Lighthouse of Doom (Papers to 1967)

Lighthouse of Doom is an article by Jim Sigurdson on pages 9–11 of Papers to 1967 about the abandoned lighthouse on Talbot Island, off St. Ignace Island, the first on Lake Superior, built in 1867, where two keepers died.

Key facts

• The St. Ignace Lighthouse was one of six lights built in 1867 on the route from Collingwood to the head of Lake Superior; its tower cost $605.03 and was a white wooden square with three kerosene lamps. It was manned only from 1867 to 1873.
• The first keeper, Mr. Perry, died after leaving in an open boat at the end of navigation in November 1867; his body was found near Nipigon Bay.
• His replacement Thomas Lamphier died in winter 1868–69; his wife kept the body in a rock crevice until Indians found her in spring and buried him on Bowman Island, and legend says her hair had turned white. Local fishermen later claimed to see a white-haired woman walking on Talbot Island.
• Andrew Hynes, the next keeper, died in 1872 after reaching Silver Islet following a hard journey, and the government gave up the light.
• Sigurdson visited on 11 July 1964 by fishing tug from Rossport with Bill Schelling, whose grandfather George Gerow established a fishing camp on Bowman Island in 1881 and whose family has tended Lamphier's grave; fishermen once banged on the old building to guide boats home in fog.