08/30/2026
https://www.facebook.com/share/1PVRXfAUW4/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Three miles off the Lake Superior shore between L'Anse and Big Bay, eight small granite islands sit where nobody lives and almost nobody is allowed to land. On the westernmost one, a hundred feet up a cliff, a square stone lighthouse has been lit every navigation season since October 20, 1868.
It exists because of a boat full of cattle. On May 29, 1860, the side-wheel steamer Arctic ran onto one of the islands in dense fog with passengers, freight and livestock aboard. Everyone got off, cattle included. The people were picked up two days later. The cattle were left on the bare rock long enough that it has been called Cattle Island ever since.
Congress put up $17,000 in 1866 and the crews built the light out of the island itself, granite blocks quarried on the spot. Keeper Frank Witte broke his collarbone in 1909 trying to reach the crew of a schooner barge driven onto the rocks below the light. All seven drowned. The islands are a national wildlife refuge now. The lighthouse island is the only one you can land on, and the tower is locked.
The full story is in the first comment. 👇
