Lonely Island lighthouse

The original lighthouse was commissioned by the Department of Marine and Fisheries in 1869 by Peter Mitchell because of the importance of navigation through Georgian Bay, which provided communication between Ontario and Fort William and the Northwest.

In 1870 the operation to build the lighthouse commenced with J.B. Spence awarded an $1,800 contract to erect the lighthouse. E. Chanteloup supplied the lantern room for $189.53 and C. Garth & Co. supplied the lamps and other necessities for $201.92. The original lighthouse comprised a one-and-a-half-storey keeper’s dwelling with a square tower rising from one end of its pitched roof. The lighthouse was forty-two feet tall from its base to the vane atop the lantern room. Its light had a focal plane of 192 feet above the bay. Four circular-burner lamps, each set in a sixteen-inch reflector, and a single flat-wick lamp backed by a fifteen-inch reflector were used to produce the station’s fixed white light. The light was first shone on the 1st of October 1870.

The first lightkeeper of the original lighthouse, John Egan, was appointed on the 19th of August and was paid $350 annually until his resignation on the 29th of July 1872. The second light keeper, Henry Solomon, stayed for less than a year because he drowned in June following an excursion for supplies from Killarney. The third lightkeeper was Henry’s son, Dominic Solomon, and was appointed on the 17th of September 1872 at a salary of $450 per annum. Dominic was the keeper in September 1882 when a steamer called Asia foundered off the east side of the island on its way from Collingwood to French River. Whilst most passengers survived, with most getting into the lifeboat, the tug Kendell in early October searched for bodies. The lightkeeper denied any knowledge of any bodies. A decaying woman was discovered with a life preserver near the water’s edge with a board on top of her, robbed and identified as Mrs Woods according to the name on the corset and stockings. The search party had noticed jewellery impressions on the body’s neck and finger and Dominic confessed that he had taken a pearl broach, although later it was revealed various other foul-smelling items from the ship, including life jackets. It is possible more bodies were hidden. The Department of Marine promised that an inquiry would be held but it appears he was exonerated as he continued to serve on Lonely Island until 1885.

The original lighthouse was destroyed by a fire in 1906. A temporary light was erected in the form of an anchor lens lantern hoisted atop a pole. The new lighthouse was commissioned by the Canadian government on the 15th of October 1907. It was to be a third order dioptric group flashing white light showing 1 group of 3 flashes every 7 ½ seconds. It was elevated 195ft above lake level. The tower is a white octagonal wooden building, 57 ft. high, with sloping sides, surmounted by a circular iron lantern painted red. It is on the edge of a cliff 300 yards back from the northern shore of the island. The keeper’s house is near the shore. A fog signal building was constructed on the shore in 1944 to house an acetylene gun, and in the early 1960s a keeper’s bungalow was added to provide more living space for the head keeper and assistant then staffing the station.

The lighthouse keeper who served from 1959-1965 was called John Adams. The lightkeeper had an incident when making a supply run in a 16ft boat belonging to the station. When he was near Yeo Island, he had to switch gas tanks, but after doing so, he couldn’t get the boat to run. Flipping up the motor, he discovered his propeller had fallen off. Fortunately, he had two oars aboard, and he began rowing toward shore in great frustration. Adams was certain that Keeper Bill Spears on Cove Island was watching him with his binoculars and having a good chuckle. “After five hours of rowing I thought, if I get close enough to that lighthouse, I’ll start shooting the windows out – they won’t be so smart then!” Keeper Spears was watching and came to help, bringing along a bottle of whiskey as a peace offering. “I couldn’t have lifted [the whiskey] if I wanted to,” Adams recalled. “I had blisters on my hands, everywhere! I was so mad!” Keeper Adams remembers having to climb the more than 100 steps up to the lighthouse each day laden with oil. “We had a yoke to carry five gallons on each side,” Adams said. “The first year I was there the steps were in terrible shape, snow piled half up the cliff in winter, and in summer, rattlesnakes, that hell wouldn’t have” were coiled up on them.

There is a pet cemetery where lighthouse keepers dogs were buried with a small picket fence. One lighthouse keeper decided to over winter on Lonely Island with his dog underestimated their food supply, and both starved to death the following spring.

Lighthouse keeper Rudy Payeri swore he heard and saw Mermaids frolicking along the shores on several occasions. They would apparently call out to him in storms trying to bait him to attempt rescue in stormy conditions.

The Coast Guard today land their helicopters on a wooden pad next to the automated lighthouse. The station’s buildings on the shore were burnt down in 1995.