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The 1849 Lighthouse Construction Contract

In 1848, Congress allocated $3,500 for a lighthouse to mark Port des Morts passage. A contract was struck between the Superintendent of Lights, John McReynolds and Mr. David Shook for the construction of 3 lighthouses along the Lake Michigan coast. The first was at "Little Fort," later renamed Waukegan, Illinois. The second was at Port Washington, Wisconsin, the third, at "Port des Morts" or Plum Island,

The completed lighthouse was exhibited in 1849 but abandoned in 1858 due primarily to its poor location.

An archeological dig completed in ____ proved the lighthouse was not built to the specifications in the contract. 

Excerpt from the Contract of 1849

Transcribed from a written document - some elements are illegible

Third, The light house and dwelling house united to be built on Plum Island, at Port du Mort, in the state of Wisconsin at a stake driven there during summer by Captain Champlin, United States Navy, as the same is more particularity set forth in a map or survey of said Island or apart thereof, as made by Capt. Champlin, and now in the possession and control of the Seat of the Treasury of United States.

 

The said light house and dwelling united, to be built and furnished as follows; the dwelling house to be of hard brick or stone, thirty six (36) by twenty (20) one story, eight feet in the clear, divided into two rooms, with an entry between, eight feet wide; walls to be (16) inches thick and laid in strong lime mortar; a cellar to be under the entire house, six feet in the clear, wall of the same, to be twenty inches thick built of stone and well laid in strong lime mortar.

 

Roof to be rectangular, covered with good seasoned boards, and shingled with shingles of the best quality, two center rafters to  be timber, seven inches by seven square for the parts of the tower to bolt in, the remainder three inches by five; a chimney at each end of the house, fire places in parlor, three windows in each parlor, three windows in each parlor sixteen lights, ten by eight each, on in each parlor, sixteen lights ten by eight each, on in each gable end, twelve lights each eicht by ten, the attic to be divided into two chambers with a space between, eight feet wide; chambers with a space between eight feet wide;  chambers to be finished lathed and plastered; parlors to be lathed and plastered; stairs to lead from the entry into the chambers closet in each parlor back of the stairs; all the floors to be laid double and well nailed; to be four windows in the attic six lights in each eight by ten each, and a door to lead outside, stairs to lead from the cellar into one of the rooms.

 

Attached to the house to be a kitchen fourteen by twelve in the clear, walls same thickness as the house, to finish ___ feet in the clear, floor to be as a level with the floor of the house, to be two doors one to lead outside, and one to open into one of the rooms in the house; two windows twelve lights each, eight by ten each; to be lathed and plastered; floor laid double; a chimney with a suitable fireplace, crane, trammel and hooks, on one side of the chimney to be an oven with an iron door, on the other side a sink with spout to lead through the wall to carry off the water.

 

Closets in the rooms to be lathed and plastered with shelves and locks on the doors; all the doors to be four paneled except the front door, which is to have frieze lights; all the doors to have good hinges and latches the front door to have a good lock, the Kitchen and outside cellar doors to have bolts. Steps to lead from the ground to under the sill of the front door, with a railing in each side; the Kitchen door to open on a platform twenty feet by thirteen. Supported by twelve pieces of timber, six inches square set in the ground on the head of which is to be laid four by four inch joints, covered with two inch plank spiked down, the top of the plank to be on a platform, to be two railings, six inches wide, three feet high except a space three feet wide in which to be a gate hung with hinges and a latch, steps to lead from the gate to the ground with a railing.

 

On the center of the house to be an octagon tower thirteen feet high above the ridge of the house, ten and one half feet diameter, the parts to be seven inches square tenoned into the beams of the house, which are to be eight inches square, well secured with girths and braces; the former to be four inches by six; to be brick pillars under the beams of the tower floor, and joists four by four framed into the beams of the lower floor to those of the upper, to support the tower; the outside of the tower to be boarded and shingled. Above the roof, around the tower where it connects with the roof of the house, to be well collared with lead, one window in the tower nine lights eight by ten each; on the top of the tower to be a framed octagonal deck, twelve and a half feet diameter, timber six by seven inches square, secured to the top of the post by mortice and tenons; the frame of the deck to be covered with two inch plank spiked down, the joints well caulked with oakum and then covered with white lead; the deck coppered with twenty two ounce copper, well nailed down.

On one side of the deck to be a scuttle to enter the lantern, as large as the space between the timbers of the deck will admit; scuttle door and rabbets to be covered with copper same as the deck. Stairs to lead from the attic story of the house to the entrance of the scuttle, the inside of the tower to be either lathed and plastered, or lined up with boards planed and jointed, plowed and tongued.

 

On the tower to be one iron lantern of an octagon form, the height and diameter sufficient to admit fifteen(?) lights

of twelve by eighteen glass in each octagon a post one and a half inches square to pass through the deck three feet and bolted on to the post of the tower, rabbets of the sashes to be three quarter inches deep, glazed with best double plate

glass, to be fastened to the sash with strong lead pins excepting the tower tier, which is to be filled in with copper; in one of the octagons to be an iron copper to sheet tight into rabbets with two strong turn buttons; the dome to be formed by sixteen iron

rafters, concentrating into an iron hoop five inches wide and nine inches diameter, covered with copper thirty ounces to the foot, which is to come down and inset to the piece that forms the top of the sash.

 

On the top of the dome to be transversing ventilator fifteen inches high and twelve inches diameter on which is to be secured a vane two feet long and and one foot wide; ventilator and vane covered with copper; around the lantern to be an iron railing posts one and one quarter of an inch square; the house to have one electrical rod made of copper, three quarter inch bolt, to run up one foot above the vane and two feet down into the ground, secured to the building with copper staples.

 

Also a well to be sunk of such depth as to provide good water, at a convenient distance from the house, to be stone or bricked up and furnished with a pump or with a curb, windlass and iron chain, and a strong iron hooped basket.

 

All the wood work of the house, including floor roof and house and the iron and copper work of the lantern to be painted three coats; the lantern to be fitted up with eight lamps and eight fourteen inch reflectors made in a mould or die as done by Mr Winslow Lewis and Messrs. Hooper & Co. of Boston In the same manner, and the reflectors to be of the same form and focus, as the United States light Houses have been fitted by Winslow Lewis; each reflector to have on it six ounces of pure silver; the light house to be furnished with two spare lamps; four double tin oil canisters to hold eighty gallons each painted two coats; a lantern canister and trivet tin wick box, tin tube box, hand lantern and lamp, oil feeder, torch, six wick formers, tow pair of scissors, two files, and one glazier diamond.

The Reality

The lighthouses built in the United States pre-1852 were notorious for being poorly constructed and poorly located. While the biggest complaint with the Port des Morts light was its location, it was very poorly constructed. 5 years after abandonment, it was described by Robert Noble as only containing a chimney and the cellar.

After being "rediscovered" in the early 2000s, an archeological dig was performed on the site by students from Hamline University, led by USFWS Archeologist James Myster.

The video below is a lecture Myster gave in ____ where he describes the dig and its findings in detail. 

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