Navigation Structures at Pentwater Harbor

In 1855, Charles Mears constructed a {{convert|70|ft||adj=mid|-wide}} channel from Pentwater Lake to Lake Michigan, lined with timber cribbing,{{cite web |title= Pentwater Pierhead Light |first= Terry |last= Pepper |publisher= Seeing the Light |url= http://www.terrypepper.com/lights/michigan/pentwater/ |access-date= November 20, 2013}} to accommodate his lumbering interests.{{cite web |title= Pentwater History |publisher= Pentwater.org |url= http://www.pentwater.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=70&Itemid=182 |access-date= November 20, 2013}} In 1858, he built a pier extending over {{convert|600|ft}} into Lake Michigan where ships could dock.{{cite web |title= History |publisher= PentwaterChannel.org |url= http://www.pentwaterchannel.org/#history |access-date= November 20, 2013}} Additional pier structures were built to line the channel. The first incarnation of the channel was relatively shallow, but Mears continued to improve it, and by 1865 it was deep enough that a lake-going steamer, the Daylite, was able to sail into Pentwater Lake.

In 1868 the US government began widening and improving Mears's channel. The channel was widened to {{convert|150|ft}} and dredged to a depth of {{convert|16|ft}}. Two piers were constructed, and in 1873 a timber-framed lighthouse, {{convert|33|ft}} high, was built on the south pier. A red 6th-order Fresnel lens was installed. A life-saving station was constructed on the north pier in 1887, and in 1917 the pierhead light was automated.

In 1937, the entire pier structure was replaced by the Army Corps of Engineers with a concrete pier. At the same time, the timber-framed lighthouse was replaced with a steel skeleton structure, and the optic replaced with a {{convert|300|mm|order=flip|adj=on|sp=us}} lens. Most of the life-saving station site, with the exception of the flag tower, was demolished in 1958. A second light was erected on the north pier in 1997.

The Pentwater navigational structures consist of two concrete piers extending into Lake Michigan. At the end of the north pier sits a cylindrical modified "D9-type" tower topped with a 300-millimeter flashing green acrylic optic at a focal plane of {{convert|43|ft}}. At the end of the south pier sits a steel skeleton tower topped with a 300-millimeter flashing acrylic optic at a focal plane of {{convert|48|ft}}.

• {{citation | title = Harbor Infrastructure Inventories: Pentwater Harbor, Michigan | publisher = US Army Corps of Engineerins | url = http://www.lre.usace.army.mil/Portals/69/docs/Navigation/RiskCommunication/Pentwater%20Harbor.pdf| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150610215449/http://www.lre.usace.army.mil/Portals/69/docs/Navigation/RiskCommunication/Pentwater%20Harbor.pdf| url-status = dead| archive-date = June 10, 2015}}

{{reflist}}

{{National Register of Historic Places}}

{{Lighthouses of Michigan}}

{{Authority control | additional=Q87973361,Q87971112,Q106474312}}

Category:Lighthouses completed in 1873

Category:Lighthouses completed in 1937

Category:Lighthouses completed in 1997

Category:Oceana County, Michigan

Category:Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Oceana County, Michigan