George Island, MB 
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The establishment of a lighthouse on George Island is described in the following excerpt from the Annual Report of the Department of Marine for 1906: A lighthouse was established on the eastern extremity of George island, lake Winnipeg. The tower stands on land 6 feet above the level of the lake and 100 feet back from the water’s edge. It consists of an open steel skeleton frame, square in plan, with sloping sides, painted red, surmounted by a wooden watchroom and an octagonal wooden lantern. The watchroom and the lantern are painted white. The tower is 64 feet high from its base to the top of the ventilator on the lantern. The keeper’s dwelling stands 150 feet westward of the lighthouse. It is a rectangular wooden building, painted white. The light shown is a fixed white dioptric light of the seventh order, elevated 66 feet above the level of the lake, and visible 13 miles from all points of approach by water, except in the line of islands and shoals extending north westward from George island.
Tenders were first called for this work, and the lowest tender submitted was $4,900, but being considered too high, the work was, with steelwork provided in addition, carried out by day’s labour, under the direction of Mr. M. J. Egan, and cost $3,128.10, exclusive of the steelwork, which was built in the government shipyards at Sorel, and cost $600. Ingwald Thordarson served as keeper of George Island Lighthouse from 1924 until 1930. One evening in October 1930, he picked up his mail and supplies from the northbound Wolverine and then started to row back to the island. There was a brisk breeze blowing from the northwest, but that was typically no problem for such an experienced oarsman. Thirty hours later, the Wolverine noticed a distress signal flying from the island and stopped to lend assistance. It was learned that Keeper Thordarson had broken an oar while returning to the island and had drifted away with his fourteen-year-old companion Franklin Johnson. This information was relayed to the CGS Bradbury at Berens River, and a search for the missing keeper was launched. Thordarson’s boat was eventually found, bottom up, but no bodies were ever recovered.
A new keeper’s dwelling was built on George Island in 1953.
Willard Olson was the longest serving keeper at George Island. He served from 1951, when he was thirty-seven, until 1981, when the light was automated. As George Island Lighthouse was the final lighthouse to be automated on Lake Winnipeg, Olson was the lake’s last lighthouse keeper.
In November 1951, Keeper Olson became stranded at the lighthouse by an early freeze-up of the lake. A newspaper article says a R.C.A.F. helicopter was likely going to be sent to rescue the keeper from the ice-bound island, but another article, published a few weeks later, explained that a bush pilot landed his Tiger Moth on shaky ice near George Island and rescued Keeper Olson on December 7. Food dropped via parachute helped Olson survive until he could be rescued. His rescuer caught Keeper Olson by surprise. Olson was lying in bed when the pilot walked in. “Where did you come from?” Olson shouted as he jumped up. He had heard about a potential rescue attempt on the radio and had been asked to build a makeshift landing strip, but he thought he would certainly hear the plane. The two had a cup of coffee before heading for civilization.
In a 1978 newspaper article published, Keeper Olson noted that he had seen four or five assistants leave in recent years. “First, the boredom sets in, then they imagine little aches and pains and one guy even [started] seeing things.”
Sticking to a fixed routine kept Keeper Olson sane all those years on the remote island. He would begin each morning at 5:45 a.m. in order to prepare the first weather report that had to be transmitted by radio at 7 a.m. Regular reports were sent to the Winnipeg weather officer every three hours thereafter, continuing until 10 p.m. Olson was also responsible for maintaining the structures on the island and listening for any messages on his radio.
Before being electrified and automated in 1968, the light was powered by kerosene, requiring a keeper to climb the tower four times a day. The light was lit at sunset and extinguished at sunrise. After that, the reflectors and lens had to be cleaned.
Keeper Olson, like many lighthouse keepers, had his share of eerie stories to tell. One night, during a severe thunderstorm, he ventured out to check on the light. As a flash of lightning brightened the sky momentarily, he saw someone in a brown coat and a brown fedora pointing to a spot on the shore. The following day, he discovered a body washed ashore at the exact spot indicated by the apparition. Keeper Olson later learned it was the body of a seaman who had jumped ship. “To me, it was a normal occurrence,” he told a reporter with a laugh, “but to you or someone else, it might not be.”
When Keeper Olson left the lighthouse in 1981 he had plans for an around-the-world vacation before he “got too old to appreciate a few bikinis going by.” Following ceremonies to honor his long service with the Coast Guard, Olson commented, “I used to keep busy with all the ships on the lake but now there aren’t very many and it’s just become a boring job. There’s nothing to it now. It’s a job for someone who’s too lazy or who likes to booze.”
Keepers: Charles T. Whiteway (1906 – 1909), A.A. Tashe McKay (1909 – 1910), John Thumser (1910 – 1912), E. Arrason (1912 – 1924), Ingwald Thordarson (1924 – 1930), W.L. Curran (1931 – at least 1937), Willard Olson (1951 – 1981).
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