Saving the U.S.

Life-Saving Station on Plum Island

By Matt Foss

1
 On April 1, 1896 a United States Life-Saving Station became operational on

Plum Island, Wisconsin.1 For ninety-four years, the station, under the U.S. Life-Saving Service

and later the U.S. Coast Guard, overlooked the often treacherous waters connecting Lake

Michigan with the bay of Green Bay. The Porte des Morts Passage or “Death‟s Door” as it is

known is a popular waterway which vessels, both large and small, have frequented with high

volume since the middle of the nineteenth century.

Since Death‟s Door became a popular waterway, there has been an undeterminable

number of shipwrecks and near tragedies surrounding the passage. The winds in the area are

notorious for their power and unpredictability and the currents are strong near the rocky shoals

which extend from nearby shores. The crews of this U.S. Life-Saving Service Station and U.S.

Coast Guard Station spent an ample amount of time rescuing vessels, cargo, and passengers from

peril around Death‟s Door.

In 1990, when the U.S. Coast Guard decided to abandon the station on Plum Island and

create a new one on nearby Washington Island, Wisconsin, Plum Island fell under the

jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management which decided in 2007 that the island would be

controlled by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Beginning in 1990 and continuing with the

decision by the Bureau of Land Management seventeen years later, the federal government

established a paradigm, designating Plum Island as a wildlife preserve for migratory birds.

Looking at Plum Island now, from either Washington Island or the Door County Peninsula, it is

difficult to imagine it was ever the location of a full-time U.S. Life-Saving Station. The buildings

which comprised the station look run-down and in need of repairs with outdated roofing, broken

windows, and siding requiring a fresh coat of paint.

1
Records of the United States Coast Guard, Record Group 26, Box 480, National Archives and Records
Administration, Chicago, Illinois.

2
 It is hard to picture Plum Island as it once was for older generations, and it is almost

impossible to imagine anything important once existed on the island for younger generations.

While envisioning the island as an integral part of the region‟s history is tough, the Plum Island

Life-Saving Station was exactly that. Day after day, the crew of this station risked their lives to

save vessels and people from peril around Death‟s Door. Because of the Plum Island Life-Saving

Station‟s role for almost a century, and its current condition of necessitating repairs, it too

deserves to be rescued.

The Historiography of Plum Island

The written history of Plum Island and its life-saving station and lighthouse stations is not

vast. In fact, the most comprehensive work regarding the island‟s history is a National Register

of Historic Places Nomination for Plum Island, written by Sarah Zaske. The nomination gives a

brief history of both the life-saving station and lighthouse stations, and focuses predominantly on

the architectural significance and regional importance of the island, as a good National Register

of Historic Places Nomination should.

Plum Island does have a chapter dedicated to its lighthouse stations in Steve Karges‟

well researched Keepers of the Lights: Lighthouse Keepers and Their Families, Door County,

Wisconsin 1837-1939, and the life-saving station is referenced in Frederick Stonehouse‟s

influential Wreck Ashore: The United States Life-Saving Service on the Great Lakes, but other

than that Plum Island has not been the subject of any historical monographs or scholarly articles

known to the author. This makes initial research difficult, but provides opportunity for this work

to fill this gap in historical research.

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 Another forgotten subject in historical monographs and articles is the United States Life-

Saving Service. While an important government agency for over forty years, there are not many

resources detailing the impact the U.S. Life-Saving Service had on maritime traffic in the United

States. The aforementioned Wreck Ashore serves as my main source for information regarding

the Life-Saving Service. Another work, Life on a Lonely Shore, by Edward Canfield and Thomas

Allan, is an important study of the Vermillion Point Life-Saving Station, providing historical

context for my research on the Plum Island Life-Saving Station.

While scholarship regarding the U.S. Life-Saving Service is lacking, there are plenty of

monographs and articles which explain the history of lighthouses in the United States. While the

lighthouse stations on Plum Island are not the focus of this work, these resources expand my

knowledge of maritime history and the history of lighthouses in the area surrounding Plum

Island, providing valuable historical context for the entire history of the island.

The Early History of Plum Island and its Lights

The federal government began its interest in Plum Island in 1837, when the U.S. Naval

Board sent a naval officer to northeast Wisconsin to determine the need for lighthouses. While

there was the Pottawatomie Light on nearby Rock Island, the officer determined the Porte des

Morts Passage, which was becoming increasingly popular with maritime traffic and whose

reputation created the nickname “Death‟s Door,” should also have a lighthouse.2

The United States Congress finally agreed with the Naval Board in 1848, when they

appropriated $3,500 for the construction of a lighthouse on Plum Island. After President James

K. Polk reserved the island from public domain, construction began on what would be known as

2
Steve Karges, Keepers of the Lights: Lighthouse Keepers & Their Families, Door County, Wisconsin-1837-1939
(Ellison Bay, Wisconsin: Wm Caxton Ltd, 2000), 52-53.

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the first Porte des Morts light.3 This light fit into an important historical trend. There were only

fifty-nine lighthouses under federal government control in 1820, and by 1850 there were 297.4

The first Porte des Morts light represented one of those 238 lights.

However, the lighthouse lasted only ten years when it was determined the light was too

far west to mark the Porte des Morts Passage for mariners.5 The Lighthouse Board, the

government agency in charge of federally operated lights, decided a lighthouse suited nearby

Porte des Morts Island (known as Pilot Island today) better than Plum Island. While the second

Porte des Morts Light, currently known as Pilot Island Light was under construction, the

Lighthouse Board decided to abandon the lighthouse on Plum Island and transfer the crew to the

new light.6 Although the government abandoned the island, it remained reserved from public

domain, meaning it was unavailable for sale to the public, showing the government‟s foresight

into the possible future use of the island.

It would not be until the early 1890s when Plum Island would again become prominent in

maritime issues around Death‟s Door. In 1890, 1891, and 1892 the U.S. Lighthouse Board

petitioned Congress for $21,000, the equivalent of over $495,000 in today‟s economy, to build

range lights and a fog signal on the southwest side of Plum Island.7 The request likely originated

for two reasons.

First, the number of shipwrecks in the Porte des Morts Passage increased since the first

lighthouse was left in ruins and the Lighthouse Board saw the need for a light to protect the

vessels traveling through. Second, as Great Lakes merchant vessels switched from sail to steam

3
Ibid.
4
George Weiss, The Lighthouse Service: Its History, Activities, and Organization (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1926), 19.
5
Sarah Zaske, National Register of Historic Places Nomination for Plum Island Life-Saving Station and Light,
Section 8, Page 2, 2009.
6
Ibid.
7
Karges, 58. Also, http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi (accessed on 3/9/2010).

5
in the 1890s, ownership also changed. While merchant vessels using sails typically were

privately owned, steam powered vessels were usually owned and operated by large shipping

companies. In order to protect their ships, employees, and cargo, Great Lakes shipping

companies undoubtedly used political influence to encourage the Lighthouse Board to suggest

improvements for aids to navigation.

This was not uncommon during the early 1890s, as the Lighthouse Board suggested and

received appropriations for improvements to many light stations in Door County. Pottawatomie

light on Rock Island and the lights at Eagle Bluff, Chambers Island, Sherwood Point, Sturgeon

Bay Canal, and Cana Island all experienced renovations during this time. While Congress tabled

the Lighthouse Board‟s proposal all three years, the money was finally appropriated in 1895 to

build range light towers, a keeper‟s dwelling, fog signal house, boathouse, oil house, landings,

and outbuildings.8 The next year, Congress also appropriated funds for a U.S. Life-Saving

Station on Plum Island.

The U.S. Life-Saving Service and the Plum Island Station

The origin of the U.S. Life-Saving Service is found in the history of the United States

Treasury Department. During the nineteenth century, the Treasury Department was the

government agency which oversaw shipping in the United States. Included in the Treasury

Department were the U.S. Lighthouse Service, U.S. Steamboat Inspections Service, U.S.

Revenue-Cutter Service, and later the U.S. Life-Saving Service.9

Before the U.S. Life-Saving Service officially formed, “life-saving” consisted of

volunteers, known as surfmen, making themselves available for rescues of vessels and people in

8
Karges, 58.
9
Edward J. Canfield, D.O. and Thomas A. Allan, Ph.D., Life on a Lonely Shore: A History of the Vermillion Point
Life-Saving Station (Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan: Lake Superior State University Press, 1991), 3.

6
distress at sea. Throughout the 1800s, Congress appropriated funds to the Revenue-Marine for

life-saving stations and equipment, mostly along the east coast, but it would not be until 1871

when the U.S. Life-Saving Service would be created and begin their legacy on the coasts and

Great Lakes.

The winter of 1870-1871 proved to be brutal, especially on the Great Lakes with a total

of 1,167 disasters and 214 lives lost.10 Inspired by the tragedies, Congress authorized the

Secretary of the Treasury, George S. Boutwell, to “employ crews of experienced surfmen at such

stations and for such periods as he might deem necessary and proper.”11 Volunteer life-savers

were a thing of the past, and the United States Life-Saving Service became an agency under the

Revenue-Marine and later a separate entity under the U.S. Treasury Department in 1878.12

By 1896, the U.S. Life-Saving Service agreed Plum Island needed a life-saving station.

Increased marine traffic and dissatisfaction with only one light and one fog signal on nearby

Pilot Island influenced Congress to appropriate funds for the aforementioned range lights and

life-saving station. Finished in 1896 on the northwest side of the island, the 59‟ x 41‟ one-and-

one-half story Duluth-type- life-saving station is the sole surviving Duluth-type-life-saving

station on the Great Lakes.13

Characteristics of a Duluth-type-life-saving station include one-and-one-half stories,

including a two-bay boat room and a four story lookout tower, which the original Plum Island

station had. The “Duluth type” or “Duluth style” was a design of architect George Tolman. This

10
Frederick Stonehouse, Wreck Ashore: The United States Life Saving Service on the Great Lakes (Duluth,
Minnesota: Lake Superior Port Cities, 1994), 13.
11
Ibid.
12
Stonehouse, 15.
13
Zaske, Section 7, Page 2.

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style was the popular design for life-saving station construction between the mid-1890s and the

early 1900s. In fact, fifteen were constructed on the Great Lakes alone between 1894 and 1904.14

The Plum Island station also included a keeper‟s room, for the captain of the station, a

kitchen, an office, a mess hall, sleeping quarters for the surfmen, and storage for the numerous

pieces of equipment assigned to each life-saving station.15 Also part of the station in 1896 was an

outbuilding, a storage facility for coal, wood, and paint, and an unimproved roadway between the

station and the range lights on the southwest side of the island.16 To become operational, what

the Plum Island station needed at this time was a crew.

The First Years of Operation

The District Superintendent of the Eleventh District of the U.S. Life-Saving Service

appointed a man named Ingar Olsen to be the first keeper of the Plum Island Life-Saving Station.

Olsen, a native Norwegian, spent the prior six years to his appointment as a surfmen at the

Milwaukee Life-Saving Station. Olsen acquired an outstanding service record in Milwaukee, and

even earned a Gold Lifesaving Medal in 1893 for his efforts in a rescue.17

Typically, appointees to the position of keeper at U.S. Life-Saving stations were under

the age of fifty-five, had good service records, and were physically capable of performing all the

duties required in a possible rescue, plus be willing to live at the station year-round.

Additionally, the keeper of the station was held responsible for all the surfmen, equipment, and

14
Stonehouse, 52.
15
Zaske, Section 7, Pages 3-6.
16
Zaske, Section 7, Pages 7-9.
17
Zaske, Section 8, Page 8. The U.S. Life-Saving Service was separated into districts, the eleventh district being the
one with Plum Island and other Lake Michigan life-saving stations.

8
the station‟s boats. The keeper‟s position also required writing in two detailed logs, one to record

daily activities at the station, and one for reporting the station‟s responses to shipwrecks.18

A letter to Ingar Olsen from the District Superintendent says as much: “In view of your

good record since you have entered the Life-Saving Service, I have determined to nominate you

as keeper of the new Life-Saving Station of „Plum Island,‟ Wisconsin, providing you are willing

to serve.”19 The Superintendent also provided a caveat: “The station will not be fully manned

before midsummer, and do not engage, or promise people (employment) until later.”20 Even after

knowing he would be by himself for a large percentage of the first year, and that he had to live

on nearby Washington Island until the station was fit out, Ingar Olsen signed his appointment

papers, agreeing to a salary of $900 per year as keeper of the Plum Island Life-Saving Station.21

The Superintendent was not lying when he told Olsen the station would be undermanned.

While the station received two additional crew members in early April of 1896, there was very

little Olsen and two surfmen could do to assist any distressed vessels in the area. The daily logs

of the station show Olsen and crew clearing a lot of land, hauling stone, and building a small

pier. When Olsen and his two crew members did report to a wrecked vessel, they used either a

skiff or a sailboat to attend to the vessel, sometimes being gone for hours, without providing

much assistance to the wrecked ship or its crew.22

What could they do? With only three men, there were not enough crew members for the

station to have a constant patrol or lookout, they could not operate the larger oar-powered

surfboat or lifeboat, and were not able to set up some of the most useful U.S. Life-Saving

18
Stonehouse, 29-30.
19
Personal Papers of Joseph F. Sladky, private collection, Livermore, California.
20
Ibid.
21
Ibid.
22
Records of the United States Coast Guard, Record Group 26, Box 480, National Archives and Records
Administration, Chicago, Illinois.

9
Service‟s equipment. They would have to wait until late summer when the actions of the Plum

Island crew resembled that of crews at other stations around the lakes.

There was a full crew (eight, including the keeper) by August. During this time, keeper

Olsen conducted daily drills including signal practice, resuscitation drills, and drills with the

station‟s boats. The crew was also able to go on the normal two-hour patrols, where two surfmen

would walk for an hour in separate directions, starting at the station and returning two hours

later. Further, the eight crew members could now attend to wrecked vessels in the manner the

U.S. Life-Saving Service intended, with full equipment, and the ability to use a larger boat for

rescue efforts.23

With a full crew for only a portion of the inaugural season, the importance of the station

in 1896 was that it was there. The Plum Island Life-Saving Station became a constant stopover

for mail carriers, vessels in distress, and others fearful of the voyage from Washington Island to

the mainland. Those who stopped at the station usually received hospitality from the keeper and

the keeper‟s wife, including the occasional warm meal, and a possible bed to sleep in for the

night. With only the full crew there part of the time, food supplies and empty beds were ample in

1896.

The most interesting case of Plum Island hospitality came when a passenger vessel had to

anchor off of the island, because a female passenger experienced such strong headaches she

needed to leave the ship. She arrived at the station and immediately received treatment. Keeper

Ingar Olsen‟s wife fixed a concoction of peppermint and tea for the woman, and her headaches

subsided. In the daily log of the station, keeper Olsen remarked she was very grateful. 24

23
Ibid.
24
Records of the United States Coast Guard, Record Group 26, Box 481, National Archives and Records
Administration, Chicago, Illinois.

10
 When, at the beginning of the 1897 season the crew started with six, the station

resembled other stations around the Great Lakes.25 While work at the Plum Island station still

included cutting logs, building cribs and piers, picking rock, and hauling supplies in 1897, which

was not similar to the work found at many other stations on the lakes, the keeper and crew were

able to perform the daily and weekly standard duties of the U.S. Life-Saving Service. These

duties included drills regarding the crew‟s equipment, also known as beach apparatus,

resuscitation, the International Code of Signals, and the use of the station‟s Mackinaw boat.26

There were also enough crew members to properly clean the station once per week,

usually on Saturday, and clean and maintain the station‟s boats including the Mackinaw boat,

surf boat, ice boat, and supply boat. While all of these tasks were essential in preparing the crew

for rescues and keeping the station and its boats in proper working order, the most important

benefit of having a full crew at the beginning of the season was the ability for the Plum Island

station to conduct patrols, lookouts, and rescue missions from the beginning of the season until

the end of the season.27

The aforementioned two-hour patrols were only feasible with a full crew, the same with

lookout duty, where a member of the crew would keep a watch in the four-story lookout tower of

the station. Now with seven total men at the station beginning in April of 1897, when they saw or

heard about a vessel in distress, the life-savers of Plum Island could respond with a full crew in

their Mackinaw boat or surfboat and properly assist the vessel rather than just arrive on the scene

25
Records of the United States Coast Guard, Record Group 26, Box 480, National Archives and Records
Administration, Chicago, Illinois.
26
Ibid.
27
Ibid.

11
and assist in the salvage efforts. In May and June of 1897, the station‟s crew assisted two vessels

in need, and towed a scow to Washington Island after it had collided with a schooner in the fog.28

One aspect of the station‟s response to wrecked vessels that differed from other stations

on the lakes was the use of equipment. In the crew‟s rescue efforts, they rarely if ever employed

life-saving equipment like the Lyle gun, breeches buoy, or heaving stick in the early years. In the

Plum Island Station‟s wreck report logs, there are entries to record if the keeper or crew used

such equipment in a rescue, but Keeper Olsen repeatedly marked “no” to the question if such

equipment was used in a rescue.29 Only by 1899, does the heaving stick, an object used to

connect surfmen with the crew of a vessel become used, and equipment like the Lyle gun, a

mortar used to shoot a line out to a vessel in danger,30 or breeches buoy, a pair of canvas

breeches attached to a cork life ring, connected to four rope lanyards to a block or metal hook

rigged to a heavy line running between a vessel and the shore, become used sparingly.31

While equipment usage on Plum Island did not resemble other life-saving stations, the

daily process of drills, patrols, cleaning, and the occasional rescue mirrored other stations on the

Great Lakes. This remained the status quo until the early 1900s, when two technological

innovations changed the way the station‟s crew responded to wrecks, and the frequency of

wrecks themselves. The first major change to daily operations at the Plum Island Life-Saving

Station was the emergence of a telephone. In the summer of 1903, Congress appropriated funds

to lay a telephone cable from the Door County Peninsula to Plum Island and on to Washington

28
Records of the Washington Island Archives, Box 53, Washington Island, Wisconsin.
29
Ibid.
30
Stonehouse, 123-124. The 2 ½ inch in diameter mortar (24 ½ inches in length) was the Life-Saving Service
standard Lyle Gun. The line was attached to a fifteen inch, nineteen pound projectile, which was shot out of the
mortar towards the vessel. The Lyle Gun would be fired from shore and could reach a ship over 100 yards away.
31
Stonehouse, 113.

12
Island.32 By November of 1903, the crew and keeper, Frank E. Johnson, were not only preparing

the station for winter but also helping a telephone linesman prepare telephone poles, cut through

the woods for the lines, and transporting the linesman from the mainland to the two islands.33

While these actions took up a large portion of the crew‟s time, this was not the

importance of the telephone. Beginning in the summer of 1904, the Plum Island Life-Saving

Station could now be contacted by telephone. Prior to the establishment of a telephone

connection, wrecks were reported either by surfmen on patrol or lookout, distress signals from

vessels in peril, or by word of mouth.

In fact, one wreck in September of 1902 involved a stranded vessel three miles east of

Rock Island, approximately eleven miles to the northeast of Plum Island. A surfmen on liberty

on Washington Island heard about the vessel from the local Richter Brothers fishermen who

were fishing off of Rock Island, and reported it when he returned to the station later in the day.34

Clearly, there was a significant period of time between when the vessel became endangered and

when the life-savers on Plum Island heard about it.

Following telephone service, if someone viewed a ship in danger or people in trouble on

the water they could call the station. In fact, many of the wrecks reported during the first decade

of the 1900s were by Bo Andersen, proprietor of a resort on Washington Island overlooking

Detroit Harbor where many merchant vessels, personal watercraft and commercial fisherman

frequented. Light keepers at nearby Pilot Island and Rock Island, who also had good vantage

points for shipwrecks, were also frequent callers to the Plum Island station.

32
Hannes M. Andersen, Washington Island: A Maritime History Through the Years, Volume II (Washington Island,
Wisconsin: published by the author, 2009), 101.
33
Records of the United States Coast Guard, Record Group 26, Box 482, National Archives and Records
Administration, Chicago, Illinois.
34
Records of the Washington Island Archives, Box 53, Washington Island, Wisconsin.

13
 Also in the decade, the emergence of the gasoline engine had a significant impact on the

type of “wrecked” vessels and the fashion in which the station responded to them. After 1903-

1904, there were more personal watercrafts with gasoline engines appearing in the wreck report

logs of the station, including yachts and other pleasure crafts, and slowly the cargo vessels so

prevalent around Washington, Detroit and Plum Islands in the 1890s, decreased. The type of

“wreck” also changed due to the switch to gasoline engines. As time went on, the wreck report

logs show fewer wrecks where the vessel became “stranded,” or had “dragged anchor.”

Increasingly popular reasons for wrecks became “disabled machinery,” “no gasoline,” or

“springing leaks.”35

The most important aspect of the emergence of the gasoline engine was for the benefit of

the Plum Island Life-Saving Station‟s rescue efforts. Now, instead of sails or oars, gasoline

engines could power the station‟s surfboat, lifeboat, and supply boat, vastly reducing the time

between leaving the station and their destination. Although the gasoline engines in the first

decade of the twentieth century were not as efficient as they are today, it was an improvement

over the prior methods to power the station‟s vessels.

In fact, prior to the use of the telephone and gasoline engine, there were rumors the

government wanted to build another life-saving station just for Washington Island. The local

newspaper, The Door County Advocate reported in the summer of 1901: “There is talk of a Life

Saving Station in this neighborhood (Washington Harbor on the northern end of Washington

Island). A good many wrecks occur in bad weather. There are no facilities for reporting disaster

by wire, so reporting is slow and uncertain.”36 After improved communication and transportation

for the Plum Island Life-Saving Station, such ideas were set aside.

35
Records of the Washington Island Archives, Box 53, Washington Island, Wisconsin.
36
Andersen, 92.

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 An example of the positive impact of both the telephone and gasoline engine came in

June of 1910. After notified that the steamer Chas. A. Eddy was on a reef around Poverty Island,

a small island over twenty miles to the northeast of Plum Island, the crew traveled to the site and

stayed with the vessel for six days. They worked to get the vessel afloat, and carried messages

and supplies from the steamer to Escanaba, Michigan.37 Rescues such as this one were

unimaginable before either the telephone or gasoline engine.

Famous and Interesting Wrecks

The legacy of the Plum Island Life-Saving Station centers on the station and its crews‟

response to “wrecked” vessels. Over the years, there were several “wrecks” which either were

remembered for their importance, or were so fascinating they should be remembered simply

because of the details surrounding the wreck. One such wreck happened in September 1904,

when a yacht from Green Bay sprang a leak in Death‟s Door. The people on the yacht manned

the pumps but could not reduce the volume of water rushing in. Luckily for the yacht and

passengers, a boat with keeper Frank Johnson and surfman Anton Jessen from the Plum Island

Life-Saving Station was nearby. The two men boarded the yacht and after understanding the

problem, found some sawdust and forced it under the flooring of the yacht, suppressing the leak

so the pumps could finally make headway reducing the amount of water in the vessel. The

condition of the yacht maintained to a point where they ran it ashore to fix the leak and remove

the rest of the water. 38

In July of 1905, the life-saving crew showed their versatility in a rescue situation when

the steamer George Presley caught fire and wrecked in West Harbor on Washington Island,

37
Andersen, 139.
38
Andersen, 104.

15
causing the dock in West Harbor to ignite in flames. Once the crew arrived on the scene, they

fought the fire for over three hours before finally realizing the steamer was a total loss.39 While

not trained at fighting fire, the crew bravely attempted to curb the flames in order to save the ship

from destruction. The large rudder from the Presley resides in West Harbor to this day.

Almost four years later, fire was an issue in another wreck, this time near Ellison Bay on

the Door County Peninsula. In June of 1909, the Lilly Amiot, owned by John and Abraham

Jessen carried merchandise for the Gisalsons, Koyens, and Andersens of Washington Island.

Besides merchandise, the Lilly Amiot also hauled gasoline and dynamite as cargo. Predictably,

the vessel caught fire. After the cabin caught fire, the crew of the Amiot abandoned the ship and

let it drift off shore, where it eventually exploded some 400 feet away. The Plum Island crew

traveled all the way to the site and helped the men who abandoned the vessel, and also assisted in

the salvage efforts after the explosion.40

The most famous rescue mission of the Plum Island Life-Saving Station, and perhaps the

most courageous, occurred in November of 1913, during the storm known as the “White

Hurricane.” Between November 7th and November 10th, nineteen ships were lost on the Great

Lakes, with another nineteen stranded because of the weather. At least 250 lives were lost in the

storm which spanned the entire Great Lakes.41

After several ships in distress sought refuge in Washington Harbor on Washington Island,

the Plum Island Life-Saving crew braved the weather to help those in need. It took over fifty

minutes to get from the station to Detroit Harbor on Washington Island, as they faced up to

39
Records of the Washington Island Archives, Box 54, Washington Island, Wisconsin.
40
Records of the Washington Island Archives, Box 54, Washington Island, Wisconsin.
41
Zaske, Section 8, Page 9.

16
seventy mile per hour winds, freezing temperatures, and heavy snowfall.42 After landing in

Detroit Harbor, the crew carried their equipment, including beach apparatus and breeches buoy,

over land to the Washington Harbor on the northern end of Washington Island.43

When the crew arrived at Washington Harbor, one vessel, the Louisiana, was already on

fire and burned beyond rescue, with the crew safe ashore. One vessel, the barge Halstead,

needed assistance, and the life-saving crew attempted to set up the breeches buoy in order to get

the crew of the barge off. Unfortunately, the Halstead proved to be too far from shore to get a

line to her.44

For twenty hours, in full gale conditions, the Plum Island Life-Saving crew attempted to

get a line to the Halstead. Finally, the barge was forced ashore by a large swell, and the life-

savers assisted the crew of the barge to disembark while she was hard against a shelf of rock.45 In

all, the life-saving crew spent four days on patrol in Washington Harbor, waiting to assist other

vessels if necessary in some of the nastiest weather imaginable. The Plum Island crew‟s response

to the Louisiana and Halstead in November of 1913, showed their bravery and commitment to

saving those in need around Death‟s Door.

Life on the Island

While responding to vessels and persons in danger comprised the most important and

newsworthy moments as life-savers and eventually U.S. Coast Guardsmen, it was not

representative of daily life at the Plum Island Life-Saving Station. The daily routine of a surfman

depended on the day. On Monday, the keeper would drill the surfmen on the use of the beach

42
Records of the United States Coast Guard, Record Group 26, Box 485, National Archives and Records
Administration, Chicago, Illinois. Also, Zaske, Section 8, Page 9.
43
Ibid.
44
Ibid.
45
Ibid.

17
apparatus, Tuesday was set aside for practice with the station‟s boats, Wednesday involved the

drilling of surfmen with the international code of signals (and the keeper would mark in the daily

log when surfmen got answers wrong), Thursday saw more beach apparatus drills, and Friday

was for the practice of resuscitating drowning victims. Saturdays were usually set aside for

cleaning the station.46

When not participating in drills or practice, or on patrol or lookout, the surfmen usually

completed some form of maintenance around the station, either painting the buildings, working

on piers, or working on the station‟s boats.47 When not doing general work around the station,

the keeper authorized surfmen to depart the station between sunrise and sunset for recreational

activities. The only condition was the surfmen were not allowed to go beyond signal distance.48

Additionally, keepers gave one surfman liberty per day. With seven surfmen, each man received

at least four days of liberty per month, which they would usually take one of the station‟s smaller

boats over to Washington Island for the day.49

The reason surfmen typically went to Washington Island for the day was to visit extended

family and friends. This became a way to escape the isolation of being on Plum Island with a

keeper and six other surfmen for the majority of the month. For some of the surfmen, they did

not have to go to Washington Island to be with family. Beginning in the infancy of the station

and continuing for decades, surfmen built homes on the island for themselves and their

immediate family members.

Standard practice of the U.S. Life-Saving Service was to sign surfmen to one year

contracts, with the surfmen required to work and live at the station during the active season,

46
Stonehouse, 67.
47
Records of the United States Coast Guard, Record Group 26, Box 480-485, National Archives and Records
Administration, Chicago, Illinois.
48
Stonehouse, 75.
49
Stonehouse, 76.

18
usually April through December.50 Although several surfmen left the island when the season

concluded, several surfmen stayed on Plum Island with their families. The U.S. Life-Saving

Service permitted surfmen to build cabins near the station, the cabins being typically made out of

logs and other construction materials found on the island.51

There is evidence of cabins for families of surfmen on Plum Island as early as 1898, as

Martin Knudsen, the keeper of the Plum Island range light station on the other side of the island

recalls. In fact, the Knudsens hosted the life-saving crew and their families for the Christmas

holiday in 1898.52 Ice skating on a pond became a winter holiday tradition for the crews and

families of the Plum Island range light station and Plum Island Life-Saving Station.53

One difference between life and work on Plum Island, compared to other life-saving

stations was the availability of able surfmen. During the first decade of the twentieth century,

Great Lakes life-saving stations faced serious personnel issues. Low pay and the lack of a

pension program in the U.S. Life-Saving Service led to diminished numbers of surfmen. Besides

low pay, the life-savers, who were convinced their work was as dangerous as the soldiers and

sailors in the military, who did receive pensions, also desired those specific benefits.54

Even a representative from the Lake Carrier‟s Association, an organization comprised of

shipping companies on the Great Lakes, lobbied for Congress to create pensions for life-savers,

knowing their positive impact on Great Lakes shipping. However, Congress agreed it would set a

dangerous precedent to give pensions to life-savers, knowing other government employees

would soon ask for pensions as well.55 With no pension program established by Congress and

50
Canfield and Allan, 7.
51
Ibid.
52
Karges, 70.
53
Karges, 75. In fact, three of the cabins built by surfmen for their families on Plum Island are now on Washington
Island after being dragged across the ice in the wintertime.
54
Stonehouse, 40.
55
Ibid.

19
still low pay rates, some life-saving stations on the Great Lakes had only four surfmen on their

roster. Many temporary surfmen or volunteer surfmen were used by many stations on the lakes

during this shortage, with the condition finally stabilized between 1909 and 1912.56 Curiously,

there was no shortage of surfmen on Plum Island. While occasionally a surfman would leave to

pursue a career in the Great Lakes shipping business, or left due to personal reasons or health

concerns, the roster of the Plum Island Life-Saving Station remained filled and constant through

the years.

The U.S. Coast Guard Takes Over

By 1914, fewer steamers on the Great Lakes took chances by sailing through coastal

hazards like the ones found in Death‟s Door. With the increased use of deep water transportation,

life-saving stations like the one on Plum Island viewed less steamers passing by, decreasing the

chances for local wrecks.57 This trend influenced the Treasury Department, the government

agency responsible for the U.S. Life-Saving Service, to propose the merging of the U.S. Life-

Saving Service and the Revenue-Cutter Service. By 1915, both were under the jurisdiction of the

U.S. Coast Guard.58

One would think the change of the Plum Island Life-Saving Station from the U.S. Life-

Saving Service to the U.S. Coast Guard was drastic. That was not the case. Although the status

of the keeper and surfmen of the station changed from civilian to military and they became year-

round rather than seasonal employees, not much in the day to day operation changed on Plum

Island. They gained an additional surfman to the crew, and there were opportunities to acquire

newer equipment, but the daily operations stayed the same, including drills, patrols, and

56
Stonehouse, 41.
57
Stonehouse, 198.
58
Ibid.

20
responses to wrecks. Even the log books used for the U.S. Life-Saving Service saw continued

use by the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Connection to the Washington Island Community

From the beginning of the life-saving station‟s presence on Plum Island, a strong

relationship developed with the community of nearby Washington Island. The first major

connection between the two islands were the people that either came from Plum Island to

Washington Island, or the native Washington Islanders who became surfmen on Plum Island, or

Washington Island girls who married life-savers or Coast Guardsmen. Looking at the roster

through the years of the U.S. Life-Saving Station and U.S. Coast Guard Station on Plum Island,

it is easy to see the names of people who either were originally from Washington Island or

eventually made their home on Washington Island after their service. Names such as Jessen,

Jacobsen, Moe, Magnusson, Gunnerson, Lockhardt, Peterson, Aznoe, Landin, and Thiele are just

some of the names connected with both service on Plum Island and life on Washington Island.

Another, perhaps obvious link between the two islands, was the number of rescues

involving vessels or persons from Washington Island. Looking through the wreck report logs of

the Plum Island station, a majority of the wrecks responded to were for vessels from Washington

Island. In fact, more entries in the wreck report logs are dedicated to rescue efforts for

Washington Island mail carriers than for any other reason. It makes perfect sense Washington

Island mail carriers would comprise a large portion of the “wrecks” the Plum Island crew

responded to. Often one person taking a small boat across a distance of over seven miles, with

noted dangerous waters and weather, almost daily, was a situation designed for trouble. Whether

21
the problem was human or mechanical, or attributed to dangerous conditions, being a mail carrier

on Washington Island was not easy in the 1800s and early 1900s.

One anecdote signifying the Plum Island crew‟s care for the people and property of

Washington Island came in the aforementioned “White Hurricane” in November of 1913. After

the Plum Island life-saving crew arrived in Washington Harbor on Washington Island, they

realized they were too late to save the steamer Louisiana. While the ship was lost, the fire that

burned her endangered the shoreline as well. A house owned by Mr. and Mrs. G. Goodman

(Gudmundur) was only a few yards away from the burning steamer, and was also in danger of

catching fire. Viewing possible tragedy, the Plum Island crew along with the Goodman‟s

neighbors packed all of the elderly couple‟s household goods and removed them quickly. The

crew also watched over the fire and the belongings until the danger and fire subsided.59

Perhaps the most well known moment where the crew of the Plum Island station assisted

the people of Washington Island came in March of 1935. After attending a basketball game in

Ellison Bay, on the Door County Peninsula, six men travelled in a car over the ice back to

Washington Island. However, the car fell through about two miles from Gills Rock in 120 feet of

water. There were a number of cars, also having previously attended the basketball game,

planning to cross the ice that morning, but the car with the six men decided to go earlier and take

a short cut across the ice covered passage. 60

The car plunged below the ice with the six men inside of it. John W. (Bub) Cornell, Jr.,

Norman Nelson, Ray Richter, Leroy Einarson, Roy Stover, and Ralph Wade all drowned. The

crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Station on Plum Island immediately responded and began the

process of removing the car and men from Death‟s Door. Using grappling hooks, the Coast

59
Andersen, 162.
60
Andersen, 334.

22
Guardsmen retrieved the bodies one by one, and eventually brought the submerged automobile

up to the surface with the help of three local commercial fishing boats and a Coast Guard cutter,

there to help break up some of the ice.61 While there was nothing the life-savers on Plum Island

could do to prevent the tragedy, their actions in recovering the bodies for the grieving families

remains an important moment in the history of not only the Plum Island Life-Saving / Coast

Guard Station, but Washington Island as well.

Changes to the Station on Plum Island

During the 1920s and 1930s, significant changes were made to the social and physical

landscape of the U.S. Coast Guard Station on Plum Island. One change was in the number of

cottages for Coast Guardsmen and their families. As previously mentioned, it was common for

crew members of the U.S. Life-Saving Service and later the U.S. Coast Guard to build small

cottages for their families near the station. Some of the cottages were there as early as 1898 and

by 1915 there were only four of the cottages on the island. However, by the late 1920s, there

were seven cottages, making Plum Island a place for a number of families during the

summertime.62

There were even calls for a school on Plum Island to accommodate all the children living

there for part of the year. One article found in the local newspaper the Door County Advocate

stated as much:

A school on Plum Island has been the dream of the light keepers and life savers
for the past 20 years. There seems to be a move on foot to get one there in the near future.
Many children reside there, especially in the summer, and they certainly are entitled to
education. Indian schools and schools for foreigners and schools in other lands are
maintained by our government and it certainly seems that Plum Island is entitled to one.

61
Andersen, 333-334.
62
Zaske, Section 8, Page 10.

23
 At present, the Captain of the station‟s wife and children are in Sturgeon Bay on account
of schools.63

While no school opened on Plum Island, the talk concerning such ideas proved that Plum

Island during the 1920s and 1930s was definitely different than it was any time before or after.

One of the best accounts of what life was like then came from Sylvia Landin, the wife of

Wallace Landin, a Coast Guardsman stationed on Plum Island, who lived with him and their four

children on the island from 1929 to 1935.64 Sylvia and her husband bought one of the seven

cottages on the island from a former crew member for $325 in 1929.65

Although the station had electricity at the time, she recalled that none of the cottages did,

making winter rough with heat provided by coal or wood and light created by kerosene lanterns.

However, school age children did not endure the winters because they lived with family or

friends on Washington Island or the Door County Peninsula to receive education, justifying some

desires for a school to be built on Plum Island. Really, the lifeline for the families on the island

was the station‟s thirty-six foot supply boat Valiant, which the crew nicknamed “the Bull”

because of her ability to fight through anything from winter ice to summer storms.66 “The Bull”

not only took the men and families to Washington Island or the peninsula for liberty days, but

also delivered groceries from Washington Island grocery stores to Plum Island at the request of

the crew members or their wives.67

This supply boat earned a special place in the history of the Plum Island station, even

inspiring a poem:

63
Andersen, 206.
64
Door County Advocate (Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin), 7 June 1994.
65
Ibid.
66
Door County Advocate (Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin), 7 June 1994. Also Stacy and Virginia Thomas, Images of
America: Guarding Door County, Lighthouses and Life-Saving Stations (Chicago: Arcadia Publishing, 2005), 115.
67
Door County Advocate (Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin), 7 June 1994.

24
 A ship to sail the icebound waters of Death‟s Door,
A friend of the native, a friend of the crew.
To the top of the world the “BULL” will go
On its mission of duty in that land of snow.
Brings food to the hungry, brings aid to the sick,
Goes to the rescue of disabled ships.
A ship for humanity, a ship for demands
To serve in its hardship this great Northland.
To Washington Island it means needed comfort and care.
A ship to be proud of – a crew that will dare.
The flag that it flies, well known to man –
That of the Nation of dear Uncle Sam.
So, long live the “BULL” to carry the mail
For Washington Island, that great Wonderland.68

While some experiences for families on Plum Island seemed rough or rustic, most

including Sylvia Landin recalled their time on the island with fondness. One aspect of life on

Plum Island people revere were the holidays and parties held on the island throughout the year.69

It makes sense. At this time, some could argue that Plum Island was more than just a small island

with a U.S. Coast Guard station and a lighthouse station, it was a community. Social events like

the ones listed above probably strengthened a sense of community for those on the island and

alleviated some of the daily feelings of isolation found on an island without many of the

amenities found on either Washington Island or the mainland. In fact, social events were not

uncommon at life-saving stations on the Great Lakes. Parties, picnics and dances were

commonplace at many life-saving stations.70

There were other changes to the physical landscape other than the cottages. By the mid-

1920s, the boat bays in the station were virtually unusable. Larger boats and low water made it

extremely difficult for the crew to take their boats from the boat bays onto the launch and into

68
Andersen, 264.
69
Door County Advocate (Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin), 7 June 1994.
70
Stonehouse, 77.

25
the water.71 Realizing they were obsolete, the boat bays were enclosed in 1929 underneath a half-

story gable roof addition which straddled the ridge of the original roof. The enclosed area soon

provided more storage and added room for additional sleeping quarters for Coast Guardsmen.72

While this action provided the station with extra space, it did not permanently solve the issue

regarding boat launching. For ten years, the station‟s boats were simply stored outdoors and

exposed to the elements.73

Finally, a three-bay boathouse was built in 1939 on concrete piers approximately two

hundred feet into the water.74 The boathouse, which still exists today, exhibits Colonial Revival

architecture with arched and multi-paned windows, corner pilasters, and friezes. Other

characteristics of the boathouse including its proportions and symmetry further suggest it is of

the Colonial Revival style.75 The boathouse on Plum Island remains significant. It is an example

of a “Roosevelt-type” boathouse, one of only fifty built and only one of twenty-four to still be

standing. Four of the twenty-four are on Lake Michigan, and the one on Plum Island is the only

one of its kind in Wisconsin.76

The Station Survives

Less than a decade after the completion of the boathouse, a growing trend in the United

States Coast Guard threatened the survival of the Plum Island station. Following World War

Two, with improved communication and navigational instruments available and bigger and safer

freighters common on the Great Lakes, transportation on the lakes was markedly easier and less

71
Zaske, Section 8, Page 10. Also, Stacy and Virginia Thomas, 113.
72
Ibid.
73
Ibid.
74
Zaske, Section 8, Page 11.
75
Ibid.
76
Zaske, Section 8, Page 10.

26
dangerous.77 This influenced the Coast Guard to evaluate the importance of life-saving stations

on the Great Lakes, including Plum Island. The Coast Guard determined several stations on the

lakes were no longer useful and should be closed. Fortunately, Plum Island was not one of those

stations. In some cases, the process involved the federal government liquidating the stations

chosen for closing and selling the land for less than assessed value.78

Undoubtedly, one of the reasons why the Coast Guard chose to keep the station on Plum

Island had to do with the crew‟s added responsibilities. In 1939 the U.S. Coast Guard absorbed

the U.S. Lighthouse Service. While both the light keepers and assistants at the Plum Island range

lights and at the lighthouse on nearby Pilot Island joined the Coast Guard to continue their stay at

the lights, this process soon ended.79

By 1945, the keepers and assistants on both islands either retired or were transferred,

leaving the Coast Guard crew at the life-saving station to man the lights.80 This altered the daily

routine for Coast Guardsmen on Plum Island. Ensuring the lights were lit, the fog signals on both

islands sounded during appropriate weather, and completing routine maintenance on the lights

became common for the crew on Plum Island. These tasks were essential in the operation of a

competent lighthouse station. Knowing what the Coast Guardsmen did to maintain these lights

certainly influenced the decision to keep the life-saving station on Plum Island.

Another reason why the Plum Island station survived was due to its location. On May 1st,

1933, the life-saving station in Bailey‟s Harbor, Wisconsin on the Door County Peninsula saw all

but two of its surfmen transferred to other stations on the Great Lakes.81 This set in motion the

77
Canfield and Allan, 65.
78
Canfield and Allan, 66.
79
Karges, 88.
80
Karges, 89, 139.
81
Stacy and Virginia Thomas, 106.

27
eventual closing of the Bailey‟s Harbor station which happened in 1948.82 By transferring almost

all of the surfmen in the early 1930s, the Coast Guard surely knew the Bailey‟s Harbor station

was on its way out. Keeping the Plum Island station became essential, considering the nearest

life-saving station was in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin at the southern end of the Door Peninsula.

Leaving the coastline of the peninsula and the waters of Death‟s Door unwatched was not in the

plans of the Coast Guard.

The Station is Threatened Again

While the life-saving station on Plum Island survived the purge of the late 1940s, it was

again the subject of rumors for closing in the early 1970s. A number of budget cuts for the U.S.

Coast Guard in 1973 led to the decision to close the station on Plum Island. However, there was

a significant response of protest over this decision from numerous recreational boaters and

nearby residents, leading to a change in plans. The Coast Guard fixed the situation by deciding to

keep the Plum Island station open, but only from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and operated by

Coast Guard reservists.83 Helping this decision was a $600,000 appropriation from Congress in

the form of an amendment to the 1974 Transportation Bill which funded the operation of several

Coast Guard facilities, including Plum Island.84Like the transfer of surfmen from the Bailey‟s

Harbor Life-Saving Station in the 1930s, this action by the Coast Guard in 1973 established the

process for eventually closing the station on Plum Island.

It was seventeen years later when the Coast Guard determined the Plum Island station

was too costly to continue operating. In the fall of 1990, the Coast Guard decided to relocate the

station to Washington Island, where it would also be operated during the summertime, but by

82
Ibid.
83
Zaske, Section 8, Page 11.
84
Records of the Washington Island Archives, Box 5, Folder 3, Washington Island, Wisconsin.

28
crew members of the Sturgeon Bay Canal Station, and not reservists.85 Besides the cost of

upkeep, there were other factors in the decision to remove a Coast Guard presence from Plum

Island.

For one thing, vessels in distress were not as common as they once were in the area.

Advances in technology made recreational boating safer and as time progressed, there were

fewer and fewer merchant vessels traveling through the Porte des Morts Passage. Far gone were

the days when the crew on Plum Island would sometimes see twenty to twenty-five steamers

pass by per day. With declining numbers of large ships passing by the island, the focus for a

Coast Guard presence in the area centered on recreational boaters, which were more common in

the harbors around Washington Island and privately owned Detroit Island, rather than near the

uninhabited Plum and Pilot Islands.

Plum Island after the USCG

When the Coast Guard abandoned the station, Plum Island fell into the hands of the

Bureau of Land Management where it would stay for seventeen years. During this time, the

island received sporadic maintenance and attention from the government. The structures,

including the Roosevelt-type boathouse, outbuildings, and Duluth-Type Life-Saving Station, the

last of its kind on the Great Lakes, slowly deteriorated from the elements.

During this period of neglect, Plum Island became a home for migratory birds and other

wildlife creating unfettered residences. Fittingly, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to

take over the island as part of the Green Bay National Wildlife Refuge, once the Coast Guard

completed a cleanup of lead and fuel contamination on the island which cost a total of $863,000.

85
Ibid.

29
86
Finally, in October of 2007, the Bureau of Land Management transferred Plum Island to the

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, where it remains as part of the Fish and Wildlife‟s Green Bay

National Wildlife Refuge. 87

While keeping Plum Island as a refuge for birds and other wildlife is a noble cause, there

is too much maritime and social history remaining in the island‟s structures and in the memories

of those who once lived there. Knowing Plum Island‟s cultural and historic resources were

important to preserve, the non-profit organization the Friends of Plum and Pilot Islands began a

partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to restore the structures on the island while

promoting its historic and naturalistic qualities.

The Future of Plum Island

Following the partnership between the Friends of Plum and Pilot Islands and the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service, there has been tremendous progress in attempts to restore the life-

saving station on Plum Island. Ultimately, the future of the station depends on the community

members of Washington Island and the Door County Peninsula and others concerned with what

happens to the island. While the Friends of Plum and Pilot Islands can apply for grants to restore

the structures and build off of the fact the structures on the island were placed on the National

Register of Historic Places in July of 2010, it is going to take more work to save the life-saving

station on Plum Island.

86
Green Bay Press-Gazette (Green Bay, Wisconsin), 6 November 2004.
87
Zaske, Section 8, Page 11.

30
 Bibliography

Primary Sources:

Unpublished Papers

Personal Papers of Joseph F. Sladky, private collection, Livermore, California.

Records of the United States Coast Guard. Record Group 26, National Archives and Records
Administration, Chicago, Illinois.

Records of the Washington Island Archives. Washington Island, Wisconsin.

Newspapers

Door County Advocate (Wisconsin).

Green Bay Press Gazette (Wisconsin).

Secondary Sources

Books

Andersen, Hannes M. Washington Island: A Maritime History Through the Years, Volume II. Washington
Island, Wisconsin: published by the author, 2009.

Canfield, Edward J., D.O. and Thomas A. Allan, Ph.D. Life on a Lonely Shore: A History of the
Vermillion Point Life-Saving Station. Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan: Lake Superior State University
Press, 1991.

Karges, Steve. Keepers of the Lights: Lighthouse Keepers & Their Families, Door County, Wisconsin-
1837-1939. Ellison Bay, Wisconsin: Wm Caxton Ltd, 2000.

Stonehouse, Frederick. Wreck Ashore: The United States Life Saving Service on the Great Lakes. Duluth,
Minnesota: Lake Superior Port Cities, 1994.

Thomas, Stacy and Virginia Thomas. Images of America: Guarding Door County, Lighthouses and Life-
Saving Stations. Chicago: Arcadia Publishing, 2005.

Weiss, George. The Lighthouse Service: Its History, Activities, and Organization. Baltimore, Maryland:
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1926.

31
National Register of Historic Places Nominations

Zaske, Sarah. Plum Island, Wisconsin, “National Register of Historic Places Nomination,”
National Park Service, 2010.

Websites

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi

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