Harriet Colfax, Lighthouse Keeper

Linda’s Monthly, Monday Morning Moaning’s, not quite as catchy, but will have to do.

I am going to step a wee bit away from the ‘local history stories’ I usually try to write, but this is in keeping with the research I am doing, which differently takes me away from local history anyway.

The slow moving, bowed old women is proud of her record. The harbor light is in a glass cupola on the apex of the old house in which she lives, so that she can attend to her work in all kinds of weather without going outdoors. It was different in the ‘old days’ when the beacon stood at the end of a government pier, half a mile from her house, only accessible by a narrow walk with a single rail to hold on to.

As she would remember, the waves crashed over and against the pilings and woodwork of the pier till the timbers groaned and the frail women scarcely keep her footing. She fought her way along, made the stairway and the shelter of the tower, proceeded to fill the great lamp and light it. Then she came down, drenched to the skin, and chilled to the bone. The tornado had increased in fury, the tower wavered and the noise of the wind and water was deafening. She had hardly gotten to the mainland when there was a grinding crash. She looked back in terror to see the great beacon, whirl in an arc through the livid night and fall hissing into the lake. All night she watched the tower above her house praying that no ships would venture into the harbor. In the morning when daylight came, and she went down to the pier to see the ruins that the storm had brought. The beacon tower was gone, as was half the pier, and the shore was covered in wreckage of a structure that had withstood the storms for fifteen years.

That was eighteen years ago, and since Miss Colfax has had only the regular light to look after. She lives in the lighthouse, a strong, square, homelike house, built for the harbor service in 1858. Only the lantern like cupola on the roof distinguishes it from any other cozy country home.

The Old Michigan City Lighthouse in Indiana and Michigan City Pier Light, dressed up with winter.

Harriet Colfax served as the keeper of the Michigan City Indiana Lighthouse for 43 year, from her appointment in 1861 until her retirement at age 80 in 1904. Next month, part two, and I will tell the story of Harriet’s life as a lighthouse keeper and how she started in what was usually a man’s occupation.

On that ‘wee note’ till next month on January 3, 2022. Have a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year.

Thank you to the Old Michigan City Museum in Michigan City, Indiana for this story.

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Changes to the Weekly Blog

Linda’s First Monday Monthly Moaning’s

I will be making a change from here on as far as the weekly, Linda’s Monday Morning Moaning’s blog. I am finding that with the research time and writing time, I am spending on this latest book, it is making it harder to spend the time needed to gather the images and information I need to make an ‘interesting’ story for the blog each week. My book presentations after this week will be done for the year, but with the holidays coming faster than most are ready for, I will be spending my time at a couple of Octagon House ‘teas’ they re hosting for the holiday season. Hopefully to give the public a chance to see and maybe purchase the three local books already published, as great inexpensive Christmas gifts.

From here on I will be putting out my stories on the first Monday of each month, and be able to keep everyone up on the progress I am making in my search for some of the lighthouses, that are proving to be very difficult to find in the vintage postcards images I am needing. There is an abundance of vintage postcards available on many of the lights around Michigan, while others are very elusive. there has been no problem with finding postcards for all the other states involved, but Michigan is proving to be difficult. I don’t feel I am able to not include these elusive lighthouses, as they are very impotent to the navigational and maritime history of the Great Lakes. So the hunt will go on….

So I hope you will be able to continue, if you have been a reader, or want to join if it’s the first time you are seeing my blogs. I hope to be able to continue to bring you local stories that will be of interest.

On the ‘wee note’ till next month, on the 6th of December.

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‘Lighthouse and Lifesaving on the Great Lakes’

Linda’ Monday Morning Moaning’s

The’Post Card History Series’ is another of the ‘Series’ books for Arcadia Publishing. This series has a different cover, then what I have been used to working with on my previous books for Arcadia. Late lat week I was sent the mock up of two versions of ‘Lighthouses and Lifesaving, etc’.

The images and written material for the front and back cover where not due until mid December, but I have found in the past, for advertising purposes and when approaching people whether for help or information, it is handy to have at least a cover image to add credibility to the research and project in general. I have been very fortunate in that I have been able to have a say in what images are used for the covers, etc. Normally they want 8 to 10 images and they pick what will be most suitable for the cover image, as to size where the image lays and how it should be placed to fit the cover area.

With my ‘Farming in Northern Macomb County’, there really was only one option, that would show what was involved in the farming life. That was using Louis Schoenherr on his new 1953 Golden Jubilee Ford tractor with his youngest son Pete, I was fortunate in the my editors agreed, as it couldn’t have been more perfect..

I gave my title editor four postcard images this time, two ‘linen postcards’ and two ‘RPPC or real photo postcards’. The “linen” postcards were not actually made from fabric but rather embossed stock, where as the RPPC image cards are a photograph as we know them today. What I didn’t realize was the difficult choice it would be when they sent me two mock ups for my approval!

Option One – Linen
Option Two – RPPC

Now to make that one choice. Choice one, Au Sable Lighthouse, Michigan on Lake Superior on front, with Selkirk Lighthouse, New York, Lake Ontario on back cover, both linen postcards. Or choice two, Grosse Point Lighthouse, Evanston, Illinois, Lake Michigan on front and Ontonagon Lighthouse, Upper Peninsula, Michigan, Lake Superior back image, both RPPC.

On that ‘wee note’s till next week.

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Researching the Lights’ 2

Linda’s Monday Morning Moaning’s

In a lighthouse, the source of light is called the ‘lamp’, whether electric or fueled by oil, and the light is concentrated by the ‘lens’ or ‘optic’.

The introduction of electrification and automatic lamp changers began to make lighthouse keepers obsolete. They lighthouses still had keepers, because they could be used as a rescue service when necessary. Remaining modern lighthouse are usually illuminated by a single stationary flashing light that is powered by solar charged batteries mounted on a steel skeleton tower. In modern automated lighthouses, the system of rotating lenses is often replaced by high intensity light that emit brief omnidirectional flashes, while concentrating the light in time rather than direction. The lens were used to concentrate the light from a continuous source.

The lantern room is a glassed-in housing at the top of a light tower containing the lamp and lens. At the top of the lantern room is a storm proof ventilator designed to remove the smoke of the lamps and the heat that builds up in the glass enclosure. Beneath the lantern room is usually a supple room where the fuel and supples were kept and also where the keeper could prepare the lanterns for the nights use. On the lighthouse tower there is found a platform called the gallery, just outside the lantern room, this was used for cleaning the outside windows of the lantern room.

Lighthouses near to each other that have a similar shape are often painted in unique patterns so they can be easily recognized during the daylight, this being called a ‘daymark’. To be effective, the lamp must be high enough to be seen before danger is reached by a mariner. Whether a lighthouse was built tall or short, would depend on the location of where the light was located. If built on a hill, quite often the tower could be shorter, where as if on the land equal to the water, quite often the tower would need to be taller. There are times that lighthouses needed to be constructed in the water itself. In water too deep for a conventional structure, a lightship was used instead of a lighthouse itself. Most of those have now been replaced by fixed light platforms similar to offshore oil exploration.

Range lights, align two fixed points on land to provide a navigator with a line of position called a range. Ranges can be used to precisely align a vessel within a narrow channel as in a river. With landmarks of a range illuminated with a set of fixed lighthouses, night time navigation is possible. Hence, they are called range lights. The closer light is referred to as the beacon or front range, the further light is called the rear range. Most often the rear range is taller than the front range light. When the vessel is on the correct course, the two lights align vertically.

On that ‘wee note’ till next week.

Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

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Researching the ‘Lights’

Linda’s Monday Morning Moaning’s,

Let’s start with, “What is a lighthouse”? Very simply a tower, building or other type of structure designed to emit a light system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid on the seas or inland waterways. Lighthouses helped mark the way around dangerous coastlines, shoals, reefs, and give safe passage into harbors. It was used to provide a mariner at sea with a find point of reference to aid in the ability to navigate in the dark when the shore or an offshore hazard can’t be seen directly.

Lighthouses have always had two principle functions, to warn of danger from a spot that sailors could see from a safe distance both night and day. They are used to guide ships into harbors and anchorages. Theses structures were often constructed under precarious circumstances by skilled builders and were maintained , often at great personal risk by very dedicated keepers.

The distance at which such a light can be seen depends on the height and intensity of the light. The brighter the light and the greater its height above the sea, the farther it can be seen. In 1822, the Frenchman Augustin-Jean Fresnel invented a lens that captured and focused a much larger fraction of the light emitted by the lamps than did the reflectors, previous used. These Fresnel lens were are quickly adopted in England, France and other European seafaring nations.

Fresnel lighthouse lenses are ranked by ‘order’, a measure of refracting power, with a first order lens being the largest, most powerful and expensive, with the sixth order lens being the smallest. The order is based on the focal length of the lens. the first order lens has the longest focal length, with the sixth being the shortest. Coastal lighthouses generally use first, second or third order lens, while harbor lights and beacons use fourth, fifth or sixth order lens.

Little Sable Point Light and Old Mackinac Point Light, authors collection
Little Sable Point and Old Mackinac Point today, authors collection

On that ‘wee note’ till next week.

Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

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