Copper Harbor
Lighthouse on the Keweenaw
Peninsula Winters on Michigan's Upper Peninsula are
notoriously severe. But the weather did not In 1843, the Federal Government established a Mineral Land Agency office at Copper Harbor. Douglass Houghton blasted on a vein of copper at the lakeshore near the light house, and the first commercial copper mine in the Keweenaw Peninsula later worked that deposit. You can still see the mine shaft, now fenced off, on the walking tour. Copper Harbor Rear Range Light. Congress appropriated $3,500 in 1860 for a pair of range lights at Copper Harbor, but the actual construction was not carried out until 1865. In 1869, the Lighthouse Board built a keeper's dwelling with a tower on it to exhibit the rear range light. The original Copper Harbor Range light building is now being used as a residence by the assistant manager of Ft. Wilkins State Park. You're welcome to take photographs of the area, but please respect the privacy of the residents.
A small, square room that rests on the flattened peak at one end of the roof once housed the original rear range light. The lantern flame shone through a small, arched window at the front of the room. The present-day rear range light is on a steel-skeleton tower about 100 feet in front of the house. Facing the harbor at the top of the structure is a white steel panel with a vertical red line through its center, which creates a bright visual focus for boats offshore. The top of the tower also supports a small beam, which is directed at the lake beyond. The old front range light was replaced more than 60 years ago by a new light, located near the water's edge. The new structure is a miniature version of the new rear range, with a similar red-striped white panel topped by the beacon. A square, red steel foundation about five feet tall supports the panel and light. Copper Harbor Lighthouse Congress appropriated $5,000 for a light at Copper Harbor on March 3, 1847. The stone light tower went into service in the spring of 1849, The station received a Fresnel lens in 1856. Remarkably, the 1849 detached keeper's house is still standing nearby. The Lighthouse Board replaced the 1849 structure with an entirely new building in 1866-67. The light was discontinued from October, 1883 through June, 1888, but the property was kept up by the keeper of the Copper Harbor Range Lights. In 1919, the light was converted from kerosene to acetylene gas and left unattended. In 1927, the Lighthouse Service moved the gas light to a sixty foot steel tower nearby. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources acquired the property in 1963 and today it houses a nautical museum on both the first and second floors. You cannot, however, climb past the second floor into the tower. The maritime museum is part of Fort Wilkins State Park. The Copper Harbor Light is on mainland state-park property, but there is no public access
The Keweenaw Peninsula was the site of a great many shipwrecks, some of them are major SCUBA diving sites. Directions for viewing the Range Lights:
Exploring Copper Harbor Michigan
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