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Saturday, December 24, 2011

Featured Lighthouse #16- Manistique East Breakwater Light


Established in 1915, the picturesque red Manistique East Breakwater Light is located on the end of a concrete breakwater on the east side of the harbor where the Manistique River flows into Lake Michigan in the Upper Peninsula. The tower was constructed of prefabricated steel plates which were bolted together and lagged to the foundation. 

Square in plan, the tower stood approximately 38 feet tall, and was surmounted by a square gallery upon which a decagonal cast iron lantern housed an electrically powered fixed red Fourth Order Fresnel lens. Within the body of the structure, duplicate electrically powered compressors fed a pair of diaphone fog signals. The work on the station was completed in 1916, and the light exhibited for the first time on August 17, 1916. 

The Manistique light was automated in 1969, and the keeper's dwelling sold into private ownership. As part of automation, the Fourth Order Fresnel lens was removed and replaced by a 300 mm Tidelands Signal acrylic optic.

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