Ile Aux Galets Light

Ile Aux Galets

Skillagalee Island Light Station circa 1920.
Location	SW OF WAUGOSHANCE ISLAND/LAKE MICHIGAN
Coordinates	45°40′35″N 85°10′23″W / 45.67639°N 85.17306°W / 45.67639; -85.17306Coordinates: 45°40′35″N 85°10′23″W / 45.67639°N 85.17306°W / 45.67639; -85.17306
Year first constructed	1888
Year first lit	1888
Automated	1969
Foundation	Stone
Construction	Brick
Tower shape	Octagonal hourglass
Markings / pattern	white w/black lantern
Height	58 feet (18 m)[1][2]
Focal height	58 feet (18 m)[3]
Original lens	Fourth order Fresnel lens
Current lens	12-inch (300 mm) Tideland Signal ML-300 acrylic plastic lens
Range	11 nautical miles (20 km; 13 mi)
Characteristic	Fl W 6 s[4]
ARLHS number	USA-399[5][6]
USCG number	7-17795
Skillagalee Light Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city	Cross Village, Michigan
Area	2 acres (0.81 ha)
MPS	U.S. Coast Guard Lighthouses and Light Stations on the Great Lakes TR
NRHP Reference #	84001389[7]
Added to NRHP	July 19, 1984

Ile Aux Galets Light, also known as Skillagalee Island Light, is located on Ile Aux Galets (more commonly known as Skillagalee Island), a gravelly, low-lying island in northeast Lake Michigan, between Beaver Island and the mainland, approximately 7 miles (11 km) northwest of Cross Village in Emmet County, Michigan. Along with nearby Grays Reef, Waugoshance, and White Shoal Lights, it warns shipping away from the reefs and shoals of Waugoshance Point,^[8] which pose an imminent hazard to navigation.^[9]

United States Lighthouse Board records initially used both names when referring to the lighthouse, but by 1889 Skillagalee started to be used exclusively. Around 1910, Ile Aux Galets started to be used again, and it is listed by that name on modern light lists published by the United States Coast Guard.^[10]

History

The islet is home to a significant colony of ring-billed gulls. Its name, given by early French explorers, means "Isle of Pebbles."^[11] It is said that the English speakers found the French name unpronounceable, and "Ile aux Galets"—soon misheard, misunderstood and mispronounced—transmuted into "Skillagalee" (or some variant) which took hold. By the "mid 1800's references to the original French name all but disappeared."^[12]

There are many wrecks near Skillagalee island. However, on September 27, 1850, the loss of the A.D. Patchin—a wood sidewheeler, 226 feet (69 m) long and built in Trenton, Michigan in 1846—led to the construction of the first light on the island. Loaded with general goods, the Patchin's course into Grays Reef Passage was disrupted by currents that pulled her onto Skillagalee's shore. Her crew escaped and was rescued, but foul winds and weather thwarted many attempts to set her free. She was "pounded to pieces, becoming yet another of Lake Michigan's many victims."^[9]

Congress appropriated sums to construct a light on Skillagalee Island in 1851, and the task was undertaken by the Department of the Treasury, the administrative predecessor to the Lighthouse Board. Due in part to the extreme exposure of the location, that lighthouse badly and quickly deteriorated and was replaced in 1868.^[9]

In 1888, the United States Lighthouse Board built the current 48-foot (15 m) tower^[13] and equipped it with a 'state of the art' fourth order Fresnel lens.^[14] This is the third lighthouse on the island.^[11] This "handsome" lighthouse shares its design and shape with only one other, Port Sanilac Light, on Lake Huron.^[15]

In 1890, the station's fog signals were upgraded from the existing steam siren to 10-inch (250 mm) steam whistles. On October 4, the Lighthouse steam barge RUBY delivered a work party and the necessary equipment for the upgrade. Within the month the task was completed, and the old sirens were thereupon transferred to Beaver Island Head Light. "Life was busy for the keepers . . . that following year, since in addition to tending the light and maintaining the equipment, they operated the station's new steam whistles . . . 268 hours, [stoking] 26 tons of coal into their boilers." In 1894 the boathouse, boatways and landing crib were moved fifteen feet toward the lake, due to the ever fluctuating water levels.^[9]

The islet and lighthouse were occupied by lighthouse keepers from 1850 until 1969, when the Fresnel lens was retired. At the time, a Coast Guard crew razed all the structures (fog signal building, keeper's house, oil storage shed and boathouse), leaving only the tower in the middle of the island.^[16] An automated 12-inch (300 mm) ML-300 Tideland Signal acrylic plastic lens was placed in the lantern,^[17] powered by 12-volt batteries attached to a photovoltaic array mounted on the parapet's railing.^[9]

Except for the light itself, the fog horn sound building, keeper's dwelling and all other structures were razed.^[18]

In June 2011, the Lighthouse was declared excess to the needs of the Coast Guard and made available (along with eleven others) by the General Services Administration to eligible organizations under the provisions of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act.^[10][19]

Current status

The light is listed on the National Register of Historic Places Reference #84001389; Name of Listing: SKILLAGALEE LIGHT STATION.^[20]

As of July, 2015, the light is for sale through an on line auction process.^[21][22][23]

Getting there

The island is accessible by small boat^[11] or sea kayak.^[24] Due to variable weather conditions, shallow water and dangerous reefs and shoals, any close approach to the island is hazardous. There are no landing areas or other facilities on the island,^[15] and the light is closed.^[10]

References

Further reading

• "A Tour of the Lights of the Straits." Michigan History 70 (Sep/Oct 1986), pp. 17–29.

External links

• Lighthouses in the Mackinac Straits.
• Interactive map of Lights in Northern Lake Michigan, mapped by Google.
• Lighthouse Friends, Lighthouses in the Mackinac Straits, (Skillagalee Island Light).
• Map of Michigan Lighthouse in PDF Format.

Lighthouses in Michigan
Northern Upper Peninsula	Au Sable Big Bay Point Copper Harbor Copper Harbor Front Range Crisp Point Eagle Harbor Eagle Harbor Range Lights Eagle River Fourteen Mile Point Grand Island East Channel Grand Island Harbor Rear Range Grand Island North Grand Marais Range Lights Granite Island Gull Rock Huron Island Isle Royale Manitou Island Marquette Breakwater Outer Marquette Harbor Mendota (Bete Grise) Munising Front Range Munising Rear Range Ontonagon Ontonagon Harbor West Breakwater Portage River (Jacobsville) Passage Island Rock Harbor Rock of Ages Sand Hills Sand Point Light (Baraga) St. Martin Island Stannard Rock Thunder Bay Island Whitefish Point
Southern Upper Peninsula	DeTour Reef Lansing Shoals Manistique East Breakwater Martin Reef Menominee Pier Minneapolis Shoal Naubinway Island Peninsula Point Poverty Island Sand Point Seul Choix Squaw Island St. Martin Island
St. Mary's River	Frying Pan Island Pipe Island Point Iroquois Round Island Light (St. Mary's River) Six Mile Point Range Rear Winter Point Range Front
Portage River/Ship Canal	Keweenaw Waterway Lower Entrance Keweenaw Waterway Upper Entrance Portage Lake Rouleau Point Range Front and Rear Lights
Straits of Mackinac	Bois Blanc McGulpin Point Old Mackinac Point Round Island Round Island Passage St. Helena Island
Western Lower Peninsula	Beaver Island Harbor Beaver Island Head Big Sable Point Cedar River Charlevoix Charlevoix South Pier Frankfort Frankfort South Range Grand Haven North Pierhead Grand Haven South Pierhead Entrance Grand Haven South Pierhead Inner Grand Traverse Grays Reef Holland Harbor Ile Aux Galets Little Sable Point Little Traverse Ludington Manistee Pierhead Manning Memorial Mission Point Mission Point (1933) Muskegon Breakwater Muskegon Pier North Manitou Shoal Pentwater North Pierhead Pentwater South Pierhead Point Betsie Portage Lake South Fox Island South Haven South Manitou Island St. Joseph North Pier Inner St. Joseph North Pier Outer South Manitou Island Waugoshance White River White Shoal
Eastern Lower Peninsula	Alpena Caseville Harbor Charity Island Cheboygan Crib Cheboygan River Front Range DeTour Reef Detroit River Fort Gratiot Forty Mile Point Fourteen Foot Shoal Gibraltar Gravelly Shoal Harbor Beach Lake St. Clair Mariners Memorial Middle Island Miller Memorial New Presque Isle Old Presque Isle Peche Island Rear Range Poe Reef Pointe aux Barques Port Austin Port Sanilac Saginaw Bay Saginaw River Rear Range Spectacle Reef St. Clair Flats Front and Rear Range Light Sturgeon Point Tawas Point Thunder Bay Island Tri-Centennial Light of Detroit William Livingstone Memorial Windmill Point
Historical (lost) lights	Au Sable North Pierhead Belle Isle Clinton River Ecorse Ecorse Range Rear Gibraltar Grassy Island Grassy Island North Channel Range Lights Grassy Island South Channel Range Lights Grosse Ile North Channel Range Lights Grosse Ile South Channel Range Lights Harwood Point East Range Front Kalamazoo River Mama Juda Mama Juda Range Front Manistee Main Middle Lake George Monroe Pier New Buffalo North Manitou Island Saginaw Bay Sand Beach North Entrance East Squaw Point St. Mary's River Lower Range Front Vidal Shoals Channel Range Front and Rear Lights Windmill Point Range Front and Rear Lights
Related	Lightship Huron List of lifesaving stations in Michigan

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