Old Saginaw River Rear Range Light, former Coast Guard Station Coast Guard Recognition Day, Oct. 3, Designated by Bay County Commission
|
||||||||||
| Printer Friendly Story View |
The Bay County Commission has designated Sunday, Oct. 3 as Saginaw River Coast Guard Recognition Day under a resolution sponsored by Commissioner Vaughn Begick approved earlier this month by the commission.
Local residents are encouraged to attend a ceremony honoring the local Coast Guard at 3 p.m. on that date at Zion Lutheran Church, 510 W. Ivy St.
The U.S. Coast Guard's presence in the Saginaw River dates to 1831 when a light house was constructed on a portion of land ceded to the U.S. Government by the Chippewa Indians in the Treaty of Saginaw, 1819.
The original light was replaced in 1876 by the Saginaw River Rear Range Light, designed and installed under supervision of Maj. Gen. Godfrey Weitzel. Weitzel had been prominent in the Civil War, collaborating at Appomattox with former Bay Cityan Maj. Gen. William Birney under Lt. Gen. U.S. Grant.
The navigation light was crucial because at this time a large quantity of lumber was being exported from the heart of Michigan to the east coast (traveling through the Erie Canal in upstate New York.)
In 1867, the Army Corp of Engineers arrived to dredge out the channel so that larger vessels could use the river. When dredging was completed, the light was no longer properly placed to allow guidance to boats navigating the entrance.
Funding requests, negotiations for land, and contractual issues delayed work until 1876 when the new light could be erected in a Range Light (two lights that could be lined up by arriving mariners) configuration.
According to the Saginaw River Marine Historical Society, the Front Range Light was constructed atop a square timber crib just off the western river bank, and took the form of a 34 foot tall white painted pyramid timber frame structure similar in design to that being used for pierhead beacons throughout the district at the time.
With its upper half sheathed, a small enclosed room was thus created beneath the gallery for the storage of oil and supplies, and in which the Keeper could seek shelter while tending the light during inclement weather conditions. The gallery was surrounded with an iron safety railing and capped with a prefabricated octagonal cast iron lantern.
Seated atop a cast iron pedestal within the lantern, the Light's sparkling new fixed white Sixth Order Fresnel lens sat at a focal plane of 37 feet, sending its light eight and a half miles out into the bay.
The rear range light was constructed 2300 feet south of the mouth of the river. Eleventh District Engineer Major Godfrey Weitzel's design for the combined rear range tower and dwelling was unique.
Consisting of a large elevated concrete base supporting a combined brick dwelling and tower, the swampy ground in the chosen site first required the driving of timber piles deep into the ground to provide a solid foundation on which timber forms for the concrete base could be erected and filled. Atop this concrete foundation, a square two-story Cream City brick keeper's dwelling 26 feet six inches was constructed.
Integrated into the northwest corner of the dwelling, a tapered 53 foot tall square tower with double walls housed a set of prefabricated cast iron spiral stairs.
Winding from the cellar to the lantern, these stairs also serving as the only means of access to the first and second floors by way of landings on each floor, each outfitted with tightly fitting arch-topped iron doors designed to stem the spread of fire between floors.
A timber deck supported by timber columns encircled the dwelling at the first floor level, providing easy and dry access to all sides of the structure.
The living quarters consisted of a kitchen, parlor and oil storage room on the first floor, and three bedrooms above. The tower was capped with a square iron gallery, supported by five cast iron corbels on each of its four sides. An octagonal cast iron lantern was installed at its center, with a fixed white Fourth Order Fresnel lens placed at a focal plane of 61 feet.
The light stayed active, and the residence for the Coast Guard facility until the 1970's when the Coast Guard Station was moved across the river in order to have more space.
The station stayed empty until 1986 when Dow Chemical, who owned the surrounding land, purchased the facility and boarded it up. It is generally believed that the Saginaw River lighthouse may have been the first place where Range Lights were installed.
The Saginaw River Coast Guard's area of responsibility extends from Pt. Lookout on the west shore of Lake Huron to Oak Point in Huron County on the east shore. It also reaches along the Saginaw River from the mouth to Green Point south of Saginaw.
The station is responsible for servicing 134 aids to navigation from Alpena to river buoy located at Carrollton.
The station averages 110 search and rescue runs a year and has been designated as the Ice Capabilities Center of Excellence, the formal training site for ice rescue procedures and policies for the U.S. Coast Guard.
The station has eight boats currently crewed by 27 active duty personnel and five reserve personnel. The station works closely with local organizations to monitor marine-related events such as boat races and the fireworks displays.
USCG Station Saginaw River has occupied its current site on Wesdock Road in Hampton Township since 1980, and presently operates both a Small Boat Unit for Search & Rescue and Maritime Security as well as a Aids To Navigation Team from the Station.
Station Saginaw River is part of the US Coast Guard's 9th District, Sector Detroit.
###
| Printer Friendly Story View |
|
|
Dave Rogers |
|
|
|
Printer-Friendly Story View
0200 Nd: 04-21-2024 d 4 cpr 0
12/31/2020 P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm
SPONSORED LINKS
12/31/2020 drop ads P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm