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St. François (North Channel Traverse) Range, PQ  Lighthouse destroyed.   

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St. François (North Channel Traverse) Range Lighthouse

Saint-François-de-l’Île-d’Orléans is a village located on the northeast tip of Île-d’Orléans.

In October 1874, two sets of range lights, known as the North Channel Traverse Range Lights, were established to indicate the channel between West Sands and Traverse Spit. One pair of lights was situated at Saint-François on the east end of Île-d’Orléans, and the other pier was erected to the northeast on Cape Rouge.

The front tower at Saint-François was twenty-eight feet tall and exhibited its light at a height of thirty feet above the river, while the rear tower, which was located 1,379 yards away, was thirty feet tall and exhibited its light at a height of 110 feet above the river. Each of the square, wooden towers at Saint-François was equipped with a circular, No.1 lamp and a twenty-inch reflector.

Francis Lemlin sold sixty square feet of land for the front tower for twenty-five dollars, and Joseph Marceau was paid thirty dollars for a parcel of the same size for the rear tower. Joseph Marceau was appointed the first of the rear range light, while Joseph LePage, Jr. was placed in charge of the front light.

When the range lights were inspected in 1876, it was found that they leaked and that there was no tin under the stoves, which created a fire hazard. The lighthouses also served as dwelling houses for the keepers and oil houses.

In 1912, a light was established on the outer end of the wharf at Saint-François, 833 yards from Saint-François Church, in the form of a square, white lantern built atop the hip roof of a rectangular, wooden freight shed.

The range lights at Saint-François were discontinued around 1927, but a light on the wharf remains active today. At some point between 1955 and 1994, a square, skeleton tower replaced the light shown atop the freight shed on the wharf.

Keepers:

  • Front: Joseph Lepage, Jr. (1874 – 1912), F.X. Lemelin (1912 – at least 1923).
  • Rear: Joseph Marceau (1874 – 1884), Louis Marceau (1884 – 1913), Alf. Emond (1913 – at least 1923).

References

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

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