A strong rope might come in handy to tie up a boat when a Lake Superior gale blows in.
Heavy Ropes
Picture of the Day for September 21, 2013
A sunny afternoon can change very quickly, especially on Lake Superior as she can generate squalls very swiftly in which the sun is covered by darkened skies, the wind begins to increase speed and soon you feel the pounding rain.
After a lifetime of living and working around the lake, commercial fisherman Julian Nelson described it this way…”The lake is the boss. No matter how big you are or what kind of a boat you’ve got, the lake is still the boss. Mother Nature dictates a lot of things.”
The Lake is the Boss
Picture of the Day for September 20, 2013
When Devils Island Lighthouse was finally activated in 1901, it became the eighth and final lighthouse to be built in the Apostle Islands.
On March 2, 1889, Congress appropriated $15,000 for a lighthouse on Devils Island, the most northern in the Apostle Island archipelago. When finished, the lighthouse would serve as a coastal light, splitting the gap between Sand Island and Outer Island. It would replace the temporary wooden structure light which was lit on September 30, 1891.
The worked started on July 1, 1897 for the new lighthouse and was completed October 1898 but had to wait for the third-order Fresnel lens to arrive from France. It finally arrived at the station on June 22, 1901 and with a range of 13 mile, was placed in operation on September 20, 1901.
In September 1928, the lighthouse was visited President Calvin Coolidge and his wife during a vacation in northern Wisconsin. The lighthouse was automated 1978.
Devil’s Island Lighthouse
Picture of the Day for September 18, 2013
Lookout Point on Hermit Island of the Apostle Island was once a sea cave and then eroded to an arch until it collapse in the summer 1975.
Hermit Island got its name from a mysterious man who lived alone from 1847 to 1861. Few hard facts remain, including his name, although the old maps speak of this place as “Wilson’s Island.” Rumors has it that Wilson lit out for the wildest country he could find, trying to outrun his sadness of finding his parents dead and his intended bride married to someone else.
There on Hermit Island, Wilson built a log cabin after losing a fist fight and no longer the “best man on Lake Superior” and found his own island to be king on. He planted a garden, and raised chickens. To earn a few dollars, he kept up his work as a cooper. Fishermen would stop by to purchase barrels for their catch, but the Hermit did not encourage them to linger. Yet some writers say he had no need to raise cash. They say that on his rare trips to town, he attracted attention by paying for supplies from a purse filled with silver Mexican coins. Others whispered of a store of gold, buried somewhere near his cabin.
Although now labeled as wilderness, after the hermit died, Hermit Island was home to a number of quarries for its brownstone from the 1860s to the 1890s. And it appears that the birds like the point on Lookout Point as it is ‘white’ stone instead of brownstone.
Lookout Point on Hermit Island
Picture of the Day for September 17, 2013
A calm day on Lake Superior at Meyers Beach with Eagle Island on the horizon and the sea caves located on the far point of land. Part of the fun combing the beaches is to look for rocks and driftwood. Finding the unique and interesting piece is always a fun adventure and it always makes me wonder how far the driftwood had traveled; did it come from the mainland or from one of the nearby Apostle Islands or did it come all the way across the lake from the Canadian side.
For some reason I wasn’t able to put this piece of driftwood in my pocket but it made a nice spot to sit while listening to the gentle waves rolling in.
Driftwood Log on Meyers Beach
