Pointe Caron, formerly known as Caron’s Point and Caron Point, is located about three kilometres east of Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, which is on the westernmost point of Montreal Island in Quebec. Just offshore from Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue lies Île Perrot, and branches of Ottawa River flow around both sides of Île Perrot, linking Lake of Two Mountains to the north with Lake Saint-Louis and St. Lawrence River to the south.

A canal and lock to allow mariners to bypass the rapids at Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue was completed in 1843. A lock had been built on the west side of Île Perrot in 1816, but that canal was private while Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue Canal and its lock were public. A larger lock and canal were completed just east of the original one at Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue in 1882, and the original lock was abandoned in 1909.

After the completion of the first Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue Canal in 1843, navigation below the canal remained difficult as the channel was winding and shallow. To improve this channel, the Canadian government awarded a contract to Albert Becker Company in 1873 to construct a 1,200-foot-long approach channel that was flanked by two jetties lined with wooden planks. This feature still exists today and is known as Becker Dam.

The Department of Marine had six lighthouses constructed in 1874 along the lower part of Ottawa River, including two at Caron’s Point as described in its annual report of that year:

Six beacon light-houses of an inexpensive description were erected in the interests of the steamboat navigation of the Lower Ottawa, at the following points of that river, viz: Two at Caron’s Point, two miles below St. Anne’s, two beacons at St. Anne‘s, and two at St. Placide, about 17 miles further up the river. The beacons are square wooden buildings, and are lighted with lamps and reflectors on the catoptric principle. They were first put in operation on the 27th June last. Mr. Charles Gauthier, on the 1st May last, was placed in charge of the beacons of St. Placide at a yearly salary of $100, but no appointments have been made as yet to the charge of the others; they have been attended to by persons living in the vicinity. The cost of the construction of these beacons, including lighting apparatus, up to 30th June last, amounted to $1,618.20.

The above description indicates that two lighthouses were originally placed at Pointe Caron, but an 1878 Light List shows just one lighthouse at Pointe Caron and notes that the lighthouse had been rebuilt that year. The lighthouse was a square, wooden building that was topped by a lantern room and had a height of twenty-one feet. Two mammoth, flat-wick burners without any reflectors were originally used in the lantern room.

Antoine Caron owned the land on which the lighthouse was placed and served as its keeper from 1875 until 1889.

In 1907, the light on Pointe Caron was changed from a fixed light to a white light occulted at short intervals. On the opening of navigation in 1920, the occulting white light on Pointe Caron was changed to a fixed red catoptric light.

In 1934, a white, square, steel, tapered, skeletal tower replaced the original wooden lighthouse. This metal tower had a slatted daymark and stood forty-four feet tall. Pointe Caron Light was deactivated in 1996.

Keepers: Antoine Caron (1875 – 1889), Honore Sauve (1889 – 1912),Camille Proulx (1912 – 1917), J. Dorion (1917 – 1920), F. Robert (1920 – at least 1923).

References

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

No light exists at this location today.

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