Portage River - Jacobsville - Lighthouse is a photograph by Phyllis Taylor which was uploaded on September 8th, 2016.
Portage River - Jacobsville - Lighthouse
A lovely capture of the Portage River Jacobsville Lighthouse, which sits at the mouth of the Portage River on the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan.... more
Title
Portage River - Jacobsville - Lighthouse
Artist
Phyllis Taylor
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
A lovely capture of the Portage River Jacobsville Lighthouse, which sits at the mouth of the Portage River on the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan.
The laundry hanging on the line outside this lighthouse was delightful to me because it reminded me of my childhood when my mother hung out the laundry a couple times a week, weather permitting. Otherwise it got hung on lines in the basement.
Together Portage River and Portage Lake nearly bisect Keweenaw Peninsula, and in 1846, Ransom Shelden built a store at the north side of the river’s mouth on Keweenaw Bay to supply miners headed inland. The following year, Shelden brought his family to Portage Entry, becoming the first white settlers in the area, and the Independence, the first steamer on Lake Superior, called at the port. In the fall of 1851, Shelden moved inland and established a store, which was the first building in what is now known as Houghton. For his pioneering efforts in settling the area and developing its copper mines, Ransom Shelden is known as the “Father of the Portage Lake district.”
Finding the atmospheric conditions in Chicago to be deleterious to his health, Ransom Shelden moved to Michigan's Upper Peninsula in 1845, where he and his brother-in-law Columbus C. Douglas established a trading post at L'Anse. Relocating the business to the mouth of the Portage River in the Spring of 1847, they augmented their mercantile operations by establishing a flourishing fishing business. Over 1849 and 1850 they explored the area along the river, and finding large copper deposits, incorporated the Portage, Isle Royale and Huron mining Companies on 55,000 acres of land purchased from the Federal government. In 1851 they moved operations inland, established a mining supply and general store and platted the village of Houghton in the spring of 1853.
While the copper was desperately needed in the industrial centers on lakes Erie and Michigan, Superior was virtually isolated from the lower lakes by the St. Mary's River rapids. Down-bound shipments arriving at Sault Ste. Marie had to be offloading and transportation around the rapids for reloading onto vessels at their lower end. A shrewd businessman, Shelden foresaw the incredible impact the 1854 opening of the first lock at the Soo would have on the mines of the Keweenaw, and began pressuring federal representatives for the establishment of a lighthouse to guide mariners to the entrance of the Portage river.
Taking up Shelden's call, Michigan Senator Alpheus Felch presented a petition on behalf of Shelden and other area maritime interests before the Senate on February 17, 1853 "praying for the erection of a light-house at the mouth of Portage river." The matter was referred to the Committee on Commerce for further analysis, and evidently agreement for the project was quickly obtained, as a $5,000 appropriation for the new aid to navigation was approved by Congress a month later on March 3. Soon after, a 57 acre reservation of federally owned land hand near the river mouth had been arranged, Milwaukee builders Sweet, Ranson, and Shinn were awarded the construction contract on July 17, 1854. Construction was reported as being underway on the opening of the 1855 navigation season, with expectations that the work would be completed by the end of the 1855 navigation season.
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September 8th, 2016
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