Cap-aux-Corbeaux (Cape of the Ravens) is located five kilometres east of Baie-Saint-Paul. A lighthouse, in the form of a square, thirty-foot-tall tower with an attached dwelling, was established on October 29, 1876 on a new pier, built in the centre of the bay. This offshore pier was needed as a landing place for steamers, as the bay would dry at low tide with the exception of a few small channels.

Cap aux Corbeaux Range with Pointe de la Prairie Lighthouse Photograph courtesy Michael Boucher

On August 12, 1905, a light was established on the apex of the freight shed on the outer end of the government wharf at Cap-aux-Corbeaux. It appears that the Cap-aux-Corbeaux wharf became the primary landing location for the area, as the old lighthouse on the pier in the middle of Baie St. Paul was permanently discontinued on January 1, 1906.

In 1915, a pair of range lights was established on Cap-aux-Corbeaux using steel towers furnished by the Goold, Shapely, and Muir Company of Brantford, Ontario for $668.50. H. Trudel erected the towers on the cape for $4,123.75, and the lighting apparatus was provided and installed and the work inspected for $4,585.86. Charles E. Tremblay was hired as the first keeper of Cap-aux-Corbeaux Range.

The following description of the range lights appeared in the 1917 edition of the St. Lawrence Pilot:

A fixed white light is shown, 96 feet above high water, from a red square steel framework tower, surmounted by white watchroom and red octagonal lantern, 81 feet high, situated about 1 ½ miles eastward from Cap au Corbeau Pier.

Another fixed white light is shown, 309 feet above high water, from a similar structure, 64 feet high, situated 562 yards 27° from the front light.

These lights in line, astern, bearing 27° lead up North Channel from Cap au Corbeau to Cape Maillard.

These original skeletal towers with enclosed watchrooms were still in use in 1971, but modern towers serve the range today. Two lights are shown from each of the range towers: a fixed white light along the range at a bearing of 24° and a fixed white light that is visible over an arc from 252° to 4°, where North corresponds to 0°

Keepers: Charles E. Tremblay (1915 – 1923), G. Mailloux (1923 – 1928), A. Mailloux (1928 – at least 1937).

References

1. Annual Report of the Department of Marine, various years.

Cap-aux-Corbeaux Range is best viewed from the water. A distant view is possible from Île aux Coudres.

The range is owned by the Canadian Coast Guard. Grounds/towers closed.

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