Alpena, Michigan is located on Lake Huron’s Thunder Bay. The waterways in the area – Thunder Bay, the Thunder Bay River with its tributaries, and Lake Huron – were critical to the development of the area. During the mid-1800s the heavily forested land in and around Alpena attracted the attention of the lumber industry. Before long, the land was being cleared of timber and lumber mills had sprung up along the waterways.[i]
In 1875 my great, great, great grandfather, Enoch Galusha Howard, was appointed keeper of the first lighthouse in Alpena.[ii] The saga of obtaining a lighthouse for Thunder Bay was a long one, beginning with a petition to the federal government in 1858 and culminating in a temporary light being placed in 1875 – “a fixed white hand lantern suspended atop a pole erected on a pile cluster” near the point where Thunder Bay River flowed into the bay.[iii]
Two years later, a more permanent structure was finally completed. The August 15, 1877 edition of The Alpena Argus reported “The supplies for the new lighthouse at the mouth of Thunder Bay River, have arrived, and our friend Howard will soon be putting up a respectable light for the benefit of navigators.”[iv] In the Fall of that year a permanent dwelling for the lighthouse keeper was also built.[v] Members of the public who wished to tour the new lighthouse were encouraged to contact E.G. Howard at his residence “between the hours of one and five in the afternoon of any day.”[vi]
On July 11, 1888, the air in Alpena was moving with a strong wind. The Alpena Argus described it as “a gale of wind … blowing from the northwest, traveling at times at a velocity of 36 miles per hour, by the U.S. register.”[vii] According to the Argus, a small ravine near the mouth of the Thunder Bay River contained refuse from a mill that was being burned. Sparks from the burning refuse were carried by the wind to a nearby sawdust pile, thus setting off arguably one of the worst fires in Alpena’s history.[viii]
Over two hundred homes and many businesses were destroyed by the fire. The lighthouse was also a casualty. According to the account of the fire on the website Seeing the Light, although my great, great, great grandfather “could do nothing to stop the fire from consuming the lighthouse, armed with buckets of water carried from the river, he and his wife fought all night to save the [lighthouse keeper’s] dwelling and all of their worldly belongings.”[ix]
In 1889, not quite one year after the fire, 64-year-old Enoch resigned as keeper of the Alpena Lighthouse so that he and Henrietta could move to Muskegon, Michigan to be near their son Lucien. The July 5, 1889 Alpena Labor Journal reported that when Enoch first tendered his resignation, the Lighthouse Superintendent for the district “refused to accept [it] in hopes that he might change his mind and decide to remain at his old post of duty for the faithful performance of which Mr. Howard has a first-class record at Washington.”[x]
Henrietta and Enoch died in 1890 and 1892, respectively.
*A tip of the hat to my brother Bob for the idea to combine these four prompts into one post.
[i] https://thunderbay.noaa.gov/history/lumber.html, accessed May 5, 2020.
[ii] My understanding is that U.S. veterans were often given preference for federal jobs such as lighthouse keeper. Enoch served in the Civil War.
[iii] http://www.terrypepper.com/lights/huron/alpena/index.htm, accessed May 5, 2020.
[iv] The Alpena Argus, August 15, 1877, page 3.
[v] http://www.terrypepper.com/lights/huron/alpena/index.htm, accessed May 5, 2020. The website reports the site selected for the keeper’s residence was “close to the pier” where the lighthouse was located. The 1880 Census indicates Enoch (occupation Lighthouse Keeper), Henrietta, and their son Galusha were residing in a house on Mill Street in Alpena, which presumably was the keeper’s residence.
[vi] The Alpena Argus, 14 May 1879, page 3.
[vii] The Alpena Argus, 18 July 1888, page 2.
[viii] Id.
[ix] http://www.terrypepper.com/lights/huron/alpena/index.htm, accessed May 5, 2020.
[x] Alpena Labor Journal, July 5, 1889 (page unknown).
tracingthepast 