A square, wooden lighthouse, painted white, was established on Île aux Raisins in 1843, and twenty years later, a second tower was added to form a range to guide mariners along the St. Lawrence River where it enters Lac Saint-Pierre.

In 1869, the Department of Marine noted the following change on Île aux Raisins:

One at Isle aux Raisins, erected on a quai, and which had stood untouched from the time of its first erection, now over thirty years, was, last year, quai and lighthouse, carried away by the extraordinary action of the ice. It has been rebuilt at a cost of $2,040.00. To protect this new lighthouse and another of equal value on the same island, about 17 arpens of land were purchased, in order to preserve the growing standing wood which the proprietor was about to cut down. Cost of the 17 arpens $400.

A gallery was placed around the pier in 1870 as it had a deep declivity that made it dangerous in wet weather. Keeper Olivier Letendre, who had been looking after the lights since 1853, requested a boat in 1870. The water at that time was so high that it made going between the two range lights rather difficult.

The following description of the two lights was given in 1878:

Upper tower contains two No.1 flat-Wick lamps, unlipped chimneys; wooden lantern; size of reflectors, 14 by 4 1/2 inches deep; size of glass, 36 by 36 by 1/8-inches and 36 by 20 1/2 by 1/8 inches; height of tower, base to vane, 64 feet; height of tower, base to centre of lamp, 60 feet; size of lantern, 6 feet; size of gallery, 12 feet; size of base, 22 feet. Lower tower contains one flat-wick lamp; unlipped chimneys; size of reflectors, 14 by 4 1/2 inches; size of glass 31 1/2 by 20 1/4 by 1/8 inch; height of tower, base to vane, 20 feet; height of tower to centre of lamp, 16 feet; size of lantern, 5 feet; size of gallery, 11 feet; size of base, 9 feet; it is taken away in the fall on account of the ice. They consume about 100 gallons of oil per season.

Theodore Verville took charge of the lights in 1883, ending the thirty-year-long service of Olivier Letendre at the station.

In 1889, a new pier was built under the front range tower at a cost of $1,660, and the lantern of the back range was recovered with metal. A new rear light was erected in 1903 as noted in the Annual Report of the Department of Marine for that year:

The back tower of the range was in July, 1903, replaced by a new lighthouse, consisting of a skeleton steel frame, square in plan, with sloping sides, surmounted by an enclosed wooden watch room and an octagonal wooden lantern. The steel frame is painted brown and the woodwork white. The building is 85 feet high from the ground to the vane on the lantern. It stands on concrete piers, built on piles.

The light is, as heretofore, fixed white catoptric. It is elevated 86 feet above the level of the river, and should be visible 7 miles in the line of range. It may also be seen dimly from other parts of the channel.

The lighthouse is built immediately in rear of the old one; the distance between the two range lights is 2,020 feet, and the bearing of the range is S. 25 W. The old tower and the pier on which it stood are being removed.

The work was done under the supervision of Mr. E. Roy, foreman of works, and cost $3,941.75

In 1907, the range was shifted seventy-five to the west to better mark the axis of the 450-foot-wide dredged channel from Lake St. Peter west lightship to the curve below Île aux Raisins. Two concrete piers were built to support the towers. The front pier was nineteen feet square at its base and twelve feet square at its top and stood twenty-one feet high. A new square wooden building surmounted by a square wooden lantern room was built atop the front pier, while the 1903 rear tower was relocated to the new rear pier located 2,014 feet from the front pier.

In 2020, a white cylindrical tower with an orange daymark featuring a black vertical stripe exhibited a fixed green light at the front range, and a square, skeletal tower with a similar daymark exhibited a fixed green light at the rear range.

Keepers: Olivier Letendre (1853 – 1883), Theodore Verville (1883 – 1898), Louis Boucher (1898 – 1912), Leopold Verville (1912 – 1922), C. Elzear (1922), L. Boucher (1923 – 1931), A. Desmarais (1931 – at least 1937).

References

1. Annual Report of the Department of Marine, various years.

The range is best viewed from the water.

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