The Daboll trumpet at Pilot Island

In 1862, a Daboll patent trumpet fog signal was installed at the Port du Mort light station on Pilot Island off the northern tip of Wisconsin's Door Peninsula shown here.

 

The Port du Mort lighthouse on Wisconsin's Pilot Island

The trumpet at Port du Morts received its supply of compressed air from one of John Ericsson's unique caloric engines, one of which is shown in the illustration below.

 

One of Ericsson's groundbreaking Caloric engines

While there were a number of Daboll trumpets installed at lighthouses throughout the USA, perhaps the most unique installation was this single horsepower engine installed at the Beavertail light station in Narragansett Bay. Built in 1851, it was fueled by a combination of hay, oats and water.

 

Daboll's unique "oats and water" powered air compressor. 

Mamajuda lighthouse

The island that would eventually become known as Mamajuda appeared in this 1796 French map of the Detroit River, where it was listed as “Jones” Island. The title “island” is actually somewhat aggrandizing, as throughout modern history virtually all of its 25 acres have been located beneath the surface of the river with only varying amounts of low-lying wetlands protruding visibly above the surface.

 

1876 map  showing the location of Jones Island

The island eventually became known as Mammy Judy after an Indian woman by the same name who regularly camped on the island during the fishing season prior to 1807. Because the shallow island was located smack in the middle of the main shipping channel between Grosse Isle and Fighting Island, the Mammy Judy lighthouse was established on the southeast side of the island in 1849. Erected atop a grid-work of vertical piles driven into the river bed, the station was outfitted with 4 Lewis patent lamps with 14” diameter reflectors in a birdcage style lantern 35 feet above the water. This photograph shows the Mammy Judy lighthouse as it appeared circa 1852.

 

The original 1849 Mamajuda lighthouse

The cropped section of an 1876 chart of the Detroit River below shows the location of the Mammy Judy light station and graphically shows the danger largely submerged island would have represented to mariners making their way along the river, and the reason it was considered necessary to establish a lighthouse to mark the island's position in 1849.

 

1876 chart of the Detroit River showing the location of the Mamajuda lighthouse

With the exception of upgrading the Lewis lamps to a Sixth Order Fresnel lens in 1855, little maintenance appears to heave been undertaken at Mamajuda, and after only fifteen years it was evident that the pilings on which the lighthouse was erected were rotting badly and the lighthouse itself had deteriorated to the point that it was considered barely inhabitable. As such, the old lighthouse and foundation were demolished in 1866 and the new structure shown here erected to replace it.

The 1866 Mamajuda lighthouse

If the 1866 Mamajuda lighthouse appears familiar, it could well be because it was built as a twin to the Mission Point lighthouse which was established at the north end of the Mission Peninsula north of Traverse City four years later. This photo shows the Mission Point lighthouse as it appeared circa 1880.

The Mission Point light station was built to the same plan as Mamajuda

In order to better mark the down-bound channel from Grassy Island to Mamajuda, in 1892 the Lighthouse Board requested a Congressional appropriation of $1,500 to erect a front range light upstream of the island to range with the existing Mamajuda lighthouse. Congress approved the expenditure the following year, and the new timber structure in the river was completed and ready for lighting on July 16, 1894. This 1902 photo shows this structure and the elevated walkway which provided access for the keeper from his dwelling beneath the rear light.

The Mamajuda Front Range Light established in 1894

As a result of constant erosion from the wake of passing vessels, between 1900 and 1904 a number of changes were undertaken to improve the conditions on Mamajuda. Thousands of tons of rip-rap stone were transported to the island to elevate it further above the water. The old rear range lighthouse was transported across the river to serve as a dwelling for the keeper of the Grosse Isle light and a new rear range structure with a circular tower was erected on the improved ground on Mamajuda. This postcard from 1909 shows the structure as it was rebuilt in 1904 and gives a good sense of the improved living conditions which resulted.

The Mamajuda lighthouse as rebuilt in 1904

Over the years, the Detroit River was continually dredged to make a safe channel for increasingly larger vessels, and Mamajuda island became washed away, largely as a result of erosion by the bow waves of these huge vessels. Today, Mamajuda Island is largely covered by water, with only small portions of the island appearing above the water's surface during periods of lower water, and the resulting shoal area is now marked by the Mamajuda Shoal buoy.

This crop from Google Earth shows that Mamajuda Island is now virtually submerged.
However, the pilings which supported the old lighthouse can readily be seen beneath the water.

A May 2011 tour of Menagerie Island

We departed from Mott Island and headed toward Menagerie Island. The Ranger who piloted our small boat was unfamiliar with the waters around Menagerie, so the Ranger from Malone Bay came out to meet us, lead us into Malone Bay and then took over pilot duties on our small boat for the trip out to Menagerie.

 

 We were blessed with calm waters again on this day of our trip as you can plainly see in this photo taken as we approached Menagerie. The area in which we would "dock" the boat was nestled among the rocks right below the lighthouse.

 

 Here we make the final approach to the lighthouse. It was a good thing that the Ranger from Malone Bay was at the wheel, since there were a number of shallow, rocky areas that needed to be avoided during our approach.

 
After reaching the island, and positioning ourselves to land, the pilot cut back the throttles and raised the engine to allow us to slowly drift into this natural cut between the rocks. We were really fortunate for the weather conditions, since you can plainly see that any wave action would easily break over the the guard rocks to the right and smashing the boat against the surrounding rocks.

 

As is the case with mainland of Isle Royale itself, Menagerie is a thin island which lies from northeast to southwest. After climbing up the rocks, to the surface of the island, I decided to head off to the southwest end to check out the oil storage building.

The oil storage building still contains some components of the original shelving supports on which the standard oil butts were stored, along with a couple of empty 55-gallon drums.

 

One of the many gulls on the island had claimed the floor of the oil storage building as its nesting site in which it had laid two eggs. The gulls swooped down at our heads screaming at us whenever we approached their nests, with come of them attempting to hit us with liquid bombs. Fortunately, their aim was was imperfect!

 

 As I moved across to the east of the island, the character changed considerably as it is made up of a huge wall of rock which slopes down at an angle of about 30 degrees to disappear down into the water.

Moving toward the dwelling, a dark brown rusted iron acetylene storage cabinet box came into view against the side of the covered way which connects the tower to the dwelling. I had caught a glimpse of this cabinet on previous water views of the island, but it was good to finally be able to inspect it close-up.

 

While there are a couple of other remaining acetylene cabinets at lighthouses around the Great Lakes, this one is by far in the best condition of any I have seen to this point. As a result of the island's remote location and difficulty in making a landing in anything but the calmest weather, this lighthouse is one of the most vandalism free of all the "abandoned" lights I have yet visited. The cabinet even included the clamp straps behind the upper door which locked the three cylinders in place.

 

The front door of the lighthouse. Note the lichens on the stone, which cover virtually everything around the exterior of the station.

Entering the lighthouse, the stairs to the second floor double back to the right, a pair of angled doors in the rear lead into the three downstairs rooms, and the door to the right led into a service room and then the covered way to the tower.

 

This is room on the first floor appears to have served as the kitchen. Because the lighthouse was automated before the Coast Guard took over, the color scheme and interior wood details all survive from the Lighthouse Service era, not being painted over with the standard Coast Guard gray and white color scheme. The widows to the right face approximately east, and the door to the rear leads to the summer kitchen. The ladder is placed in front of the door for a good reason.

The entire floor of the summer kitchen collapsed as a result of significant water infiltration through the roof before a new roof was installed about ten years ago. Watch your step!

 Back into the main entry hall, I next headed up to the second floor, which contained four bedrooms. Again, because of its isolation and difficulty in landing, the lighthouse interior shows very little sign of vandalism, with all newel posts, spindles and handrails still remaining in position and in great shape.

After turning the landing on the stairs, we are again faced with double doors at an angle to each other on the far wall, and doors to two small rooms on each side of the hall.

 

Each of the bedrooms was outfitted with a single window at the gable end, and a closet at the inner end wall.

After heading back down the stairs, I made my way into the service room, in which there was firewood stacked against the wall from the crew that came out to install then new roof some ten years ago. Again, the colors all adhere to the original Lighthouse Service color scheme.

 

 Making my way into the covered way which leads from the service room to the tower. It is approximately ten feet in length. The roof in the covered way also experience considerable water damage before the new roof was installed ten years ago, and the deteriorating lath and plaster ceiling has been covered with plywood to eliminate falling debris.

A standard segmented cast iron circular stair way leads from the first floor to the lantern 70 steps above.

This service cabinet immediately beneath the lantern floor is still in surprisingly good condition, with the exception of its back wall, which shows some rot from minor water infiltration over the years.

Yes - even remote Menagerie Island has been visited by the Coast Guard over the past year and had its old Tidelands Signal optic upgraded to one of the ubiquitous Sabik LED 350 optics.

 

 The view to the northeast from the lighthouse gallery. Over the three hours we were on the island, the weather changed a umber of times between overcast and partly sunny.

This cast iron chimney cap makes a great roosting spot for one of the gulls. I have not personally seen thus specific type of chimney cap on any other lighthouse, and I believe it may be unique to Menagerie island.

Back down into the service room of the main entry hallway, with the stairs to the second floor visible by the door to the right. As I looked around this room, I noticed that numerous lighthouse Service and Coast Guard personnel had written their names on the walls along with the dates they had visited the lighthouse, with many of them also including the name of their home towns.

 

 As I looked around the room, I recognized many of the names on the walls. I got a real shiver down my spine when I came across this name on the wall. I was fortunate to interview Bill Muessel about eight years ago, and have him tell me of his two years on the lighthouse tender AMARANTH, and how he had witnessed a horrendous accident at Rock Of Ages lighthouse where one of the crew members had been cut in two when the tender's scow up-ended due to a shifting generator. I almost felt like I was reaching through time to shake Bill's hand when he was a young man.

 

After leaving the dwelling, I headed for the northeasterly end of the island. Along the way, there I found two privies. This, the first of them was a standard Lighthouse Service structure with a single hole and standard pitch roof.

 

The second of the two privies was gable-roofed, and of two-hole configuration. Note the substantial limestone sills and lintels on the single side window. Historic photographs show that there was also a workshop with large windows located immediately to the northeast of this privy, but I was unable to find any evidence of the structure or its foundation due to the thick grasses which were prevalent in this are of the island.

 

 

A view inside the hip-roofed privy showing the double-hole configuration. An archaeological excavation of both these privies and the site of the old workshop would make a great future project.

A view back toward the lighthouse from atop the steeply angled rock wall which makes up the entire eastern coast of the island.

 

A wider shot from the northeast end of the island showing the angled rock face. When I realized there was a pool of water retained down in the rocks t the left of center of this image, I had to make my way down the lichen-covered rocks in hope of finding a location in which I could photograph the lighthouse reflected in the pool.

Sure enough, the pool lined up perfectly, and I was able to capture one of my favorite shots from the day's shooting.

Switching to a different and smaller pool, I caught this somewhat abstract reflection shot, with the lighthouse reflection taking on a strange greenish tinge as s result of the high algae content in the water.

As we pulled away from the island, the sun again began to bathe the island in a warmer light......

.... and we couldn't resist swinging all the way to the northeastern tip of the island to catch a more distant shot of that dramatic eastern shoreline.

A visit to the world's largest limestone quarry

The Calcite Quarry in Rogers City is the largest in the world. This year, the quarry is celebrating its 100th-year of continuous operation and has shipped 880,943,995 tons of stone since it opened in 2012. On Friday August 19, I was fortunate to be able to participate in a tour of the facility offered by Carmeuse, the current owners of the facility. Here are some of the photos a took during the tour -  and fear not - there is a historic aid to navigation involved!

 

We boarded school buses at the Great Lakes Lore museum in Rogers City for the short drive to the south end of town, through the security gates and down to the working face of the quarry. 

It is always possible to view the quarry from the viewing station on the quarry rim which is the white structure in the photo above, however, public tours of the plant are limited to one day a year.

The limestone is loosened by drilling and inserting explosive charges, and is then scooped up by a loader and dumped into trucks for transport out of the quarry for further processing. Here two trucks await their turn with the loader at the current working face.

The Cat G994F loader empties a shovel full of stone into one of the waiting Cat 789B trucks

Our school bus gives a good idea of the massive size of the Caterpillar G994F loader. This loader was purchased new in 2007 at a cost of 3.25 million dollars. They have a 16 cylinder engine which outputs 1,577 horsepower and consumes approximately 43 gallons of diesel fuel an hour.  

The tires on the 994F loader are 13 feet in diameter and cost $54,000 each. The front tires are outfitted with chains to protect them from rock cuts. The chains themselves cost $72,000 per set - this is expensive equipment!

These tour participants standing beside one of the tires gives a good sens of just how large a 13 foot diameter tire is!

The bucket has a 25 cubic yard capacity and holds approximately 33 tons of stone. It takes seven passes to fill one of the quarry's huge Cat 789B trucks.

A Cat 789B makes its way toward the loader. These trucks hold have 1,771 horsepower V-16 engine, with a capacity of 195 tons of stone, carry 851 gallons of diesel fuel and run at a top sped of 35 miles per hour whether empty of full. At a cost of $2.5 million dollars a piece, even the truck's tires have a price tag of $19,000 each.

The Cat 789B pulled up in front of us, shut off its engine and the driver descended from his cab so we could get a close up view of the monster vehicle.

The Cat 789B stands 26 feet 9 inches high and 25 feet wide. The size of this man standing at the front bumper gives a good idea of the size of these massive vehicles.

After making their way out of the quarry, the loaded trucks buck up tho this building which houses the primary crusher. This building was erected in 1921 and contains 2 60-inch crushers which take the large stone and break it into pieces approximately 5" in diameter.

Here is the view inside the primary crusher building. The truck has backed into the dump area where it lifts its bed and disgorges its 195 ton load into the first crusher. The stone is them lifted by chain conveyor into the second crusher where it is crushed to yet smaller diameter. 

Here is the view down into the second crusher - watch your step! After passing down through the crusher, the stone falls onto a conveyor below the building where it is transported to the top of the Screen House.

Here we see the tall Screen House and the two conveyors which come from beneath the primary crusher. Largest diameter stone is separated in the intermediate gray separating building and conveyed out by the conveyors to the left. Smaller stones continue up the conveyors into the Screen House where they pass from floor to floor falling though progressively smaller screens. They are then moved by a series of conveyors, augurs and chutes to storage piles for eventual shipment. 

Here we see a conveyor, discharge augur and chute depositing larger diameter stone in a large pile to the left of the Screen House. We observed that it takes approximately one minute from the time the stone is dumped in the primary crusher to pass through the initial sorting screen and onto this pile.

Another conveyor, discharge augur and chute deposits a finer grade of stone on a pile on the opposite side of the Screen House. The concrete retaining wall and door serve as the service entrance to the conveyors which are located beneath the pile and carry the stone out to the dock to vessels waiting to transport the material.

Here we see one of the conveyor tubes onto which the stone is piled. Openings along the top of the tube allow the stone to fall through into the conveyor to an augur at the end which carries the material to the hoppers for loading into vessels.

We were fortunate that not only was there a vessel taking on stone in the harbor when we were there, but that it was the ARTHUR M ANDERSON - the last vessel to communicate with the EDMUND FITZGERALD and one of the first vessels to head back into Lake Superior to search for potential survivors.

Here we see stone being loaded into the holds of the ANDERSON. The conveyor from which the stone is pouring can be moved in and out to distribute the load equally within the vessel's holds. Good communication between the deck boss and the conveyor operator are critical to ensure that this operation is conducted both efficiently and safely.

Once loaded, the ANDERSON will head out past the breakwater into the azure waters of Lake Huron and make her way downbound for Buffalo where she is scheduled to unload. There's our aid to navigation on the end of the breakwater!

The Calcite Breakwater light was established in 1928 and consists of a standard skeletal cast iron tower, typical of the era. With its light standing at a focal plane of 49 feet, it is visible for a distance of 14 miles in clear weather, and is indispensable to mariners seeking to enter or depart the quarry's harbor after dark. (Note, this photo was not taken during our tour, but was taken during a GLLKA lighthouse excursion from Mackinaw City to Alpena a couple of years ago, on a much cooler day!)

 If you would like to take a similar tour of the Calcite Quarry, be sure to keep an eye on the Great Lakes Lore Maritime Museum's website over the next year. Tours are offered once a year around the middle of August ever year. Here's a link the the museum's website. Just keep checking the "Events" link.

http://www.gllmm.com/