User:Mangoe/Cheboygan River Front Range Light

The Cheboygan River Front Range Light is a lighthouse located in the midst of Cheboygan, Michigan on the west bank of the Cheboygan River.

History
This light and the accompanying rear range light were constructed as part of a scheme to dredge and widen the channel into the city in order to encourage shipping. The latter project was initiated in 1871, with funds for the lights being appropriated in 1876. Due to legal delays in obtaining the desired properties, however, construction did not begin until summer of 1880. The front light was constructed as a two story keeper's dwelling with a tower rising from the front gable; it was originally painted brown and was equipped with a white lens light which shown through a window in the face of the square wooden cupola. The rear light was mounted on a wooden skeleton tower. These lights were first illuminated on September 30, 1880.

In 1884 the front light received a sixth-order Fresnel lens, and the lights were changed from white to red. At the same time an assistant keeper was added to the staff, whose responsibilities included tending the newly-constructed Cheboygan Crib Light. The house was connected to the city water system in 1889. Drainage on the plot turned out to be poor, with the cellar frequently flooding; requests were submitted starting in 1890 to purchase the plot between the light and the river so as to allow construction of better drainage, but it was not until 1898 that the appropriation was made, and the property was not purchased until 1910 due to legal wrangling over ownership.

In the meantime a round iron oil house was constructed in 1893 to hold 260 gallons of fuel oil. The rear tower was replaced with a steel tower in 1900, with a small shed constructed at its base later to house the machinery to raise and lower the lamp for maintenance. White boards were fastened to the front of tower to form a large oval day mark. In 1914 the lamps were changed again to locomotive-style reflector lights.