Work began on Sand Island on June 6, 1881 with the arrival of the lighthouse tender AMARANTH to deliver a work crew and materials on the island. After constructing temporary living quarters for the crew, timber cribs 80 feet in length and 8 feet in width were sunk in the lake to create both a landing and protected harbor for the station boat and some 8 acres of thick woods were cleared for the buildings, and to afford a clear arc of visibility for the new light. The rough stone was quarried, and work began on dressing the stone to working dimensions on June 27. With the delivery of the stone to the work site soon thereafter, the work crew turned its attention to the lighthouse itself. Read more about Sand Island at "Seeing the Light": terrypepper.com/lights/superior/sand/index.htm
The Devils Island Light was exhibited for the first time on the evening of September 30, 1891, its light visible at a distance of 13 miles across the surface of the lake. As you can see in the photograph, Devils Island is one of the few lighthouses in the country that still displays the Fresnel lens.
