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Early
Navigators
IN
TOPOGRAPHICAL TERMS, the area of the St. Clair Flats is a delta,
consisting of multiple water channels running through an area
of marshy vegetation. The Flats are about seven miles wide from
shore to shore, and the waters of Lake Huron flow down the St.
Clair River and discharge into Lake St. Clair through this fan
shaped waterway. Father Louis Hennepin recorded in his journal,
A New Discovery of a Vast Country in
America that: The straight
between the Lake Huron and the Lake St. Claire . . . is very shallow
especially at its mouth. The Lake Huron falls into this of St.
Claire by several Canals, which are commonly interrupted by Sand
and Rocks. We sounded all of them, and found one at last about
one league broad without any Sand, its Depth being every where
from three to eight Fathoms Water. We sailed up that Canal, but
were forc'd to drop our Anchors near the Mouth of the Lake..1
This
description of Father Hennepin voyage with the explorer LaSalle
on the Griffin in 1679 paints an image of the St.
Clair Flats as much broader than our present day and filled with
islands and rapids. After
the American Revolutionary War, Captain William Thorn, a British
citizen living in Cottreville on the St. Clair River, became one
of the first Great Lakes pilots.2
He is credited with sailing the first schooner to the head
of Lake Huron through the east channel of the Flats in 1770.3
In 1814, he served as Colonel George Croghan's pilot during the
unsuccessful attempt to recapture Fort Mackinac from the British.
Thomas L. McKenney in his Sketches of a Tour to the Lakes in
1826 described the Flats from aboard the schooner
Ghent, with Colonel Croghan and Michigan Territorial Governor
Lewis Cass as sailing companions, as follows:
At eight o'clock p.m. we had passed up
the strait (Detroit River), and through Lake St. Clair, where
the wind left us, and we came to anchor, distant from Detroit
about thirty-five miles. The river at this place is narrow. Extensive
marshes on either side, through which it winds its way, produces
immense quantities of mosquitoes. These annoy
us very much. Yet there is no escaping, except the wind shall
blow, not only fair, but strong enough to force us through the
current, which is rapid, and runs, at this place at the rate of
three miles the hour. 4
Statehood:
Topographical Engineers and Lake Surveys
The
year 1837 marked statehood for Michigan and eager eyes were turned
to profit as goods and people were transported westward. Passenger
and freight vessels plied the lakes in increasing numbers on the
long roundabout trip to Chicago. One of the major navigation problems
at the Flats was the fluctuations of lake levels, and a call was
made for a general lake survey to be performed and lake charts
of the region to be drawn.
A great rise of water took place in 1800,
though of a corresponding fall in 1807, nothing is said. Another
great rise took place in 1814, and in 1830, with a corresponding
depression in 1839. They are at an unusual height the present
season, covering parts of the river road and portions of the lower
street and some of the wharves in Detroit This unexpected inundation
has spread over considerable tracts on Lake St. Clair and the
straits (Flats), to the destruction of the crops and injury of
roads. Time may develop facts more satisfactory, but we are inclined
to attribute the concurrent circumstances to the fortuitous coincidence
of time and fact, rather than to any settled law governing this
apparent periodical fluctuation.5
In 1842, Captain William G. Williams of the U. Topographical
Engineers mapped the St. Clair Flats and noted the velocity and
amount of water pouring the marshy ground, where "the sides
of steamboats swept on either side by the rushes." Cargoes
frequently to be lightered (partially unloaded) to get them over
the Flats. One spot, called the "Old Crib," had been
used for this purpose since the early French voyageurs passed
through the Flats in their bateaux. This survey of the Flats cost
$6,000 and the recommendation was made to the South Channel to
a depth of 12 feet and widen it to 500 feet.6
This would allow the larger vessels being built for lake
commerce to pass easily over the Flats.
In a letter dated May 15, 1846, to the House
of Representatives’ Committee on Commerce, James Barton, a Buffalo
grain dealer, called attention to the need for lighthouses
the Flats, and that dredging the channels there would
allow gram vessels to carry 1,000 barrels more flour per trip.
The Steamboat Association wanted to borrow a dredge and start
the work themselves in 1846, but they were unable to do so because
of a lack of funds. 7
The
Clinton River Lighthouse
The
Michigan Senate Appropriation bill of March 3, 1847, provided $30,000
to build the first lighthouse on Lake St. Clair at the mouth of
the Clinton River where it enters the lake just west of the Flats.
The combination light tower and keeper's dwelling constructed
was a one story brick
building with two rooms and a chimney on each end. The attic was
divided into two rooms and a kitchen was attached to the
structure. The official plans as follows:
On the center of the house to
he an octagon tower, thirteen feet high, above the
walls of the house .
. on one side of the deck to he a scuttle, to enter the
lantern . . . stairs to lead from the attic story of the
house to the entrance of the scuttle . . . On the tower
to he an iron lantern of an octagon form, with two spare lamps,
five double tin oil canisters to hold 45 gallons each, lantern,
canister and trivet, tin tube box, tin wick box, hand lantern
and lamp, oil feeder, torch, six wick formers, two pair scissors,
two files and one glazier's diamond. 8
The
demise of the Clinton-Kalamazoo Canal project soon changed the
status of this light to a mere navigational aid. The heavy tow
barge traffic that was the original impetus of the canal construction
was rendered obsolete by the growing railroad industry. The light
station and grounds were auctioned off in 1872 to be used as a
hunting and fishing club. Records show there was still a light
custodian in 1874. By 1880, Custodian Edgar Weeks was complaining
that he had his hands full dealing with the club owners for access
to the building. The lighthouse was eventually closed and the
structure was destroyed by a fire in 1908.
The
1850s: Shipping and Commerce
On August 20,1852, President Millard
Fillmore signed a bill for $20,000 for improvements at the Flats.
That same year $5,000 was also appropriated to repair ice and
water damage to the pier and lighthouse ~ the Clinton River. During
1853, Captain Augustus Canfield, now in charge of the U.S. Topographical
Engineers at Detroit, mapped the Flats and the mouth of the Clinton
River as part of his survey work. On April 18,1854, Captain Canfield
died, and he was replaced by Lt. Colonel James D. Graham. The
next internal improvements bill which would ha\'c funded the dredging
of the Flats was vetoed by President Franklin Pierce August 4,
1853. The Democratic platform did not favor the belief that Congress
had the authority to remove river obstructions like their Whig
counterparts in power previously.
During the 1850's water levels continued to be a problem
at the Flats. The year of 1854 was a period of very low water,
and an estimated $500,000 in damages from collision and lighter
age costs occurred at the Flats. Michigan Senator Lewis Cass wrote
to Secretary of War Jefferson Davis on September 16 that:
fourteen vessels, steamboats and others
are constantly employed in lightering vessels and in towing them
through this difficult pass.
There was fear that the lower lake levels would continue
into 1855 as well. But, 1855 was a time of unusually heavy rain
fall and lake levels rose substantially, The investigation of
Captain Amiel Weeks Whipple, of the U.S. Topographical Engineers,
into the amount of commerce over the Flats for the year 1855 showed
that in 230 days of navigation, the total value of merchandise
and agricultural produce that passed over the Flats
was $251,167,706. This translated to $1,002,033 per day'. By 1856,
the commerce passing the Flats amounted to over $300 million dollars.
With this increase in shipping through the Flats it was
obvious that new and reliable navigational aids were needed.
As a result, a survey party directed by Captain George Gordon
Meade of the Topographical Engineers prepared drawings of the
Flats in the spring of 1857. In the winter of 1856-57, Captain
Whipple, in addition to his duties with the 10th Lighthouse District,
was assigned to supervise the dredging of the west channel of
the Flats. By July 1857, Captain Whipple was convinced that the
middle channel was in fact straighter, and shorter than the west
channel. However, no appropriations could be used to dredge this
channel without Congressional approval. In June 1858, the House
of Representatives passed their appropriate funding measure and
in October the steamer Northern Light went through the
newly dredged channel.
Along with new navigational charts and a newly dredged
channel, the decision was finally reached to build a lighthouse
at the South Channel of the Flats. Captain Whipple's Annual Report
of 1859 to the Secretary of War described the new light station
being built. The station was actually two structures, a lighthouse
with attached keepers dwelling and a front range light or beacon.
Captain Whipple wrote:
The towers have been erected with Milwaukee
bricks; the caps and sills for doors and windows, and the cornices,
being of well dressed stone from the Buffalo quarries. The lighthouse
is nearly complete, with cast iron stairs and 4th order lantern.
. . . The keeper's dwelling is supported by nine cut stone piers
. . . bound together by strong girders of rolled iron upon which
rest the walls of Milwaukee bricks. The floor is composed of brick
arches resting upon iron beams, and covered with concrete. The
house is two stories in height, and is covered by a firm slate
roof. 9
The fixed white light of the 4th order lanterns in the beacon
and the lighthouse shone over the Flats for the first time on
November 1,1859. They were visible for 11 and 13 miles respectively.
The front beacon tower was 23 feet high and the lighthouse tower
was 37 feet high. The lighthouse tower was connected to the dwelling
by a covered walkway.10
This lighthouse and beacon now allowed tugs with tow vessels
(mostly converted schooners) to travel by night, instead of anchoring
at dark as had been the custom. Of the 72 lights
shining on the Great Lakes by 1852, 68 were fixed lights and four
were revolving.11 The
practice of making each lighthouse a distinctive flash was not
norm at this time. The 11th Lighthouse District took charge of
manning and maintaining these new lights of the South Channel
at the Flats.
Captain
Whipple also commented in his report to the Secretary of War in
1859 that when the lake levels again receded, the Flats would again
be obstructed. He recommended that a beacon be built at the sharp
bend in the South Channel. However, this beacon was never
built. In later years
navigational buoys and pier lights would solve this problem. On
February 1,1860 President Buchanan vetoed the St. Clair Flats
$55,000 improvements appropriation bill This was the seventh River
Improvement Bill vetoed by Democratic presidents from 1838 to 1860.
The Republican party would favor these improvements as part of its
election platform for Abraham Lincoln.
The
Civil War
With the onset of the Civil War in April
1861, the officers of the Topographical Engineers on the Great
Lakes were reassigned by the War Department. Captain Whipple was
transferred June 1 to the Department of Northeastern Virginia and
later fought at the Battle of Bull Run. He was mortally wounded
at Chancellorsville on May 3,1863 and was promoted to Major General
of Volunteers before his death. Captain Meade was transferred to
Washington and was later promoted to General and commanded the Union
forces at the Battle of Gettysburg against fellow engineer
officer General Robert E. Lee. Of the 93 officers in the Topographical
Engineers, 15 joined the Confederacy. In all, 55 engineering officers
attained the rank of general during the war.
Colonel James Graham, Superintendent of Lake Harbor Improvements
at Chicago, took over Captain Meade's post at the Flats during
the war. With $1,600 left in his budget, Colonel Graham repaired
the lighthouse piers damaged by the ice at the South Channel.
He also conducted experiments on water levels and concluded that
there were "lunar tides" on the lakes.
The battles of the Civil War were far away and did not
touch the Great Lakes directly. The area, however, did furnish
raw materials to aid the war effort. The development of iron and
copper mines on Lake Superior also promoted economic growth in
the Great Lakes region.
The
Era of Reconstruction
On June 23,1866, with the Civil War
behind them, the Republican 39th Congress passed an $80,000 appropriation
bill for improvements at the Flats. In August 1864, Colonel Thomas
Jefferson Cram of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps
of Topographical Engineers had been merged into the Corps of Engineers
in 1863) was assigned to be in charge of river and harbor improvements
on Lake St. Clair. Colonel Cram, like his predecessor Colonel
Whipple, also objected to spending money dredging the old South
Channel and proposed dredging the straighter Middle Channel 13
feet deep and 200 feet wide, from the mouth of the south pass
out into Lake St. Clair, with two 7,300 foot long dikes of timber
cribs. These dikes would keep the dredged earth from sliding back
into the channel. The Secretary of War and the Corps of Engineers
disagreed. Colonel Cram again requested appropriations, claiming
that 86 vessels and one raft had passed the Flats daily in 1865
and accidents, towage and beacon maintenance were costing $500,000
annually because of winding channel used. The estimated cost for
the new project was $351,000.
The River and Harbor Act of March 2,1867, finally appropriated
the needed funds for the project and plans for dredging the new
canal were begun. Bids were contracted for each task. Contractor
John Brown of Thorold, Ontario,
supplied wood and materials, while Moses Hill of Cleveland,
Ohio, supplied iron. Brown sodded the dikes and planted willow
trees in 1870. The new Ship Canal opened on July 25,1871. The
custodian of the Canal, William Mott, was assigned to ensure the
safety of vessels entering the Canal, oversee repairs to the dikes,
observe vessels and keep "loafers and evil persons"
from abusing the channel. If this included fishermen and picnickers,
it was never made clear. Also included in the appropriation was
$60,000 to build two lighthouses on the new Ship Canal. 12
Over at the old South Channel, the lighthouse and beacon were
again in need of repair. A lake survey report dated May 18,1873,
revealed that the beacon had shifted over an inch in just two
months. In 1875 repairs to the structures were made at a cost
of $10,000. Officially the old South Channel would be in use for
another 36 years by small boats and tow barges. The list of keepers
of the lighthouse and beacon on the old South Channel is
long, with names constantly changing. In all, from 1859 to 1907,
there were 10 keepers and 24 assistant keepers.
The
Twin Lighthouses of the New
Ship Canal
The 1872 Annual Report of the Lighthouse
Board states that the twin lighthouses of the new Ship Canal were
lit November 15, 1871. These identical lighthouses were located
at the ends of the dikes at opposite ends of the Canal. The original
lights were fixed red 4th order lens with ruby chimney. The focal
planes were 45 feet above water. The towers were octagonal red
brick with cut stone bases. The keepers houses were built of red
brick with slate roofs and green window "blinds." Each
dwelling had ten rooms and water was piped from the lake to a
hand pump in the kitchen sink. A white boathouse, red painted
oil house, and whitewashed chicken coop completed the scene. The
lighthouses were accessible only by boat.
At
one of the new Ship Canal lighthouses, Andrew Rattray began as
keeper in 1883 when he joined the Lighthouse Service at age 31.
He stayed at this post for the next 36 years. He was born September
13,1852 on Harsens Island of pioneer parents. Andrew and his wife
Alice, had two sons, William and Radcliffe. A daughter Alice was
born at the upper lighthouse. The family spent their winters in
Algonac. Their son William was temporarily stationed at the old
South Channel light during November and December 1905 because
of the sudden death of keeper John Sinclair. Andrew Rattray retired
from the Lighthouse Service to a cottage at the Flats in 1919,
and died in 1948 at the age of 96. The other light keeper at the
new Ship Canal was Tom Lappin, who served nearly as long as Rattray.
13
The difficulty in visiting these lighthouses by land probably
contributed to the lack of images existing today of these structures.
Although they were unique in being duplicates built from the same
plans, they were never popular topics of postcards at the Flats,
as were the hotels and hunting clubs which dotted the landscape
in the 1890s and early 1900s.
The
Twentieth Century: Automation
The twentieth century marked the end
of the lighthouse keepers' way of life. In 1907, the old South
Channel lights were deactivated. A navigation light was placed
in the towers in 1915, according to the Lake Carriers Association
Annual Report of that year.
Due to the larger vessels sailing the lakes, the construction
of another new channel was approved. By 1908, the Ship Canal had
been split and rebuoyed so that up bound boats used the east side
and down bound boats the west side. In 1913, the lower light of
the Ship Canal was changed from red to white and its intensity
increased to 520 candlepower; by 1915 it was changed again to
a flashing white signal with the rear light occulting white every
two seconds. In 1927 the lower light of the Ship Canal was increased
to 1600 candlepower. But automation was quickly displacing lighthouse
keepers. The Lake St. Clair lightship that had been moved from
Windmill Point to the Flats in 1911 was singled out as the most
outstanding improvement of 1935 with its crewless automated light,
fog bell and radio beacon controlled from its station eight miles
away on shore. The green St. Clair Flats range lights appeared
that year as well.
On
May 13,1934, the lighthouses at both ends of the north bank of
the Ship Canal were burned as the quick~ way to dispose of them.
Then, the north bank was removed to widen the channel so a greater
volume of shipping could be accommodated.
Patrick Garrity, last keeper of the light, has had to leave
his post. He is still at the Flats spending his time in the
world renowned marshland that borders the lower reaches of
the St. Clair River. 14
After
the Prosit Club toasted Prohibition at the old South Channel lighthouse,
the dwelling was removed during the 1930s. As the years passed,
the rear beacon became a "day mark," unlit, its ten
sided cast iron lantern dumped into the lake. Today, an automated
light keeps vigil on the front tower.
Freighters
have replaced schooners and the era of shooting clubs, hotels
and island amusement parks is gone from the St. Clair Flats. Lake
surveys are still made, dredging occurs occasionally, and the
Coast Guard tends the buoys and changes light bulbs and solar
cells to keep our waterways safe. Quietly these duties are carried
out and taken for granted, as the faithful lighthouse keepers
at the Flats went about their tasks so long ago.
The
St. Clair Flats remains a vital linking the Great Lakes transportation
system. Its buoys and range lights are still carefully maintained
to allow safe passage of lake and river traffic. And one solitary
navigation light still shines from its tower on the old South
Channel, guiding vessels safely to their destination.
I was greatly assisted in researching this article by the following
groups and individuals: Chuck Brockman of the Save Our South Channel
Lights Association; Gordon D. Amsbary of the Maritime Museum in
Ashtabula, Ohio; Institute for Great Lakes Research at Bowling
Green, Ohio; Great Lakes Historical Society at Vermilion, Ohio;
and John Polacsek, Curator of the Dossin Great Lakes Museum at
Detroit, Michigan.
Cynthia
S. Bieniek received her bachelors degree from Oakland University
and her masters degree from Wayne State University. In addition
to her full-time duties as librarian and archivist, she is a volunteer
at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum and has an avid interest in lighthouses.
Ms. Bieniek is currently researching and writing a history of
the Old South Channel lighthouses at the Flats. She is also the
author of "The Windmill Point Light and the Grosse Pointe
Lightship," which appeared in Volume 1 of Tonnancour.
1
Father Louis Hennepin. A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America,
1972 (reprint), Vol 1. p.11.
2 Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society. Collections. Vol. 4
1881. p.310.
3 Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society. Collections. Vol. 5
1882. p.503.
4 Thomas L. McKenney. Sketches of a Tour of tours to the Lakes.
1827. p.144.
5 John T. Blois. Gasetteet of the State of Michigan. Detroit:
Sydney L. Rood,1838. p.48-65
6. John W. Larson. Essayons: A History of the Detroit District
U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers, 1986. p.38.
7 Ibid. p.52
8 U.S. Customs House Bid for Lighthouse May 18, 1847
9 A.W. Whipple. Report of the Chief Topographical Engineer Accompanying
the Annual Report of the secretary of War. 1859. p.22.
10 George Scott. Scott's New Coast Pilot for the Lakes . Detroit,
1907. p.96-97.
11 Lighthouse Board. Report of the Officers Constituting the Lighthouse
Board. Washington, D.C. 2.5.1852
12 John W. Larson. Essayons of the Detroit District U.S. Army
Corps. of Engineers, 1981. p .77. |
