore DeTour Point Light Station were dismantled and brought to DeTour Reef for installation in the new lighthouse. Construction work was completed in October 1931. The light station was formally established as an aid to navigation when lighted on November 7^th, 1931. Its construction including riprap stone protection around the foot of the crib had taken 327 working days with a total cost of $145,976.

U.S. Lighthouse Service personnel manned the light station from 1931 until 1939 when that agency became part of the U.S. Coast Guard. It continued to be operated using resident keepers until 1974 when its aid to navigation equipment was automated.

The lighthouse's original third-and-a-half order Fresnel lens was removed during its 1974 conversion to automation. The Coast Guard subsequently loaned this lens to the DeTour Passage Historical Museum in De Tour Village where it is presently on display. The lighthouse remained unoccupied for some twenty-four years following its automation.

In 1998 the National Trust for Historic Preservation designated Michigan's historic lighthouses, exemplified by DeTour Reef Light Station, as one of "America's 11 most endangered historic places". This designation highlighted the property as an example of endangered lighthouses throughout the United States.

Interest the light's significance as a historic site led to the 1998 founding of the DeTour Reef Light Preservation Society (DRLPS), a non-profit historic preservation organization. DRLPS applied to the U.S. Coast Guard for a lease to the property, which was granted in 2000. Publicity from the National Trust's designation of DeTour Reef Light Station as endangered aided DRLPS efforts to secure funding for its rehabilitation, and more than one million dollars in grants and other financial assistance were obtained for that purpose. A rehabilitation project following standards published by the U.S. Department of Interior was planned and undertaken in consultation with the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office. This work was completed in September 2004.

Site Description

DeTour Reef Light Station is an offshore lighthouse located in northern Lake Huron. It is situated on a submerged rocky reef off the southeastern tip of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Built by the U.S. Lighthouse Service in 1930-1931, this property is owned by the U.S. Coast Guard. It consists of a light tower and a keepers' quarters superstructure on a concrete pier atop a crib foundation. The tower and quarters are painted white with black trim. The lantern atop the tower is painted black and white with a red roof. This property's historic integrity is very good and its design, materials and workmanship are little altered from its original construction. Interior and exterior modifications made since it was built have been limited and largely superficial. The property's location, setting, association and feeling are the same as when it was first built. The Coast Guard leased this lighthouse to the DeTour Reef Light Preservation Society (DRLPS) in 2000. That organization rehabilitated the property in 2003-2004 to return it to the appearance when completed in 1931. DRLPS plans to make the property available for public visitation.

The DeTour Reef Light Station is a prominent offshore landmark at the southern end of DeTour Passage where the Saint Marys River joins Lake Huron. It is located on DeTour Reef, 0.7 miles south of Point DeTour. This reef is a significant hazard to navigation and becomes even more dangerous during periods of fog.

DeTour Passage and the Saint Marys River are important to Great Lakes maritime commerce. Vessels navigating between Lake Superior and Lake Huron follow a designated shipping lane along the Saint Marys River that runs through DeTour Passage. This route opened for maritime traffic between the lakes in the middle nineteenth century when construction of the St. Marys Falls Canal enabled vessels to bypass the river's extensive rapids. The volume of shipping in the DeTour Reef vicinity increased a great deal after that and continues to be substantial. Commercial maritime traffic in the area today consists largely of freighters carrying iron ore, coal, grain, or other bulk cargo.

The lighthouse on DeTour Reef sits in 22 feet of water and rises to 83 feet above the level of Lake Huron. It is an integrated structure that includes a bed of crushed stone, crib foundation, concrete pier, keepers' quarters, light tower, and lantern. This property is an active aid to navigation assigned identification number 12770 on the Great Lakes Light List (United States Coast Guard 2004:127). Its optic is an automated light that flashes for one second every ten seconds and has a focal plane 74 feet above mean low water. The light's color is white except for its sector towards DeTour Reef where a red danger signal is displayed. The lighthouse is equipped with an automatic fog signal that sounds two blasts every 60 seconds. It also mounts a RACON radar transponder beacon that transmits the Morse code letter "D" as its identifier.

DeTour Reef Light Station is an example of the crib foundation lighthouse type. It sits atop a 60' by 60' square by 22' tall box-like wooden crib built with 180,000 board feet of lumber. This crib was assembled onshore at DeTour village and towed to the lighthouse's designated location. Once there, it was sunk onto a 75' by 75' square leveled bed of crushed rock. The crib's interior compartments were filled with rock and the outer ones with concrete. Additional concrete was poured around its base forming an apron, and rock riprap was placed on top and beyond the concrete apron to further protect the structure.

A reinforced concrete pier 60' by 60' square by 20" tall was constructed atop the crib. It is surrounded at the waterline by an 8.5' tall band of steel plates overlapping the joint where the crib and pier meet for protection against ice damage. Two steel mooring rings are attached to each of the pier's four vertical sides, one near each corner. The vertical sides curve outward at the top forming a wave-deflecting lip that projects two feet. The pier's surface deck is 20' above lake level and is accessed by ladders built into vertical notches at the middle of each side. The deck is surrounded by a barrier of steel stanchions slung with slack chain.

The pier's surface deck is formed of concrete slabs sealed at the joints. The slabs covering alcoves in the lighthouse basement have steel-framed glass skylights. The deck was repaired during rehabilitation work in 2004. This included patching deteriorated concrete, resealing joints, and replacing broken skylights.

A steel crane is mounted at the deck's southeast corner. The DeTour Reef Light Station was originally equipped with two steel cranes mounted at the pier deck's southeast and northwest corners, but these were dismantled around 1974 except for pedestals and vertical supports. The existing crane is a functioning 3-ton capacity replica of one installed in 1931. It was built for DRLPS in 2001 and includes part of the original crane recovered from the nearby lake bottom by divers.

In the year 2000 the U.S. Coast Guard installed a modern solar panel array at the pier deck's southwest corner. This is used to charge batteries that power the lighthouse optic, fog signal and RACON beacon.

The light station's basement is below the level of the pier deck. It is a 30' by 30' square by 10' deep recessed room located in the center of the concrete pier beneath the keepers' quarters. It was formerly used as the lighthouse's machinery room and storage space. The basement is open at the top to allow moving equipment and other materials through the keepers' quarters doorway, and to provide lighting from first story windows. The basement's central machinery room is bounded on four sides by passageways to alcoves 30' long by 8' wide by 8.5' tall with vaulted ceilings. These were used for fuel and provisions storage and one contains a well for drawing lake water. The alcove ceilings are concrete slabs inset with steel frame glass skylights.

The light station keepers' quarters is a 30' by 30' square, 20' tall two-story structure positioned in the center of the pier deck. It is built with a steel beam framework and structural clay tile walls. The outer fabric consists of 0.25" thick steel plates fastened with nuts and bolts. Each facade includes three vertical bays. The center bay is 14' wide and recessed 0.5' from the flanking 8' wide side bays. The roof over the second story is made of concrete slabs covered with sheet copper laid with flat seams. The roof slabs slope slightly downward from the light tower at the center towards the roof perimeter.

The architectural styling of the keepers' quarters reflects Classical Revival influences. These are manifested in decorative details including a classical iron cornice of cast iron molding that surrounds the structure at the roofline. The structure includes decorative parapet segments at the corners made of vertical steel plates affixed atop each facade's side bays. Metal railings extend across the opening above each center bay between these parapet segments.

The keeper's quarters has only one entrance on its first story pier deck level, a 5' wide by 7' tall doorway on the east facade. This is surmounted by a cast iron triangular classical pediment 4' tall by 11' wide. The doorway is hung with a two-leaf, center-opening steel door. Each leaf is 2.5' wide by 7' tall and includes a 1.5' wide by 5' tall, 6-light steel-framed window. The outside of the entrance is flanked with 0.25" thick steel plate shutters for protection from waves overtopping the pier.

Fenestration for the keepers' quarters consists of 32 steel sash windows with steel muntins. There are 14 original windows still existing. The remainder are replicas installed during the property's rehabilitation. The side bay windows on the first story are 1.7' wide by 5' tall with 10-lights. These are aligned vertically with 1.7' wide by 4' tall 8-light sash on the second story level. The first story's center bays on the north, south, and west facades are lighted by a centered pair of 3.5' wide by 5' tall windows separated by a 0.5' wide steel mullion. The entrance doorway takes the place of a window on the east facade. The two windows of each first-story pair are 1.7' wide with 10 lights. One sash is fixed and the other slides open sideways. Each first-story window is flanked with 0.25" thick steel plate shutters for protection from waves overtopping the pier. The second story's center bays are lighted with a pair of windows separated by a 0.5' steel mullion similar to the first story. Each of these paired windows is 3.5' wide by 4' tall, and includes two 1.7' wide by 4' tall 8-light sash.

The structure's first-story interior is a single room without partitions that includes a 20' by 20' central area open to the basement machinery room below. Its ceiling is 9' above floor level. A steel I-beam equipped with an electric hoist is affixed to the ceiling and extends from inside the doorway to the opposite (west) wall. The room's central opening is surrounded on four sides by a 4' wide gallery with steel grating floor and pipe guardrails. Four rectangular columns rise from the basement floor through the central opening to provide support for the light tower above. Two steel stairways adjacent to the east wall in the northeast corner provide access to the basement and second-story levels. The only section of solid floor on the first story level is a 5' wide area in the southeast corner adjoining the east wall. This was the 1931 location of the light station's original radio transmitter and receiver. It is presently occupied by power and control equipment for the lighthouse's modern aid to navigation equipment.

The keepers' quarters living area is located on the second-story level. It includes a kitchen, dining room, office, bathroom, two bedrooms, closets, and stairway access to the light tower. The ceiling height is 10 feet. The living quarters is bisected north-south by a central hallway 4' wide by 20' long extending west from the top of the stairway rising from the first story level. The western end of this hallway abuts the door to the bathroom. This bathroom measures 6' by 8' and includes a modern toilet, sink, and bathtub installed during the property's rehabilitation. This room is lighted by the southern half of the west facade's center window. There are three rooms on the south side of the central hallway. From east to west these include an 8' by 10' office, 10' by 10' dining room, and 8' by 8' kitchen. The office and dining room have doorways to the hallway and share a connecting doorway. The kitchen opens to the dining room only.

The dining room includes a built-in window bench at the midpoint of its south wall. This bench covers the compartment where the light station's two original diaphone fog signal devices were installed. This double fog signal included two external conical horns mounted outside on the keepers' quarters south facade below the second-story center windows. The original diaphone system was removed around 1974 and replaced with modern equipment. The property's 2003-2004 rehabilitation included the installation of one original and one replica diaphone horns on the exterior of the south facade. The lighthouse's existing modern automated fog signal is mounted on the keepers' quarters roof at the southeast corner.

There are two bedrooms on the north side of the central hallway. The one for the assistant keepers is in the northwest corner. It measures 14' by 14' and includes two closets. This bedroom is entered from the western end of the central hallway. The senior keeper's bedroom is in the second story's northeast corner. It measures 8' by 14' and has one closet. This room is entered from a short hallway 5' wide by 8' long that extends north from the eastern end of the central hallway. The steel stairway leading up to the light tower is on the west side of this short hall. Underneath the stairway is a closet entered from the central hallway.

The light tower rises from the center of the keeper's quarters roof. It is 12' by 12' square by 24' tall, and built with steel framing sheathed with 0.25" thick steel plates. The tower's roofline is decorated with a classical cornice of cast iron molding. Its fenestration consists of eight steel sash windows, two on each side of the tower arranged one above the other. The lower windows are 2.5' wide by 4' tall with steel muntins, and have 12 lights arranged in 4 rows of 3 lights each. The upper windows are 2.5' wide by 4.5' feet tall and include a 4-light semicircle above 3 rows of 3 lights each. These windows are fixed except for the lower one on the south side which is hinged.

The stairway rising from the keepers' quarters second story level leads to a 10' by 10" room at the base of the tower. A cast iron spiral stairway leads upward from the center of this room to the lantern's watch room. This spiral stairway is housed inside a 6' diameter cast iron cylinder. This stairway and cylinder assembly was relocated here from the onshore DeTour Point Light Station where it had been part of a skeletal tower built in 1861. The cylinder housing had originally served as the stairway's exterior wall. The skeletal tower was dismantled in 1931 and a 24' section installed inside the DeTour Reef Light Station tower. Each of the 32 spiral stairway steps is inscribed with the letter "A" and a Roman numeral at its inner end. The steps are not in numerical order on the existing stairway, indicating the segments were not reassembled in their original sequence.

The lighthouse's ten-sided cast iron lantern sits atop the light tower. It includes a lantern room at the top and a watch room below. This lantern had been installed at the DeTour Point Light Station in 1861 and was relocated, along with the tower's spiral stairway, to DeTour Reef Light Station in 1931 (Clifford 1994:170). The watch room is 7.5' in diameter and 7' tall. Its interior is lined with tongue and groove wood paneling. A cast iron ladder provides access through a trap door to the lantern room above. A door on the watch room's western side opens to a 14' by 14' rectangular outside gallery bounded by a 3' tall metal railing. A stovepipe smokestack rises through the gallery's floor near the northwest corner and a flagpole is mounted at its northeast corner. A cast iron ladder on this gallery provides outside access to the lantern room gallery above.

The ten-sided lantern room retains its original structure including cast iron floor and window mullions. Each of the ten vertical sides includes three rectangular clear glass storm panes arranged one above another and framed by cast iron muntins. Red plastic filters cover the storm panes on the sides facing DeTour Reef so that a red danger signal is displayed in that direction. The lantern roof is copper and appears to be original to the 1861 structure. It is painted red and capped with a vent ball. The lantern's exterior is surrounded by a narrow circular gallery with a 1.5' tall metal railing. This gallery is accessed by the iron ladder from the watch room gallery.

When the DeTour Reef Light Station was established in 1931 it was equipped with a third-and-a-half order Fresnel lens manufactured in 1907 by the Barbier, Benard and Turenne Company of Paris, France. The lens was relocated to DeTour Reef from the DeTour Point Light Station. This Fresnel lens was removed from DeTour Reef Light Station when it was automated in 1974. It is now on display at the DeTour Passage Historical Museum in DeTour Village. The lighthouse's existing optic is a modern VRB-25 rotating beacon that flashes a white light every ten seconds. The red danger light flashes at the same interval and is visible from 79.5 degrees to 189.5 degrees. The beacon, modern fog signal, and RACON are powered by batteries charged by solar panels mounted on the pier deck in 2000.