3/29/1912 – Beacon Light Transferred – The new light house is fast nearing completion. On Wednesday the large beacon light that has given such good service on the north pier, was transferred to the south pier, where it spread its rays for the first time Wednesday evening. The light house is already completed, the crew now being engaged in erecting a 70 foot steel tower for the range light.

4/12/1912 – THE NEW SIGNAL STATION – In Keeping With the Class of Work Done Here.

The citizens of Kewaunee have every right to be proud of and to appreciate the work of the Gov’t that has been accomplished here. This applies to indirectly, to the harbor work, which has necessitated appropriations of thousands of dollars, mainly for the upkeep of the channel.

The U.S. engineering Dep’t. by the construction of ship-yards, reclaimed a goodly portion of that territory to our north, commonly known as, the dump. Here, buildings were erected that are permanent and dockage erected. To accommodate tugs, dredges and other craft, it was necessary to dredge a channel, resulting in a big harbor improvement, through a northern extension to same. The Life Saving Station has long been a source of pride to our citizens, and its many benefits are too well known to make further comment necessary.

The past few years have witnessed the construction of concrete piers, replacing the old wooden ones, and while the work is not yet completed, it will be continued as soon as possible. A light keepers residence, a modern two story, double house, was another addition to the number of beautiful residences of which we now boast. On the lake bank, east of the Union Church, the Gov’t also caused to be erected a steel tower for the display of storm signals. This is but a brief summary of the work already performed here by the U.S. Gov’t, the result of which is obvious to every progressive resident of our city and worthy of the attention of visitors.

Gov’t work now in progress here is the erection of a new fog signal station and light house combined, which by reason of its structure and accomplishment will not only be one of the finest on the lakes, but one of the first of its kind, in the service. It would be well worth ones time to walk out on the pier to inspect the architecture and view the modern equipment that is being installed.

For years, the beacon light in the little tower on the north pier has thrown its guiding rays through the gloom of night, to hundreds of sailors. And when its light was made invisible to them, by fog, haze, smoke, or blinding snow storms, there came the intermittent cry of warning from the fog signal.

But with progress came advancement in the construction of lights and signals, and to keep pace with the best, it was decreed that the old be replaced with a modern station.

The new structure is being erected on the south pier, approximately 2000 feet from the beach line, and for the convenience and safety of the tenders, is approached by an elevated walk constructed of steel and about 700 feet in length.

The range light is suspended in a steel tower 71 ft. above the pier. On the extreme end of the south pier the new light tower and fog signal is now under construction.

The signal station is being built to accommodate supplies, house the attendants, when necessary, and also includes the tower for the beacon light.

The building is constructed of steel and concrete, with asbestos plate roof. Those rooms to be used as living rooms will be furnished elegantly. Fixtures are also on hand to provide a modern bath room.

The building including a large basement as the first story is a three story structure. For the fog signal proper, two large gas engines have been received. They will be operated with kerosene oil as fuel, and will furnish power for the compressors. Compressed air instead of steam, will supply the large whistles. Four monster tanks, weighing about a ton each, will be the reservoirs for the compressed air.

The advantage of compressed air over steam, lies in the fact that the whistle can be blown on a seconds notice, there always being reserve pressure in the tanks. This eliminates a wait for steam pressure as was the case formerly. Another advantage is gained through the absence of boilers and the handling of coal, the new system promoting cleanliness.

Every arrangement of the new station and all the equipment are in accordance with the latest ideas and go to make a model station, to be excelled by none and equaled by few. The station is a credit to designers and constructors, and entirely in keeping with the class of work conducted at this port.

6/14/1912 – THE NEW FOG HORN – Signal Device Given A Thoro (sic) Test This Week.

Kewaunee can now boast of one of the latest and best equipped light houses and fog signal stations on the lake. The new station is built entirely and steel and cement, and is absolutely fire proof. One of the features of the station is the new fog signal. The old steam whistle has been replaced by an air pressure device, which is supposed to be a better conveyor of sound. Two immense gasoline engines, built by the Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co., and rated at 30 H.P. each, have been installed for the purpose of raising the pressure needed, which amounts to from 8 to 25 pounds, although over 75 pounds can be raised if desired. The new signal was given a thorough test the past week, and has proved very satisfactory. The station and light house will be entirely completed in a week or two, several minor details now occupying the attention of the crew.

After years of long and faithful service, the old wooden light house on the north pier has finally given way to the steady march of progress and new inventions, and was this week torn down to be used for firewood.

8/16/1912 – To Finish Pier Work.

Foreman Jim Maples and crew of government employees arrived here Wednesday on the tug Industry from Menominee, where they have been doing extensive harbor improvement work for the past several weeks. A couple of scows and a derrick together with other apparatus was also towed to this port. During the next couple months the government yards will present a pretty active appearance, as what still remains of the old wooden piling on the south pier is to be removed and replaced with cement blocks, to be in keeping with the greater part of the pier. Supt. Thorp will again have charge of the work.

8/23/1912 – 250 Feet of South Pier Being Rebuilt.

The remaining two hundred and fifty feet of the old piling on the south pier, which was left standing last year, is now being cut away, Supt. Thorpe and his crew beginning operations on Monday. The scows, cement mixers and derricks which are used in this work were towed here from Sheboygan last week.

A large part of the stone that lies between the pilings of the pier has already been removed, and part of the crew are now engaged in cutting down the piles. This work is expected to be completed in about two weeks. The work of replacing the old wooden part with the more modern and serviceable concrete pier will then be commenced.

The cement works in the government yards will be put into operation for the mixing of the cement and concrete, and the construction of forms will also be started.

When the job is completed, sometime in October, the south pier will be entirely constructed of concrete and cement.

10/4/1912 – Considerable headway has been made in the  cement construction work now underway on the south pier, during the past two weeks. About one hundred feet of the concrete pier has been completed and just about that much still remains to be built. It is expected that the entire pier work will be finished in a few weeks.

2/28/1913 - Transferred to Algoma. - Eugene V. Kimball, who has had charge of the local lighthouse for a number of years, has been transferred to Algoma, where he will have charge of the light at that point. The transfer from this station to that is a desirable one for the reason that the pay is the same, while the work at the latter place is much less. If suitable arrangements can be made, Mrs. Kimball and family will remain in Kewaunee until next summer . We are sorry to have Mr. and Mrs. Kimball remove from the city because they have been good citizens and Mrs. Kimball has been very active in charity work. 

11/20/1914 - PIER COMPLETED - Contains Eight Hundred Cubic Yards of Concrete - 

On Friday of last week Supt. Thorpe and his crew of men finished the cement work on the north harbor pier. This work was started the 15th of July last and would of been done some few weeks ago, had not bad weather set in. The new pier is 700 feet long and contains 800 cubic yards of concrete. The remaining old part of the pier is still intact and no work will be done on that part for a number of years to come as the timber work is still in very good condition. The sun-dial light at the extreme end of the north pier, was removed a few weeks ago to enable the cement crew to put in a foundation. The Lighthouse Tender Hyacynth was in port over Sunday and waited for the weather to settle before replacing the sun-dial light.

3/5/1915 - Overhaul Light House - Light House keeper Orland Lynn expects some mechanics here this month from Milwaukee to overhaul the interior of the Light House. Some time ago, the Department of Commerce asked for a number of photos of the interior and these were sent last week. A number of changes will be made in the arrangement of the piping and pumps. Storage tanks for oil will be put in the basement, the oil to be forced up by compressed air. When these changes are made, Kewaunee will have one of the best equipped light houses on Lake Michigan. 

4/30/1915 – Local Range Light Moved – The government has had a crew of men busy moving the large range light back down the pier a distance of several hundred feet. Having the two lights on the south pier farther away from each other will give a surer range for ships entering the harbor at night.

5/28/1915 - The lighthouse tender Hyacinth was in port over nite Monday with supplies for the lighthouse.

PG. 11 – A PUBLIC NUISANCE

When the new piers were completed the government installed a new fog signal station on the end of the South pier, said to be the best and most reliable fog signal on the lakes.

We do not know as to its reliability, but will swear to its noisabillty. In fact we are willing to lay odds that it is the best sleep disturber situated on the shores of the Great Lakes or any other shore.

It is a double action, automatic contrivance, guaranteed to be heard miles out on the lake and also inland – to save lives and awaken the dead.

The noise made by the Gun Club when they used to hold weekly shoots down on the beach and for which they were banished from within the city limits, was as the gentle whispers of a June breeze compared to the rattle and dim emitting from Uncle Sam’s noise factory out on the south pier.

The old fog horn was bad enough, and the present whistle is not so bad, but the racket produced by the engines at the station is got anything we’ve ever heard beat by a mile, and not withstanding the efforts of three experts from Milwaukee to “soften its tone,” is getting worse and on the nerves of our peace and quiet loving citizens.

It might be an honor and advertisement for Kewaunee to have the “latest and best” fog signal station on the lakes, but we will sign and be in favor of circulating a petition to be forwarded to the proper government officials asking that the engines at the fog signal station be condemned as a public nuisance and removed from the station and dumped in the lake as such.

9/17/1915 – THE FOG SIGNAL – Noisy Contraption at Pier Head Does More Damage Than Good

If Congressman Konop wants to do something for this old neighbors that would be deeply appreciated he might ask an investigation of the Kewaunee Fog Signal Station. The people of this vicinity are perfectly willing to listen to the blast of the horn every seventeen seconds during foggy weather but they do object to the noise of the machinery which is almost as loud and which is more of a continuous performance.

They tell us that Kewaunee has one of the most modern fog signals on the Great Lakes but after one year of experience Kewaunee is perfectly willing to go back to the old style affair.

We did think that the fog signal stations were under the head of the Department of the Lakes but this more modern contrivance suggests a connection with the war Department. It is positively depressing to think of all that slapty-bang performance we will have to hear this winter during the snow and sleet storms. Just why a fog signal apparatus must make noise like the bombardment of a foreign fleet with an occasional blast that is to carry its warning to craft out on the lake is hardly appreciated and much less understood by an afflicted public. The machinery out at the end of the pier makes a racket that is heard almost as far, if not as far as the fog whistle.

12/17/1915 – “CAN” OURS, TOO! – Chicago Harbor Fog Signal Station Changed to 12 Inch Steam Whistle

We understand that the Chicago Harbor Fog Signal Station has been ordered changed to a 12 inch steam whistle. The Chicago Fog Signal and the Kewaunee Fog Signal were installed about the same time and were to mark a great advance in the Fog Signal Stations. But, the experiment did not bear out the expectation and the Chicago Signal has already been discontinued.
We sincerely trust that the government won’t lose any time in throwing out our signal apparatus and return to the old steam siren. The rumble and jar of the present Fog Signal Apparatus can be heard as many miles landward as the sound of the whistle reaches over the lake. It is a nuisance which the government inflicted upon us and it is up to the government to remove it.

4/25/1919 - Lighthouse tender U.S.S. Hyacinth was in port for the first time this season on Friday to bring supplies for the light and fog station. The boat cleared in the afternoon for the north.

5/9/1919 - The lighthouse tender Sumac was in port the first time this season Wednesday night and left early Thursday morning for the north.

7/25/1919 – NEW EQUIPMENT IS NEARING COMPLETION – Modern Improvements Being Installed In Fog Signal Station – The Old Noisy Engines Have Been Removed

Within the next few weeks the new equipment which is being installed in the fog signal station on the south pier, will be complete and Kewaunee will be able to boast one of the best stations along the lake shore.

The construction engineers who have been at work here for several months have already strung the wires and installed most of the electrical equipment that will run the machinery. It is all of improved design and is the most modern obtainable.

One of the old gasoline engines will be removed and in place of the other a modified model with belt drive will be installed for emergency use should the electric powers fail at some time or other. Among the other things three new compressed air tanks and a new whistle have also been put in.

With the new improvements the din and racket from the engines that was so plainly heard all over town every time the old apparatus was in action will be eliminated. The other day when the fog on the lake necessitated the blowing of the horn many people who were so accustomed to the noisy accompaniment of the engines hardly noticed that the whistle was blowing, so marked was the contrast in the working of the new equipment.

8/1/1919 – Inspectors Here – The light house tender Hyacinth was in port for several hours on Tuesday of this week. A party of government inspectors were on board and they stopped to look over the new improvements which have been installed in the fog signal station on the south pier.

The Sumac came into port Wednesday evening and remained until Thursday morning.

8/15/1919 – New Horn Is Pleasant

Several times this week while it was a little hazy on the lake, the man on the job, tried out the fog signal. We overheard one of the fellows on the street remark that the fog station now has a musical horn. As a matter of fact the horn is rather pleasant compared to that gasoline nuisance which the Government maintained on the pier the last four or five years. The old fog station machinery made more noise than the horn and always acted as though it needed a dose of Banyan.

8/22/1919 – Have Finished Work

The construction crew who have been installing the new improvements at the fog signal station on the south pier for several months past completed their work last week. The government boat, Hyacinth was in port on Saturday and took their equipment to Twin River Point where they have some work to do.

10/3/1919 – (Local and Personal)

Ivan Murine and Casper Ellison autoed over from Two Rivers last Sunday and visited with friends in the city for a short time. The young men were employed with the government construction crew making the improvements at the local fog signal station the past summer and they are now doing similar work at the Twin River Point light.

1/23/1920 – (Local and Personal) – Casper Eliason and Ivan Murine of Milwaukee were in the city for several days this week making some adjustments to the fog signal apparatus on the south pier. Both young men were here the past summer when the new equipment was installed.

11/10/1922 - Mr. and Mrs. Frank M. Otter and daughter Ruth, of Milwaukee spent the week end with Mr. and Mrs. Ed. Classon. Mr. OTter is the superintending the construction of the large new $750,000 bank building at Sheboygan. Mr. Otter superintended the construction of the lighthouse and fog signal station here eleven years ago.

4/13/1923 - A SMALL BLAZE - Hole Burned in Roof of the U.S. Light House Keepers’ Residence Monday - The fire department was called to the U.S. Lighthouse keepers’ residence on the lake front Monday afternoon shortly after the dinner hour, to put out a fire on the roof that was caused by a defective chimney. A hole had been burned through the roof large enough for a man to crawl through. A few pails of water and a chemical fire extinguisher put out the blaze. The fire department had a hose ready for action but no water was needed as it would have done more damage than the fire itself. Keepers Orland Lynn and Chas. Tesnow occupy the residence with their families. 

9/28/1923 - Chas. Tesnow, assistant lighthouse keeper, was called by telegram to the home of his father at Ellison Bay, Tuesday on account of the serious illness of the old gentleman. Mr. Tesnow left by auto the same morning.

7/17/1925 - A Light on Kewaunee Shoal - Last week Thursday the lighthouse tender Hyacinth substituted a gas and bell buoy flashing a spasmodic white light every three seconds which is visible eight miles and 10 feet above the water. It was established in lieu of the present school buoy which will be discontinued. A third class spar will be moored along side the gas and bell buoy.

4/9/1926 - Thomas Nelson, assistant lighthouse keeper, had just recovered from a severe attack of lumbago which he has been suffering with for the past week or two.

8/20/1926 - Mr. and Mrs. Charles Tesnow, visited in the city a day or two this week. Mr. Tesnow is now in charge of the new light on the breakerwater (sic) at Milwaukee. A few years ago he was Assistant Keeper on the local light. He states the government is in the course of erecting the most modern lighthouse on the lakes on the pier at Milwaukee.

3/9/1928 - TEN YEARS AGO - Jos. Stodola, who has been assistant lighthouse keeper here for the past years, will be transferred to Waukegan, Ill., at the end of this month.

7/13/1928 – Light Tender “Sumac” Visits Port Tuesday

The government boat “Sumac” called at this port on Tuesday afternoon. Capt. C.H. Hubbard of the Light House Service, was on board and inspected the local Light House and Fog Signal Station. Both the keeper, Orland Lynd and is assistant, Tom Nelson, were on the job and the government premises were found in very find order. While the boat was in port Capt. Hubbard, Cap. Olson and Chief Mechanic Crawford motored to Algoma and made an inspection of the Light House at that place. Capt. Hubbard, years ago, was in charge of the “Hyacinth” when that government boat visited the light stations. Capt. Hubbard sailed the “Hyacinth” into the Kewaunee harbor the first season the channel was open from the lake to the river and before the channel was docked. At the present time the Light House Department has been given charge of the light houses for air ports. The government will have just as complete light and signal stations at every air port as they now have on the harbors of Lake Michigan.

11/23/1928 - Hyacinth and Sumac in Port - The Lighthouse tenders Hyacinth and Sumac were in port last week on their late season trip. The Str. Sumac arrived last Sunday bringing new planing for the elevated walk on the south pier and the crew assisted light keepers Lynn and Nelson in the moving of the government boathouse from the old location to a position to the east of the large steel tower at the beginning of the south pier. The boat left on Monday.

The Hyacinth arrived Tuesday morning and left a supply of gas for the range lights. The two steamers will begin their last trips of the season next Tuesday, collecting the light buoys. The buoy at the entrance of this harbor will be picked up December 10, it was stated.

4/26/1929 - Hyacinth Makes Port Here Friday - The government lighthouse tender Hyacinth arrived in port here from the south last Friday afternoon at about 3:30 o’clock on her first trip of the season. The Bessel deposited the bell-light buoy and harbor pole at its accustomed spot a mile due east of the harbor and also brought a consignment of supplies for the lighthouse. 

The tender remained in port over Friday night, leaving early Saturday morning on her trip to Sturgeon Bay and through the Straits of Mackinac.

8/2/1929 - RADIO BEACON TO BE PLACED HERE - New Marine Safety Devices Here, Sturgeon Bay and Straits of Mackinac

Capt. H.D. King, acting commissioner of lighthouse service, Washington, D.C., announced last Saturday that Kewaunee harbor is numbered among eight Great Lakes harbors chosen as sites for the newest marine safety device, the radio beacon. The installation here will be completed this year, the report declared. The radio beacon is considered the latest in navigation aids. 

Three of the beacons are to be installed on the upper West Shore, one at Sturgeon Bay, one here, and the third at Gray’s reef, in the Straits of Mackinac. Other stations are to be erected later at Ashtabula, Ohio; Cheboygan, Michigan; near Pigeon River, Minnesota; and two at Skanee, Michigan. 

The beacons will be automatic code senders with a range of from 20 to 30 miles. The beacon at Gray’s reef, in the Straits, will be for guidance of boats going down the south passage, and those at Kewaunee and Sturgeon Bay for harbor guidance, it was stated. All will be of low power to eliminate interference. 

Establishment of this latest marine safety device at this harbor is quite a “feather in the cap” for the city that it should be chosen as one of the eight harbors on the Great Lakes to be this recognized. It is believed that the fact that Kewaunee harbor remains open the year ‘round and is a terminal for two large car ferry lines had much to do with the establishing of the beacon at this port.

It is probable that the beacon will be operated in connection with the present modern lighthouse here, under the direction of Keepers Orland Lynn and Thomas Nelson.

8/16/1929 – Hyacinth Bringing New Power Engine – The lighthouse tender Hyacinth is expected in port this week with a new reserve power engine for operating the beacon and also the fog horn when the High Falls power line fails.

The old engine is obsolete and was in poor working condition.

The lighthouse tender Sumac was in port Wednesday for a brief period, bringing supplies.

11/22/1929 – RADIO BEACON RECEIVED HERE – Shipment of Latest Equipment Received for Lighthouse Via Str. Hyacinth

When the new radio beacon, which arrived here last Saturday on the Lighthouse Tender Hyacinth, is placed in commission sometime about the first of the coming year, the lighthouse at the local harbor will be one of the best equipped on the Great Lakes. The new beacon, which was announced as a contemplated installation for this harbor last august, was received together with a new engine and compressor for the fog signal and a Kohler light plant for use at the light house.

The beacon operates in connection with another latest navigation aid, the radio compass, which many vessels on the Great Lakes are equipped with.

During a snowstorm, fog, rainstorm, or other bad weather, the radio beacon broadcasts directions which are picked up by the radio compass on board ship, leading the vessel into harbor without difficulties. The waves sent out by the beacon catch the compass needle, which veers round and points to the location of the beacon. Thus, by allowing for clearance of the south pier, vessels can ride into harbor with absolute safety in the worst fog.

The Ann Arbor railroad is planning to install radio compasses on its fleet of six ferries, according to a report, and since Kewaunee is an important terminal of that carferry line, the placing of the beacon here may definitely decide the issue for the company. The Pere Marquette carferries, which are daily visitors here, already have radio compasses installed, and it is reported that installations have already been made on a few of the Ann Arbor ferries.

Lightkeepers Orland Lynd and Thomas Nelson will receive instructions on the operation of the beacon, and it was thought that this equipment would be put in commission by January 1. According to information given out several months ago when the announcement of a beacon was for Kewaunee was made, this newest marine safety device will be an automatic code sender, with a radius of from 20 to 30 miles, and will be of low power to prevent interference in radio reception.

The new engine and compressors for the fog signal will aid greatly in the operation of the fog signal. The new light plant will make it possible to operate the light and fog signal without any interruption that might occur in the present service.

There were to be two other beacons stationed on the west shore, one at Grays Reef, in the Straits of Mackinac, and the other at Sturgeon Bay.

12/13/1929 – HYACINTH TAKES OLD MACHINERY – Immense Load Causes Harbor Buoy to be Left Here for Overhauling

Appearing here on her last trip of the season, the government lighthouse tender Hyacinth cleared here last Friday morning, taking along as part of her cargo the obsolete machinery which has been replaced by new equipment at the lighthouse here. Due to the exceedingly heavy load, the vessel left the range light buoy, which marks the reef off the harbor entrance, on the government dock to be overhauled by lightkeepers Orland Lynd and Thomas Nelson. This is the first time that the range buoy has been left here for the winter.

With the obsolete machinery out of the way, the new engine and compressor for the fog signal have been placed into commission, and also the Kohler light plant which will provide current for the operation of the light during the times when the High Falls service fails.

Work on the installation of the new radio beacon is going forward and will be pushed in an effort to place it in commission by the first of the coming year.

3/14/1930 – Radio Beacon in Operation; Valuable Aid to Navigation

Kewaunee now has its own broadcasting station, but the programs, as sent out from the lighthouse here, are available only to mariners. However, Kewaunee radio fans are not missing anything, because the programs are of a monotonous character, merely being two dashes and a dot, repeated every third minute during the last fifteen minutes of each hour continually. All of which only means that the radio beacon which the government had promised the city has been completely installed and was placed in operation last Thursday morning at nine o’clock, in accordance with the orders of the district lighthouse superintendent.

The effectiveness of this latest navigation aid can be judged by the fact that Captain Larsen of the Ann Arbor No. 7 reported picking up the Kewaunee signals when the ship was over four hours out, still within sight of the Michigan shore. The belief of Lightkeeper Orland Lynd is that had the vessel known the beacon was in operation the signals could have been detected while the vessel was yet docked at the carferry slip in Frankfort.

The beacon is a complicated contrivance, which to the casual observer appears as an intricate group of “doo dads”, but it is comprised of the most delicate and sensitive equipment. There are beacons at Chicago, Calumet, Ludington, and Manitowoc that operate during the same portion of each hour that Kewaunee station does, and each beacon must be timed to a split second in order not to interfere with other transmissions. The Kewaunee beacon is operated automatically, while the others are controlled by an operator. The local equipment is operated by an Arlington clock, which gets its time corrected twice daily by wireless, and the second beacon is due on the air the clock sets in motion the mechanism that throws the switch, and the two dashes and a dot tell mariners on the Kewaunee route whether or not they are on their course.

Since the government announced its intention of placing a radio beacon here, the Ann Arbor line has had each of its ships dock at Frankfort to receive radio compass installations, which work in conjunction with the beacon. The great possibiltes of comparatively safe passage which this equipment affords carferries on their way across lake is best evidenced by the following explanation of its workings, as given by Mr. Lynd.

Ships leaving Frankfort harbor in foggy or stormy weather, merely pick up the Kewaunee signals while yet in Frankfort harbor by swinging the compass aerial at a given angle. There are only two points of variance in which the signals may be intercepted by the compass aerial, and the moment the vessel begins to lose its course, it swings back until it picks up the signals again. The compass aerial indicates on the compass the exact straight line to Kewaunee harbor, and the helmsman’s only duty is to keep his eyes on the compass. In this manner, Mr. Lynd declared, a vessel could come the entire distance across the lake and make the harbor entrance, coming in squarely between the piers, in the foggiest weather without varying a point. Mariners term it the greatest aid to navigation since the invention of the compass.

A receiving set allows the local lightkeepers to check on their signal, and make sure it is performing satisfactorily. A Kohler light plant generates the current for the operation of the beacon. The installation work was done by Amos Hostetler, government radio electrician. The tug Cumberland of the U.S. Engineering department here is equipped with radio compass, and it is expected that this equipment will be added to the tug Manitowoc also.

The radio beacons on Lake Michigan are located at Calumet, Chicago, Milwaukee, Manitowoc, Kewaunee, Sturgeon Bay canal, Point Betsy (near Frankfort), Ludington, Grand Haven, Muskegon, and Grays Reef in the Straits of Mackinac.

5/16/1930 – Install Reserve Power for Foghorn

Two semi-Diesel engines are being installed in the large government lighthouse at the end of the south pier to be used as reserve power for the fog and light signal in case other electrical power fails, Orland Lynd, lighthouse keeper here stated. The installation of the engines is part of an extensive improvement program begun at the lighthouse here several months ago.

6/6/1930 – Change Fog Signal

The schedule of the fog signal here at the pierhead light station has been changed to sound one blast every 15 seconds, the blast to continue two seconds, and remain silent 13 seconds, according to a federal report. Light sleepers in Kewaunee will not evidence much interest in the report.

12/5/1930 – CARFERRY CRASHES INTO SOUTH PIER – Entire End of Pier Must be Replaced; Accident Was on Clear Night

Damage of thousands of dollars resulted at 1:30 o’clock last Thursday morning when the Ann Arbor carferry No. 3 crashed head-on into the end of the south pier here, demolishing the entire end of the south pier here, demolishing the entire end of the pier, tearing a gaping hole in the vessel’s bow, and damaging the government lighthouse. Keeper Orland Lynd was on duty at the lighthouse when the crash occurred.

When the crash occurred, the entire lighthouse structure was jarred considerably, plaster on the inside walls was badly cracked and glassware in a cupboard was broken. One of the steel supports of the outside tower was twisted to one side, and a “catwalk” to the north side of the building was demolished, it was said.

A gaping hole, estimated to be 12-feet in diameter, was torn in the ferry’s bow, and through the opening tons of concrete from the shattered pier poured into the vessel. The ferry was backed away, and docked at the slip, where it unloaded and afterward proceeded to Manitowoc to enter the shipyards for repairs. The No. 3 only recently had considerable improvements added at the Manitowoc yards and had been in commission a short time since that work was completed.

As a result of the crash, the entire end of the south pier, all the way to the lighthouse proper, will have to be rebuilt, it was said, and the cost of that work alone, exclusive of the damage done to the carferry, will amount to thousands of dollars.

Last year one of the Ann Arbor ferries damaged two sections of the pier, and the damage was repaired this fall by the U.S. Engineering department.

​