The Traverse is a tricky section of St. Lawrence River between Quebec and Point-au-Père that is known for its strong currents and obstructions. In 1831, the schooner Brilliant was anchored off the northeast point of St. Roch Shoals, east of Isle -aux-Coudres, to help guide vessels along the river. The ship displayed a light from each of its two masts. Known as Lower Traverse Lightship, the vessel anchored at the shoals was also equipped with a bell that was tolled during fog and snowstorms. When it was necessary to move the vessel of its station, only one light was displayed at night and the bell at the main masthead was taken down during the day.

After the 1873 season, the vessel used as Lower Traverse Lightship was found unfit for further service and was sold at auction at Quebec City for $500. In 1874, the lightship with a steam fog whistle that had served at Manicouagan Shoals was used as Lower Traverse Lightship under the charge of Captain Thomas Connell. In 1875, an iron lightship which proved unsuitable for service at Halifax Harbour was placed instead at the lower end of the Traverse. This vessel was equipped with a steam fog whistle that gave a twelve-second blast each minute when needed and displayed a fixed white dioptric light from each of its two masts. The vessel was painted red and had the words “Traverse Lightship” painted in white on both sides.

On October 16, 1887, the ship Loyal ran into and sunk Lower Traverse Lightship. Efforts were made to raise the vessel, but rough weather and the lateness of the season delayed the recovery until the next year. A temporary light was displayed from a vessel near where the lightship had sunk for the remainder of the 1887 season. Messrs. Patterson & Co. of Quebec were awarded a $7,250 contract to raise the lightship in the spring of 1888 and bring it to Quebec City. The steamer Napoleon was moored on the station until the river was ice free, and then the schooner Marie Elmire was used.

Rather than continue to maintain Lower Traverse Lightship, plans were made for a suitable pier and lighthouse that were estimated to cost $100,000. Parliament appropriated $10,000 towards this work, and preliminary soundings made in September 1888 found that a good bottom for a pier could be had in four fathoms at low water.

The iron lightship that had sunk in 1887 returned to service at the station on July 8, 1888, replacing the temporary wooden schooner that had served mariners. Work on a permanent lighthouse to mark Lower Traverse was delayed and did not start until 1902. On July 29 of that year, a cribwork pier was sunk in twenty-three feet of water on the extreme northern point of the shoals of St. Roch. Messrs. Dussault & Lemieux of Levis were contracted to construct the pier at a price of $80,500. The contractors built the caisson in the basin at Quebec City and then floated it down to the site and sunk it there.

The rectangular pier had two pointed ends, was wood below the water mark, and concrete and steel above the water mark. While construction was in progress, two temporary fixed white lights were shown from anchor lens lanterns hoisted on poles at an elevation of nineteen feet above the construction platform, or twenty-nine feet above the high-water mark. One light was shown from the upstream end and one from the downstream end. Due to the extraordinary inclemency of the season, the contractors were unable to complete the work in 1902 as they had intended.

The lighthouse atop the pier was completed in 1904 and placed in operation on August 10 of that year. The following description of the lighthouse appeared in the Annual Report of the Department of Marine for 1904:

The lighthouse is a rectangular building with concrete walls and mansard roof; the tower portion at the northeast end of the structure forming a wing to the main building, and being surmounted by a cylindrical iron tower painted brown, capped by a polygonal iron lantern painted red. The height of the building from its base to the vane on the lantern is 50 feet.

The steel sheathed concrete pier on which the lighthouse stands is rectangular with two pointed sloping sides, and is painted brown.

The light is a white light, giving one bright flash of one second duration every five seconds. It is elevated 55 feet above high water mark, and should be visible 13 miles from all points of approach by water. The illuminating apparatus is dioptric of the third order, and the illuminant is petroleum vapour burned under an incandescent mantle.

On the same date a fog alarm was established at the lighthouse. It consists of a diaphone, operated by compressed air which will, during thick or foggy weather, give blasts of 3 ½ seconds’ duration, separated by silent intervals of 56 ½ seconds. The horn projects from the north or seaward face of the lighthouse, and is elevated 20 feet above high water mark.

The pier and lighthouse were erected under contract by Messrs. Dussault & Lemieux, Levis. The illuminating apparatus was supplied by Messrs. Chance, Bros.. & Co., Birmingham, and the fog alarm machinery by the Canadian Fog Signal Co., Toronto.

After the permanent light and fog alarm were placed in operation the lightship was removed. At the opening of navigation in 1905, the lightship formerly used at Lower traverse was moored at Prince Shoal near the entrance to Saguenay River from St. Lawrence River.

During the winter of 1906 – 1907, ice severely damaged the pier at the Lower Traverse of St. Roch. Attempts to make permanent repairs to the pier were attempted in 1907 but proved difficult, and a storm near the end of the season destroyed the repair work that had been done up to that point. As it was believed the crib might fail during the coming winter, everything of value was removed from the lighthouse, and the station was abandoned.

After the failure to construct a permanent structure to mark Lower Traverse, a lightship was reassigned to the station. In 1921, a new steel lightship, self-propelled by steam, was placed on Lower Traverse. Lower Traverse Lightship appeared on the Light List for 1939, but in the 1940 edition, only a buoy was used to mark Lower Traverse.

Keepers: Alphonse Caron (1904 – 1907).

References

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

No light marks this place today.

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