Lighthouses on the Ottawa River, Canada
beginning in the 1860's
May 18, 2005:
Lighthouse at Sand Point on the Ottawa River
(just west of Arnprior)
photo by Michel Forand
Dear Mr Lewis,
I am looking for information on the 30-odd lighthouses that dotted the Ottawa River
in the past, from McQuestin Point in the west to Oka and Ste Anne de Bellevue in
the east. Only a few remain today, four of which are still active in season on the
upper river (Sand Point, McQuestion Point, Passage Narrows, Deep River Islet).
According to information found in government documents, the first lighthouses on the
river were built in 1860, with most of the construction taking place in the 1870s
and 1880s, and then in the nine or ten years preceding the First World War.
In alphabetical order, the lighthouses I've found in government light lists are
the following:
Arnprior Island
Aylmer Island
Baskins Wharf Range
Britannia
Buckham Point
Campbell Island
Chute à Blondeau Range
Deep River Islet*
Fort William
Green Shoal
Ile aux Alumettes
Ile Rosalie*
L'Orignal Point
L'Orignal Wharf
L'Orignal Range
Lower Alumette Lake
McQuestin (McQuestion) Point*
McTavish Point
Morris (Victoria) Island
Oka
Oka Wharf*
Passage Lower (Lower Narrows)*
Pointe à Cadieux
Pointe au Chêne
Pointe aux Anglais
Pointe Caron
Ste Anne de Bellevue Range
Ste Anne de Bellevue Traverse Range
St Placide Range
Sand Point*
Supple Point
Way (Wade) Shoal
Most of these lighthouses were square, tapered towers with a small lantern room
at the top where the light was. The lighthouse on the pier at Sand Point, which is
the most accessible of those that have survived until now, is very typical of these
structures.
The word "range" indicates that there were in fact two lights which, when mariners
positioned themselves so as to put the lights in a single 'line", pointed the best
channel for navigation.
Often, names used locally differed from those in official documents. For example,
the Green Shoal light was near Templeton, but I suspect it was known by different names
on both sides of the river.
The asterisks above indicate lights of which I have photos from the Coast Guard
(mostly modern). I will be happy to pass them on to anyone enquiring.
I would be most interested to hear from anyone with unpublished documents, newspaper
clippings, old photographs or postcards, family papers or memories about members
who were in charge of maintaining the lights on the river, etc.
Michel Forand
____________________________
Hi Mr. Forand.
Thanks for your e-mail regarding lighthouses on the Ottawa River system.
This is interesting. Do you mind if I set up a a new page on our web site?
Hopefully there will be some people who can contribute some information for us.
I'm pretty sure that I remember seeing the lighthouse at Aylmer Island but I don't
remember if it was still working.
Same with the one off Baskins Beach. I think that it was at Twelve Mile Island
which is closer to the Quebec side. I could be wrong though.
The Morris Island lighthouse you mention -- is that where the Morris Island
Conservation Area is today, just west of the dam at Fitzroy Harbour? I'd like to
find out what that area looked like before the dam went in. Also, the one at
Sand Point -- is that near the railway bridge, just west of Morris Island,
towards Arnprior?
I hope to get up there again within the next couple of weeks and will try and get
some photographs.
Where is McQuestion Point?
This is interesting stuff. Do you have any photos of the working lighthouse at
Sand Point? It would be a nice addition to a new page on the lighthouses.
Thanks again for this.
... Al Lewis
_________________________
Hello Al,
Thanks for your prompt reply. Glad you like my area of interest! I've been involved
in lighthouse research (purely on an amateur basis) for several years, but this is
the first time I try to find information on lighthouses of the Ottawa River.
I still need to take a look at the Archives holdings to see if they have any relevant
documents or photos.
I think setting up a page on the lighthouses of the river on your web site is a
wonderful idea. I can contribute the photos I have from the Coast Guard, which like
other government images are available for public use provided the source is credited.
Most are modern photos, but one or two are older. I will have to enquire from one
on my coast Guard contacts to see if more photos of lighthouses on the Quebec side
might be available. A scan of my own photo of the Sand Point Light is attached
(photo taken about 2002).
I can also provide some data on the lights mentioned in my earlier e-mail. Let me
know if you'd like me to do that and in what format you would like me to send it
(MS Word or Excel file, etc.).
Finally, I just bought an old ca. 1904 map entitled "Canals, Lighthouses and
Sailing Routes: St. Lawrence and Great Lakes," and I could try to scan the
Ottawa River portion. The map shows the locations of lighthouses with red dots.
Many of these square "pyramidal" wooden towers have been replaced in recent
decades by what are called Claymar towers, which are round metal pillars or
columns, usually with the top part painted green or red and a small beacon at
the top. I attach a scan showing the Claymar tower at Pembroke. The lights at
Aylmer Island and Baskin Beach are now Claymar towers, as is the light on
Twelve Mile Island. These towers have proliferated on both sides of the river ever
since the government decided to get rid of the old lighthouses. Now, even some of
the Claymar towers are being retired (at Montebello, for example).
I'm not very familiar with some of the locales on the upper river because they
are often in areas that are inaccessible or difficult to reach by car. McQuestion Point
(also spelled McQuestin) seems to be one of those. Based on the coordinates, it seems
to be somewhere just east of Deep River, but I couldn't be more precise without
looking at a detailed topographical chart or survey map.
The Morris Island Lighthouse was located in Lac des Chats, so it was very
likely in the area you mention, as this would be the eastern end of the lake.
We have an active lighthouse right here in Ottawa, by the way: it's located on
the grounds of the Museum of Science and Technology on St. Laurent Boulevard.
However, this lighthouse - which is more in the style of the more powerful
coastal lights - is not "native" to this area. It was first built on Cape Race
in Newfoundland, then later moved to North Cape on Cape Breton Island.
In the late 1970s, when the director of the museum at the time (David Beard)
heard that the lighthouse was being discarded and would probably be scrapped,
he made arrangements for it to be dismantled and moved to Ottawa ca. 1979-80.
Let me know how I can contribute further to the lighthouse page.
Regards,
Michel
______________________
Hi Michel:
I have an 1879 map which shows the Chats Falls area before the dam went in
(maybe around 1930's).
It shows a "Sand Point" at Constance Bay. Is this the Sand Point which is shown in
your photo? Or is there another Sand Point, further upriver to the west of Arnprior?
The lighthouses at Aylmer Island and at Twelve Mile Island are shown on the map but
there is no lighthouse marked on the 1879 map at Morris Island. I have hiked and canoed
in the Morris Island area and have not seen any remnants of a lighthouse there,
although water levels have changed since the dam went in or the lighthouse may have
been constructed after the map was made.
If you have time, I'd appreciate a scanned image of the map which you have -- the
one which shows all of the lighthouses from Montreal to Deep River.
Thanks again for this.
... Al
Modern Light at Pembroke on the Ottawa River
photo by Michel Forand
Map of Ottawa River, west of the City of Ottawa
Lighthouses shown in Red
Department of the Interior, Atlas of Canada, ca. 1904
Map of Ottawa River, east of the City of Ottawa
including parts of the St. Lawrence River
Lighthouses shown in Red
Department of the Interior, Atlas of Canada, ca. 1904
The Lighthouse at Morris Island
Photo from Edward F. Bush, "The Canadian Lighthouse," Canadian Historic Sites:
Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 9. Ottawa: Indian and Northern Affairs,
National Historic Parks and Sites Branch, 1974, p. 85
(photo taken by the author's son).
September 1, 2005:
Text for the web page (both messages dated August 28, 2005):
----------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you Michel for researching this part of our Ottawa River History.
There was a lighthouse near the foot of Allumette Island almost opposite the
Village of Westmeath. It was torched by vandals about 1960. It was similar to
the Sand Point lighthouse you picture. The river turns at this point and there
is a shoal of rocks out from Bellows Bay (Ontario). According to my father,
this rock pile was the reason for the lighthouse.
Keep up the good work, Jackie Ryan Patterson, Pembroke
----------------------------------------------------------------
Hello Jackie,
Thank you very much for your e-mail - the first comment I've received on the
Ottawa River lighthouses web page!
You may well be right about there being a lighthouse opposite the village of
Westmeath in the old days. As far as I can tell, the red dots on the map, which were
put there by the Department of the Interior, indicate the situation as it was
circa 1904-06. Lighthouses that were established later would therefore not appear
on the map. I'm not aware of a map that shows all the lighthouses that ever
existed on the Ottawa River.
According to government records (List of Lights and Fog-Signals - Inland Waters),
in 1915 there were three lighthouses along the southeast side of Allumette Island.
From west to east (downriver), they were listed as Allumette Island, Supple Point
and Lower Allumette Lake.
Allumette Island
The lighthouse was located "about 2 miles below Pembroke. On boom pier about 200
feet from shore of [Allumette] island." It was described as "white, square, wood;
on square cribwork foundation" and was 27 feet tall. It marked "the entrance to the
most northerly channel of Allumette rapids." It doesn't look as though this lighthouse
is shown by a red dot on the Department of Interior map.
Supple Point
The lighthouse was located on "the S.E. point of Allumette island." Its description
was similar to the above, except that it was on a stone foundation, presumably on
land. I suspect this is the lighthouse shown on the Department of the Interior map
by the red dot closest to Pembroke.
Lower Allumette Lake
The lighthouse was located "on head of Spence Island, opposite lot 18." Its description
was identical to that of the Supple Point Lighthouse. The name of the lighthouse
suggests that it might have been approximately in the area you describe.
These three lights were no longer listed by 1937. As I don't have lists of lights
for the period between 1916 and 1936, I can't say exactly when they were discontinued.
It's quite possible that other lighthouses were built on that stretch of the river,
then discontinued, between these two dates. They came and they went, and now
unfortunately most of them are gone....
Again, thanks for your comments.
Michel Forand, Ottawa
________________________
Morris Island is just above the dam at Fitzroy Harbour. See posting dated
April 10, 2005 on our Fitzroy page.
December 10, 2005:
Gentlemen,
Back in 1957 I worked on the Ottawa River towing logs from Chenaux Boom down to
Gillies Brothers mill at Braeside and also pulp for the E. B. Eddy Company which we
turned loose at the CNR bridge just above Fitzroy. As I recall part of our job was
to check in on the lighthouses and replace the batteries or bulbs if needed.
I seem to remember 5 lighthouses between Chenaux Boom (Castleford) and Pontiac .
Check for the records of the Upper Ottawa Improvement Company and they will more
than likely tell you where the lighthouse were. There was one on an island just out
and above Roddy’s Bay, second was at Sand Point Wharf, third was on a rock just
below Gilles Mill at Sandy Hook, 4th was on the Ontario shore roughly midway
between Arnprior and the railway bridge between Ontario and Quebec, above Fitzroy.
The last was a light just below Pontiac Bay but if I recall correctly it was by 1960
just a light that a man named Harry Lloyd would light when / if we were towing at
night in that area.
... Emerson C. McCallum
___________________________________
Good morning, Mr. McCallum:
Thanks for your interesting e-mail regarding lighthouses on the Ottawa River.
This is the kind of first-hand history which we should be recording. I am
interested in the lighthouses and the logging industry on the Ottawa River. Michel
Forand has done a lot of work on the lighthouses. My family had a cottage just below
the dam at Fitzroy during the 1960's and the logging operations were still active then,
presumably working with the pulp logs which you released at the CNR bridge above
the dam. There was a tug boat moored near Quyon and the booms extended from the
Chats Falls Dam almost to the ferry landing at Quyon.
After New Year's I plan on going up to get a picture of the CNR bridge and hopefully
the nearby lighthouse (if it's still there). There is also a large iron or steel barge,
rusted, probably 30 feet long and maybe fifteen feet wide. It has been abandoned and
rests near the shore close to the dam and to the west of Fitzroy Harbour. Do you
recall this barge in operation?
I'd like to add your e-mail to our web site (on the lighthouses page) as a contact
for other researchers. Is this OK with you? Please let me know.
... Al Lewis
________________________
Note: Mr. McCallum has some interesting information regarding the steel barge
mentioned above.
I've added it to our lumbering page under date of December 10, 2005.
... Al
January 5, 2006:
Michel:
Thank you for researching this fascinating aspect of the history of the Upper Ottawa.
I noticed your posting on the www.bytown.net site.
As mentioned in the subject line, one of the keepers of the Britannia Light was
Matthew Murphy. He was our ggg-grandfather and was involved with the very last
days of the fur trade in the Ottawa valley. His elder brother, John Murphy, was
a purser with the Upper Ottawa Forwarding Company from its inception in 1843 and
later became a captain. (There is also another John Murphy, of Clonmel, County
Tipperary, Ireland, who was a captain with the Company and later an owner of the
company).
Matthew was a raft pilot (as noted in the 1851 and 1861 censuses) and a lighthouse
keeper (noted in the 1881 census).
Michael Murphy
e-mail: michael@michaelrossmurphy.com
______________________________
and from Michel Forand (also posted on January 5, 2006):
Hello everyone,
Please accept my apologies for not writing sooner.
As I'm still a "rookie" where the geography of the Ottawa River is concerned,
I'm not familiar enough with local names to recognize all the lighthouses mentioned
by Mr. McCallum. However, the charts on Al's page on the changing topography of
Fitzroy Harbour, Chats Falls and Morris Island - http://www.bytown.net/fitzroytopography.htm -
do show the locations of some of them. The Sand Point Light is well known, of
course, because it's still standing and is the most easily accessible of all
land-based lighthouses on the river.
Jackie, the lighthouses were indeed the responsibility of the federal government.
In the mid-19th century, they were administered by the Department of Public Works.
From the 1870s to the 1930s, they came under the Department of Marine, which was
known as the Department of Marine and Fisheries for a while in the early 20th century,
then reverted to its old name. At some point (late 1930s?), lighthouses were
placed under the Department of Transport, and later still, in the 1950s, under
the newly created Canadian Coast Guard, first as an agency of the Department of
Transport, then of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
Today, the Ottawa River lights and other navigational aids are maintained by the
technicians of the Coast Guard's Prescott Base. Because some of the lights on the
upper river are so remote, the technicians have to use a helicopter to reach them.
In the National Archives, departmental lighthouse records are mainly under RG12
(Transport), even those from the late 19th century and early 20th century.
The Archives also have a good selection of old lighthouse photos. Searching the
records online can be a bit tricky because of the variety of relevant keywords
(lighthouse, lighthouses, light house, light station, etc.), not to mention the
occasional misspelling.
Incidentally, there is a nice photo (1936) of the old Aylmer Island Lighthouse
on p. 7 of the September 1999 issue of Full & By, the newsletter of the Britannia
Yacht Club, available as a PDF document at http://www.byc.ca/fullby/1999/1999_sep_fb.pdf
That lighthouse doesn't exist any more, unfortunately; there's only a "marker" on the
island today (photo at http://sailquest.com/ottawa/dinghy.htm).
Michel
___________________
Michael,
Very little information seems to be available on keepers of the Ottawa River
lighthouses - thanks very much for contributing the name of your ggg-grandfather
to the lighthouse page! I hope we may one day have more details about his tenure
as keeper of the Britannia Light. I have found virtually no information on the
lighthouse, and have never seen a photo of it; in fact, I'm not even sure exactly
where it was located. Any details on its history would certainly be most welcome.
Again, thank you for adding this piece of information to the picture.
Michel Forand
March 24, 2006:
Lower Allumette Lake area Lighthouses
Hello Al,
I've exchanged e-mails with John M. about lighthouses in the Lower Allumette
Lake area. Perhaps you can post this condensed and edited version of those exchanges?
The two scans sent by John are attached, and I also attach the portion of chart 1553
where the lighthouse is located. If you need further information, please let me know.
Michel Forand
============================
Hello Michel
I read the email string regarding Ottawa River Lighthouses. I have included two
pictures of lighthouses in my area.
The first is a new structure built on the foundation of the old lighthouse directly
across from Westmeath. The section of land it is situated is know as Kelly Point.
The second lighthouse is several miles downstream from the first, still on the Quebec
side at the entrance of a narrow channel that connects Lower Allumette to the rest of
the river. You may already know this info or have seen the structures.
If I can be of any further assistance please advise.
Regards
John M.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Hello John
Many thanks for your comments and the two photos. This is excellent information,
but it raises questions in my mind because I have difficulty matching the two
lighthouses with government data of the past.
Your email confirms information provided by Jackie Ryan Patterson last year: there
used to be a lighthouse on Kelly Point, presumably shown by the red dot on the east
side of Allumette Island on the the 1904 map posted on the lighthouse page.
Could this have been the Lower Allumette Lake Lighthouse, mentioned in my posting
of September 1, 2005? The 1915 government list did not mention Kelly Point but
described the location of the lighthouse as ''head of Spence Island, opposite lot 18,
E[ast] range of Allumette Island". Its coordinates were 45º 48'15N, 76º 54'0W.
When applying these coordinates in Mapquest, they give a location near the end of
the point in Westmeath Provincial Park, across the river from Kelly Point. It's
possible the 1915 coordinates were inaccurate, but since I don't know the exact
location of Spence Island, I can't say for sure.
As for to the other lighthouse you mention and illustrate with a photo, from your
description it sounds as though it must be located just west of Waltham on the Quebec
side. Have I got the location right?
The old light lists I have in my library (1902, 1915, 1937, 1956, 1963, 1967, etc.)
do not mention any light downriver between Lower Allumette Lake and Fort Coulonge,
and yet your photo confirms there was one, though it's probably inactive today. There
is alway the possibility this light was active only in the 1920s or only in the
1940s and early 1950s; since I don't have lists for those periods, I can't say for sure.
As you can see, there is still a certain amount of mystery here. If you can shed
any light on the two lighthouses, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks again.
Michel Forand
-----------------------------------------
Hello again Michel;
According to Google Earth the coordinates of Pointe Kelly are 45 48 29 N 76 55 10 W.
This is across from Sand Point of Westmeath Park in Ontario.
The second lighthouse is 45.51 25.32 N 76.56 01.61 W.
This lighthouse is at the head of a small island. I do not know the name of it,
but it is beside (across the channel from) Ile Fraser. The map I have calls it
Ile. Lighthouse. Most locals here call it Lighthouse Island. However the name of
Spence is common on Allumette Island.
I could possibly research more of my maps and send scans to you if required. Let
me know if I can be of further assist in this regard.
Regards
jm
--------------------------------------------
Hello John,
Thank you for writing. Since I last wrote, I've acquired navigational charts for
the stretch of the river we've been discussing.
The charts are very helpful. Sheet 1 of chart 1553 shows the location of Ile Lighthouse
and of the old lighthouse itself on the island. Because of the discrepancy between
its coordinates and those published in the government lists I have, I'm not absolutely
sure this is the lighthouse that used to be listed as Lower Allumette Lake, but
chances are that it is and that the published coordinates were wrong. This means
that Lighthouse Island is probably what was referred to as Spence Island in the
government lists. I'm going to assume that's the situation unless there is evidence
to the contrary.
Michel
______________________
Hi Michel:
Thanks for your e-mail.
By co-incidence, I was reading a book about the history of Fitzroy Township
yesterday. The book mentions the light at Morris Island (Ontario side, between Arnprior
and Fitzroy Harbour). This lighthouse was sold (auctioned off by the government)
despite local residents wishes to maintain it as a heritage structure.
Do you have this information? If not, I can transcribe it and add it to our
lighthouses page on our web site.
I'll add your new material and the three photos in the next day or so.
Thanks again for this.
... Al
________________________
Hi Al,
Thanks for the information about Morris Island. Do go ahead and post it - I
was not aware of that development. Please indicate what year
this happened if the book happens to mention it. I may add a comment on
this posting but I'll need to do a little research first.
Best regards,
Michel
_______________________
Here are John and Michel's photos and map:
Michel:
Here's the info about Morris Island from Beyond Our Memory ... A History of Fitzroy Township:
Lavan's Lighthouse, built on the edge of Morris Island by the Coast Guard in 1873,
received media attention in 1987 when it was sold off to the highest bidder by
Public Works Canada. Named after it's first keeper, pioneer Joe Lavan, the lighthouse
alerted boaters to the shoals of Chats Lake until the Coast Guard turned out the
light in late October 1983.
The National Historical Society declined a purchase of the lighthouse property,
disappointing local heritage lovers who fear for the continued existence of a
remnant of the logging era of the late 1800's when the Ottawa River was alive with
related activity.
From Lovell's 1884 Directory: Francis Lavan's occupation is listed as "Lighthouse Keeper".
The 1879 map (black and white above) shows the lighthouse as being on the property of
Francis Lavan.
Here is Francis Lavan and his wife in the 1881 Census: (Francois Lavigne?)
1881 Census Place: Fitzroy, Carleton, Ontario, Canada
Source: FHL Film 1375867 NAC C-13231 Dist 108 SubDist I Div 2 Page 11 Family 44
Sex Marr Age Origin Birthplace
Francis LAVAN M M 60 French Quebec
Occ: Light House Keeper Religion: Catholic
Frances LAVAN F M 60 French Quebec
Religion: Catholic
... Al
April 23, 2006:
I just sort of stumbled across your website and discussion re: lighthouses on the
Ottawa River. I don’t know if you’re interested, but I can add a little bit to the story.
My great-grandmother was a Leblanc. Her son (my grandfather) was Thomas Jones from
Pembroke. The Leblancs owned an island on the Ottawa River across from Pembroke.
It was called “Leblanc’s Island.” However, through time, the channel around it
filled in and it is now attached to Allumette Island. They were the first settlers
on LeBlanc’s Island and they tended to the lighthouse that is still standing today.
They used to go and light the kerosene light. It was used to guard that part of the
river because of the rocks. The island was very rocky, and very snake-y (because of
the rocks.) The original log house is also still standing.
I think this might be the “missing” lighthouse that you are discussing but aren’t
sure about, on Allumette Island.
The Murphy family lived nearby in another log house and were also early settlers
in that area.
My mother remembers visiting Leblancs and helping them light the lamp at night.
Maureen Moss
June 19, 2006:
Hi Maureen,
Your comments are most welcome, and I apologize for not replying sooner: I've been in
and out of Ottawa a number of times in the last several weeks, and catching up is
hard to do!
The navigational chart for the Pembroke area does show Leblanc Island, now attached
to the Allumette Island "mainland." I believe the lighthouse you mention is one that
used to be known as "Lower Narrows" and is one of the few remaining active lighthouses
on the Ottawa River (now called "Passage Lower" by the Coast Guard). The light was
established in 1887 and originally consisted of a lantern on a mast, with a tool shed
at the base. The present lighthouse was built in 1907.
The lighthouse called "Allumette Island" in the government's 1915 light list
(established in 1906) was said to be located "about 2 miles below [i.e. downriver from]
Pembroke, on boom pier about 200 feet from shore of island" and to mark "the entrance
to the most northerly channel of Allumette rapids." Based on this information, I'm guessing it must have been somewhere near the northwestern tip of Morrison Island. The lighthouse was no longer listed by 1936, and I don't know what happened to it.
Again, many thanks for providing these details.
Michel Forand
___________________________
and from Christian Veillet:
Bonjour!
I found the web page
http://www.bytown.net/lighthouses.htm while looking for lighthouses on the Ottawa
river near Ottawa. Very interesting!
I would like to know the location of the long gone Britannia Lighthouse. I read
on the web page that Michel did not know where it is. Any new development in
locating it?
The Green Shoal light, from the web page, is located near Templeton(?). In the
Lighthouse Explorer database, it seems to be close to Orleans on the south bank
of the river and the tower replacing the original light in 1900 is supposed to
have been deactivated c. 1970. Is it still around? Any idea of the exact location?
As for the Buckhams Point (Constance Bay) Light, I guess there is nothing there
anymore. Where was it located exactly?
Thanks!
Aloha,
Christian Veillet
______________________
Christian and Al,
As far as I know, of the 30 or so lighthouses that once dotted the Ottawa River between
Deep River and Ste. Anne de Bellevue, only seven remain. From west to east they are:
McQuestin Point (formerly known as McQuestion Point)
Deep River Islet
Lower Narrows (listed as Passage Lower today)
Lower Allumette Island (photo above by John Meadows)
Sand Point (photo at the top of this page)
L'Orignal (two range lights located on a private campground).
The Lower Allumette Island and L'Orignal lights are now inactive, but the others
are supposed to be active in season.
To the best of my knowledge, the Britannia Light disappeared a long time ago
(sometime between 1902 and 1915). It was not unusual for lighthouses located at
water level to be destroyed or carried away by the ice in the winter or spring,
and it was often considered too costly to rebuild them. If someone has an old photo
or postcard showing this lighthouse, please post it here!
Today, there is a light in the Britannia area, but it's a so-called Claymar tower -
a circular metal tower with a beacon light at the top - located at the end of a pier
or breakwater at the Britannia Yacht Club. This light is listed as Stillwater Park
by the Coast Guard (see scan).
The Green Shoal Light also no longer exists, as far as I know. The 1902 light list said
it was on "S. side of channel, opposite East Templeton, 7 miles below Ottawa City."
East Templeton is part of the city of Gatineau today. The fact that the light was
said to be on the south side of the channel suggests that it was on the Ontario
side of the river, and the reason Orleans was given as the closest town in the
Lighthouse Explorer Database was to make sure the light would be included among
Ontario lights. However, it was not on the south bank of the river but (as its name
suggests) on a detached crib in the water. I attach a scan from the Archives
Nationales du Québec, which refers to it as Templeton.
The Buckhams Point Light was listed in 1902 as Buckom Point. Its location was given
as "on crib off point, south shore, about 16 miles above Aylmer"; the list also
stated that the light was there "to indicate the low point, and the shoals off it."
I've never seen a photo of it.
Michel
___________________
Thanks to Michael Ross Murphy for the following:
There was a lighthouse somewhere in the area that was built around 1880. I have
never been able to find the precise location of this original emplacement. It must
have been built just after the 1879 publication of the Belden Illustrated Historical
Atlas of Carleton Co.
From "Ottawa's Britannia" (by Eva Taylor and James Kennedy), the following information
can be gleaned:
1) The original lighthouse location was accessible by rowboat, at least some times
during the season of operation.
2) In 1900, a 1000 foot wooden pier was built at Britannia Park by the Ottawa
Electric Co. (approximately where the breakwater is today), with a base built
from stone excavated by the building of the Metropolitan Electric Railway Canal
nearby.
At this time, the "government lighthouse" was located (relocated?) at the end
of the pier.
3) In 1906, the Britannia Boathouse Club built a building at the end of the pier,
extending the pier by 300 feet. The "government lighthouse" was placed in a small
tower on top of the new building. A "T" was made at the end of the pier in 1907,
with moorings for boats. Unfortunately, the boathouse burned in August 1918
(presumably along with the lighthouse) forcing the Boat Club to return to their
original location of the old sawmill on Cassels Street where they have remained
to this day.
All that can be seen now is a tiny little "toy lighthouse" on a little peninsula at
the waterfront Andrew Hayden Park.
We know there was also an 1880s-style rectangular wooden lighthouse on Aylmer Island
in the 1930s, not far west of Britannia.
But -- as far as I know -- noone has a precise location for the original lighthouse... (Yet!!!)
Michael Ross Murphy
_____________
Thanks to Michel Forand for sending in the following scan of an old
postcard showing the Britannia lighthouse:
December 7, 2007:
Hello Al,
It's been a while since there's been any activity on the Lighthouses of the Ottawa
River web page.
Today, I received a call from Doug and Helen Scheels of Arnprior, who are hoping
someone can provide information about the Arnprior Lighthouse. They said there is
a picture of the old lighthouse (taken ca. 1970) in a book by Pat and Rosemarie Keough,
which I have not seen.
The only details I have on the lighthouse, based on old government lists, is that it
was officially called Arnprior Island, that it was established in 1906 and that it
was a 26 foot tall pyramidal wooden structure. It was probably similar in appearance
to the Sand Point Lighthouse shown in the photo at the top of the Lighthouses page,
except that it was on a very small island in the river. Doug says the lighthouse was
destroyed by fire (probably arson) in 1985.
Today, its replacement is a simple metal tower with a beacon at the top. There's a
distant view of it in the third photo on this page:
http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2006/09/ontario-arnprior-to-peterborough.html
and Google Earth provides a satellite photo of the location: http://tinyurl.com/2nfrwz
If anyone can contribute photos or other details about the old lighthouse and its
history to the Lighthouse page (who the keepers were, etc.), that would be great.
Thanks to Doug and Helen for contacting me about this.
... Michel Forand
_____________________
Note: There is a "Navigation Light" in the Ottawa River, off the town of Arnprior.
It is shown on the topographic map on our web page for Fitzroy Topography.
... Al
January 9, 2008:
Thanks to Elizabeth Bond for the following interesting contribution about the McQuestion
Lighthouse near Chalk River. I have also posted this to our page about
Lumbering in the Ottawa Valley.
Hello,
I have information about the McQuestion Lighthouse. It is located in the former
Buchanan Township (today, Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories property) and is
still standing and is in good condition. There is a published article about the
lighthouse and lighthouse keepers in Tamarack Magazine, an excellent Oral
History-based publication produced by Mackenzie High Students in Deep River,
Ontario. Here is an excerpt from the article:
The following was taken from Tamarack Magazine: Exploration of Valley History,
Issue IV. Gerald Nadeau, born in the 1930s, tells Amy Mark and Neal Watts that:
"Living by the Ottawa River is my first memory. We lived on a small farm. It was
just a small clearing with a log house and two stables. McQuestion Point, where
we lived, was a stopping place by the river. Teams of lumbermen used to come to
the old house. I think there's only three logs left of it now. There were quite
a few of these places used for overnight stops, what you would call keepovers.
From Sheenborough up to our old house was one day's trip so people would come
that far and stay the first night. Then they'd go as far as the Swisha, which
was another day.
All of these places were ports for travelling lumbermen. There was
no hydro, telephone, or radio at the old house. The only furnishings in the
house were six chairs at a table, a box stove for night firing, a cook stove, a
cupboard, three beds, two or three water pails, and some pots and pans. We just
lived season to season; nothing ever made you hurry, so it wasn't important if
it was eight o'clock, nine o'clock, or ten o'clock.
The closest house was about a mile and a half away and the roads
were never ploughed. In those conditions, if you were able to do anything like
chop wood, get water, or any of those other chores, you did them willingly.
We used to look after McLeod's lighthouse which was on an island
[McQuestion's Point]. The island was a beautiful spot. It was best in the
springtime-the whole island would just be covered with dandelions as thick as
they could grow and the grass would be cut down because of the cows grazing on
it. You'd hear the ice come down the mountains. The gather of ice would melt in
the spring and it would just keep flowing down the mountain until finally it got
so heavy that it would break away with whatever trees would come with it and it
would tumble down onto the ice on the river. It would almost be like thunder.
Every second spring, you'd hear it and the next day if you went to the river
you'd see all the trees out on the ice where the big icicles had broken.
The lighthouse had a globe about 20 inches high and it burned about
two quarts of oil in twelve hours. Each evening you had to clean out the lamp
glasses, trim the wick and check the wick for length. The wick was about two
inches wide and there were two of them in the globe which was housed in a
square glass enclosure. The two wick adjusters were side by side. If one fire
went out then you always had the second one. You had to light it and then turn
the wicks up until the globe got warm and then you'd turn it down so that there
was no smoke from it. The coal oil had to be carried down in the spring. It took
three 45 gallon containers to fill the tanks in it. They used to give us twelve
dollars a month for looking after the lighthouse. You had to go down every
morning and blow the light out. I never went alone, because I was too young and
the lightstand was quite high. You'd have to get up on something to reach it.
The lighthouse was put there because the river is quite narrow in
that spot. It was built some time after the 1850s for boats towing logs. The
first big boats on the river were steam driven.
There used to be a big red river boat, an old tow boat, thirty-five feet long
with the engine taken out of it. It had been set adrift and had become wedged
between the lighthouse island and the river shore. It stayed there until it had
rotted away. The sides would be about three feet high and they got warm by the
sun beating against them. The pike would lay against the side and sometimes
you'd see eight or ten fish all beside the boat. Some of the pike were up to
five feet long. We used to catch one fish each spring and that was enough for
one week, as much fish as you wanted to eat."
~~~
On a seperate occasion, I learned that: "The lighthouse was situated on
McQuestion's Point because it was such a narrow point in the river. The Marine
Co. used to oversee the management of the lighthouse, and would pay a family
$12.00 a month for keeping it, on 12 month leases. Each year, they would take
four huge 45 gallon drums of coal oil down to the lighthouse on sleighs. The
Marine Co. would also send a big wick and a huge pair of scissors; tar; a
broom; paint for the boat; spare lamp glass; a shovel; a box of rags that you
would go through first to see if there was anything you could wear; and a
strong sharp axe that young Gerald was forever aching to get his hands on
because he was always busy chopping stones."
Please find attached a photo of the lighthouse taken last year. Also, the
community museum in Deep River--The School House Museum--is operated by the
McQuestion descendants, and they might have more information for you. I hope
you find this information helpful,
... Elizabeth Bond
McQuestion Lighthouse, 2007
January 11, 2008:
Hello Al,
When you post Ms Bond's contribution, it may be of interest to add this second photo,
showing the general location of the McQuestion Lighthouse. I'm not sure when it was
taken, but it has to be at least five or six years ago. Please credit the
Canadian Coast Guard.
Regards,
... Michel
McQuestion Lighthouse, c. 2000
Source: Canadian Coast Guard
E-mail Michel Forand, Jackie Ryan Patterson, Emerson McCallum, Michael Murphy, Maureen Moss, Christian Veillet, Michael Ross Murphy, Elizabeth Bond and Al Lewis
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