Digest>Archives> April 2001

Grand Island East Channel Light—Closer to Rescue

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Here volunteers are jetting in the post pilings ...
Photo by: Chris Case

Michigan’s Grand Island East Channel Light is one step closer to being saved thanks in part to the efforts of some hard working and dedicated volunteers.

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This photograph show 90% of the wall completed. ...
Photo by: Chris Case

The effort began with a four-page article on the lighthouse in the January 2000 issue of Lighthouse Digest in which the lighthouse also appeared on the cover. The article ended with an offer by Tim Harrison through the American Lighthouse Foundation to match dollar for dollar the first $2500 in donations sent in by readers of Lighthouse Digest. That article, and the leveraging of donations by the matching grant offer, contributed greatly to solicit corporation donations for the newly formed East Channel Lights Rescue Project.

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Volunteers are shown here off-loading rock from ...
Photo by: Chris Case

Throughout that winter, copies of the article bolstered project interest and fund raising efforts locally as well as nationally. Because of Tim Harrison’s commitment, the group proceeded with material purchase plans for the summer’s shoreline protection phase of the project. Chris Case, one of the leaders of the local volunteer project said, “You can imagine our joy, when in mid-June, two days before the COD delivery of the cedar post pilings was scheduled for delivery, the American Lighthouse Foundation’s check arrived!”

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Grand Island East Channel Lighthouse, Michigan is ...
Photo by: Pat Biggs

The 700 eight to ten foot long cedar posts and other materials were then loaded onto a barge supplied by the U.S. Forest Service, transported, off-loaded and stacked with the help of sixteen volunteers, who were very tired by the end of the day. Materials were stacked 200 feet from the lighthouse and further work was postponed until after the busy 4th of July holiday to minimize obstructing the tourists’ view of the lighthouse; and most importantly to let the cold waters of Lake Superior warm up a bit before the volunteers would have to stand in it all day.

Finally, by mid-July, with materials on hand, favorable weather conditions, water temperatures in the 50’s, and enthusiastic volunteers, the shoreline protection phase of the project began.

The volunteers were treated to a three-mile boat trip to the island where a typical workday consisted of dividing them into three crews. One was the “jetting” crew, who used water pumps to blast holes into the sand bottom to allow cedar posts to be driven into the sand as deep as possible. The second crew was the gabion crew. These workers assembled the wire baskets that would eventually hold the rock that created the “mass” needed behind the pilings to create the protective wall. The third crew, the largest, was the rock crew whose job it was to scour the shoreline for softball to bowling ball sized rocks, typically found in waist deep water, and lift them into an 18-foot open steel “barge.” Once the barge was full, it was pulled by hand as far as a mile back to the lighthouse where the rock was then transferred by hand into the gabion baskets that had been placed behind the pilings.

This procedure occurred weekend after weekend throughout the summer and into the fall. Work was finally halted when workers could no longer remain in the water long enough to accomplish their individual tasks.

The accomplishments of the volunteers for the summer were remarkable. In 30 days of work, 220 of the 300 feet of wall was completed with 380 posts being driven and 40 tons of rock, hand placed by 85 volunteers who contributed a total of 1300 hours.

Plans for completing the shoreline protection wall, which was the most important, for without it, the lighthouse might have toppled from erosion are proceeding. Plus, plans for Phase II, the stabilization of the actual structure are underway. Work is scheduled to begin as soon as the ice is off the bay.

If you would like to contribute to this ongoing restoration project donations can be sent to:

Grand Island East Channel

Light Rescue Project

c/o Alger Historical Society

P.O. Box 201

Munising, MI 49862

This story appeared in the April 2001 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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