For more than 12,000 years, people have traveled on the Great Lakes, and as the nation’s population and economy expanded during the 19th century, shipping traffic there grew rapidly. Violent storms, thick fog, shifting sandbars, rocky reefs, and heavy vessel traffic made the lakes dangerous, and the federal government responded by building a network of lighthouses to improve the safety of transporting people and commodities such as lumber, grain, iron ore, and copper. In 1866, the Lighthouse Board said that although Sturgeon Point lay somewhat outside the general track of lake commerce, vessels frequently left the direct course and a lighthouse there would help them take a new departure and shorten the crossing at the mouth of Saginaw Bay; the station was completed in 1869 and entered service in 1870. Over time, automation, satellite navigation, radar, and improved weather forecasting transformed maritime transportation, but lighthouses remained enduring sentinels of the Great Lakes. In the last 150 years, fire, ice, collisions, and storms claimed hundreds of vessels, from pioneer steamboats and wooden schooners to huge steel freighters. Today, the 4,300-square-mile Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary protects the Great Lakes and their rich history, including an incredible collection of 200 shipwrecks preserved in Lake Huron, while research, education, and community involvement help preserve this maritime heritage for future generations.