SAULT STE. MARIE — There’s an effort underway in Chippewa County to preserve a piece of maritime history along the Saint Marys River.
The turn of the 20th century was a busy time on the Saint Marys.
Shipping traffic was getting heavy, so lookout stations were built to help those ships safely navigate the river,
“A lookout station was just a building on a tower that was manned, and they were connected to the Corps of Engineers Soo Locks by telephone cable and when the boats went by, they would report that passage to the locks so they would have some idea of the traffic that was coming through. Part of the time too, they would use that service to relay instructions from the ship owner to the captain. So the captain might come out and put his little megaphone to his ear and the ship owner might have contacted the people at the lookout station, and he’d yell ‘go to Duluth,’ explained Great Lakes,” Photographer/Marine Historian Roger LeLievre said.
But newer, more modern ways of communicating slowly made these stations obsolete.
“So most of these Coast Guard lookout stations were either destroyed intentionally by fire by the Coast Guard or they were automated,” explained LeLievre.
Today, just one of these lookout stations remains: Lookout #4.
And time certainly caught up with this more than century-old guardian of the Saint Marys.
“To a lot of the islanders and to the people in Barbeau, it’s an icon of vacation; when they see the lookout, they know they’re on vacation. It tugged at our heartstrings to see a historical site, we didn’t want it to end up like all the others, which were either burned or demolished,” said Mary Schallip.
A group called Shipmates of Lookout #4 is now raising money to preserve Lookout #4 and continue telling its story.
“What I think is unique about Lookout #4 is it’s not just the last lookout standing out of 7 lookouts, but this is a collaborative effort between the Coast Guard and the Neebish Island Historical Society and Bruce Township, Neebish Island is in Soo Township so it’s really four different areas all for the same cause which I think is really unique,” said Lori Miller who lives on Neebish Island.
“The lookout station for Neebish Island is like an icon; places have their lighthouses are their icon and you see it on postcards and all that kind of promotional stuff. For Neebish Island, it’s this Coast Guard Lookout station.
For information on how to donate, click here.
The Lookout #4 Steering Committee’s next meeting is at 12:30 p.m. on April 19 at the Bruce Township History Library.
