Tag: Manistique

Picture of the Day for December 27, 2015

With a winter storm approaching tomorrow and gusty winds, the beacon light may not cut through the blowing snow. The Lake Mighigan thirty-five foot Manistique East Breakwater Light was lit on August 17, 1916. Settlers arrived in 1852 and settled on the Monistique River (name came from the Native American word Onamanitikong meaning “vermilion” as the water had a reddish hue). When the name was registered with the state, an “a” was used instead of an “o” and the town and river became Manistique. As the century progressed, Manistique’s importance as a port waned and the light was automated in 1969. In 2013, the lighthouse was bought by a private individual.

Manistique East Breakwater Light 

Manistique East Breakwater Light

Picture of the Day for November 20, 2015

The work week ended a long time ago for these kilns. These towers located in Schoolcraft county, Michigan, are the remains of kilns used by the White Marble Lime Company, founded by George Nicholson, Jr., in 1889. The kilns, which were fired by wood waste from the lumber industry, burned dolomite to produce quicklime for use as a building material and an ingredient in the manufacture of paper. As larger corporations were formed and the methods of producing lime were made more efficient, the company diversified; it established a sawmill and a shingle mill and became a dealer in forest products, as well as crushed stone, cement and builders’ supplies. In 1925 the company was reorganized as the Manistique Lime and Stone Company, and continued under that name until the Depression of 1929. And now the kiln towers are slowly depressing back into the ground.

Lime Kilns of the Past

Lime Kilns of the Past