Caribou Island Lighthouse sits on a tiny island (Lighthouse Island) a short distance southwest of uninhabited Caribou Island in Lake Superior, the world’s largest freshwater lake. Caribou island is just inside Canadian waters, 3.5 miles from the border with Michigan in the United States, and is the most remote island in the lake. The closest Canadian airport is CYXZ in Wawa to the northeast, a 65 mile flight across open Lake Superior. Sault Ste Marie Water Aerodrome (CPX8, download here) lies 90 miles to the southeast. The closest US airport is Y98, an unimproved airfield 50 miles to the south in Grand Marais.
Dangerous shoals extending from Caribou Island hinder safe shipping activities in this area, prompting the need for a fog horn and light to warn sailors away. The first lighthouse was commissioned in 1886 by the Canadian government. It was a white-painted wooden structure with a revolving light located 76 feet above the lake surface. Getting to and from the island was quite dangerous, and two lighthouse keepers lost their lives on the lake.
The lighthouse was replaced in 1912 by a hexagonal, reinforced concrete structure, with a light 99 feet above the lake. This was one of nine lighthouses constructed at that time in Canada using flying buttresses, with the tower on Caribou Island the tallest. Six of these beautiful structures remain, including one on nearby Michipicoten Island, and others in Quebec and British Columbia. The light was produced by burning petroleum vapor until the 1960s, when a 400-watt mercury vapor electric lamp was installed, powered by a diesel generator. In the 1940s, a radio beacon and several large radar reflectors were installed. With these, passing ships could determine their distance from the island.
At its heyday the island was filled with various buildings supporting the maritime mission of the light station. But by the 1970s, technology had moved beyond the need for lighthouse keepers and complicated supporting equipment, and the lighthouse became automated. In 1992 the diesel generators were replaced by a 12-volt DC solar power plant. Most of the grand old buildings were removed, but their foundations can still be seen, along with walls and other ruins. Two beautiful buildings remain, giving visitors a sense of the impressive extent of the old light station.
Lighthouse Island is now under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Coast Guard. The lighthouse tower is closed to the public, but the island is accessible by boat or by float plane.
Caribou Island in MSFS
I tried to implement all the major structures on Lighthouse island, including the ruins of former buildings. I’m still quite a beginner with Blender, so some of the items are fairly simplistic. Even so, I hope you will enjoy the scenery. I did need to enlarge the island quite a bit due to some serious terrain issues in the simulator. In the default scenery, the island is actually depressed by several meters to a level below that of the surrounding lake.
I have created Lighthouse Island as a scenery element in MSFS. There is no airport, water runways, or other infrastructure. Just as in the real world, you will need to locate the island, land, and tie up at the float plane dock. To make the island a bit easier to find, I have included a point of interest called “Caribou Island Lighthouse.” If you have POIs turned on in the sim, you should see the indicator as you apoproach. You can also locate the POI in the World Map and set it as your destination. Just zoom into the eastern side of Lake Superior and you will find it. The weather station CWCI, which you can find depicted on Sky Vector, is located on Lighthouse Island. You can use this station to get an automated weather report for your flight.
There is no float plane dock on the actual island, but there is a jetty on the north side. I have added a dock there to make it easier to tie up. You could also tie up at the large jetty on the east side. Although there is a static Beaver tied up at the dock, there is still plenty of room for another float plane. There is also a static boat tied up in the small harbor created by the larger jetty, so if you want to tie up there you’ll need to stick to the outside of the jetty. Unfortunately, it isn’t possible to take an amphibious plane onto the island because of the changes I made to compensate for the depressed terrain.
Notes
To install the scenery, unzip and place the folder titled "mulberrywing-caribou-island" in your community folder.
To see the float plane dock you will need to download the Seaplane Asset Library from flightsim.to and place it in your community folder. Many thanks to 30West for providing this great library!
During its fateful trip in 1975, the 730-foot long iron ore freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald passed just north of Caribou Island, fighting a blizzard with 70 knot winds and seas rising to 25 feet. Some hypothesize that the ship struck ground on the reef (known as "Six Fathom Shoal"), causing structural damage that resulted in its sinking about 25 miles further on. The tragedy was immortalized in a song the following year by the famed Canadian musician Gordon Lightfoot.
CaptainMoonlight
smoothflyer
smoothflyer
MulberryWing author
1 months ago