Modernisation / Modernizing

In the early 20th century, Pointe-au-Père became a major hub of maritime activity, with a lighthouse, a communication centre, a tide and current survey station, and, from 1905, an official pilot station. As wheat exports and European immigration drove strong growth in shipping, the government, under pressure from shipping companies, began a program to improve navigational aids on the St. Lawrence, and Pointe-au-Père was chosen as one of 14 sites because of its strategic location. In 1909, construction began on a new, larger, more advanced third lighthouse designed by civil engineer Louis Fernand Henri de Miffonis under the direction of William P. Anderson. Its 27.7 m. octagonal tower held sophisticated optical equipment that emitted four flashes every seven and a half seconds, visible up to 30 km away, while over 1,000 ocean-going vessels a year took on or landed pilots there and transoceanic mail passed by way of Rimouski.

Quebec · Canada