Lake Memphremagog is a fifty-five-kilometre-long fresh water glacial lake that straddles the international border between Vermont and Quebec. Seventy-three percent of its surface area is in Quebec, but the majority of the lake’s watershed is in Vermont. The lake has twenty-one islands and drains into Magog River in Quebec.

Lake Memphremagog lies within the territory that was inhabited by the Abenaki tribe, and its name is derived from the Algonkian word Mamlawbagak, which means “a long and large sheet of water.”

In 1878, the Department of Marine had five small lighthouses built to improve navigation on Lake Memphremagog. The following information on these towers is from the Annual Report of the Department of Marine for 1878:

An appropriation was made by Parliament at its last session of $1,000 for the erection of five small beacon light towers on Lake Memphremagog, and tenders were invited and the contract for the construction of these lights was awarded to Mr. Nathan A. Beach, of Georgeville, for $975. The towers have been built to the satisfaction of the Department, and the lights were shown for the first time in September last. Temporary keepers were employed to attend to them during the balance of the season, and were allowed remuneration for their services at the rate of one dollar per week during the time the lights were in operation.

Lead Mines is located on the west side of the lake, about four miles southwest of Molson’s Island. The original, square, wooden tower was painted white and stood twenty-two feet tall. Its fixed white light had a focal plane of twenty feet above the lake.

In 1914, W.H. Davis and J.D. Cowan of Mansonville received $371 to construct a fifteen-foot-tall wooden lighthouse at Lead Mines and install a fifth-order dioptric lens in its lantern room. The men also rebuilt Black Point Lighthouse, Molson Island Lighthouse, and Wadleigh Point Lighthouse on Lake Memphremagog the same year..

Many men were responsible for Lead Mines Lighthouse over the years. The longest serving keepers was W. Wheeler, who looked after the light from 1889 until 1922.

Light Lists indicate that a lighted buoy replaced the wooden lighthouse at Black Point in 1944. There is no navigational aid at the point today.

Keepers: G.W. Farrar (at least 1881 – 1882), Loomis Miller (1884 – 1885), C.H. Gordon (1885 – 1886), C. Gardner (1886 – 1887), E.E. Cleveland (1888 – 1889), W. Wheeler (1889 – 1922), J. Wheeler (1922 – at least 1923).

References

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

No light is found at this location today.

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