Hermit Island Brownstone Quarry Dock
Gallery
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Hermit Island Brownstone Quarry Dock Site Plan
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Historic Image of Cedar Bark Lodge on Hermit Island
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Archaeologists conduct shoreline surveys on Hermit Island
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Corner of the North Crib
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Derrick fly wheel and cable
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An archaeologist investigates the remains of a turnbuckle on shore
 
Details
Attraction
Description
The Excelsior Brownstone Quarry, owned by Fredrick Prentice of the Prentice Brownstone Company, operated on Wilson Island, or Hermit Island, from 1891 to 1897. The remains of the quarry are located on the northeast side of the island. In the 1850’s, a trader with the Hudson Bay Company working for the American Fur Company in La Pointe, John Wilson, moved to what is today known as Hermit Island. Known for being a recluse, Wilson built four log buildings on the uninhabited island and monitored visitors very closely. With the increased popularity of Lake Superior brownstone, following Wilson’s death in 1865, investors began to look at the island for the development of a brownstone quarry. In the spring of 1892, the Excelsior Quarry was chosen to provide stone for the massive brownstone monolith that was planned to be featured at the 1893 World’s Colombian Exposition in Chicago. Work began on the monolith in mid-June. The monolith was to be over 110 feet tall, 9.2 feet wide at the base, and 4.2 feet wide at the top. Located 200 feet from the water’s edge, it was thought that removal of the monolith could be conducted easily by raising the stone with jack-screws and placing it on rollers for transportation to an awaiting schooner. Despite the plans, the monolith was never completed on Hermit Island. After two different attempts to remove the stone from its bed, the work was abandoned, and the monolith was cut at Prentice’s mainland quarry on Houghton Point. On August 1, 1892, 35 men and five steam channelers completed the stone while onlookers watched as it was pulled from its bed. Unfortunately, Exposition officials felt it was too late in the season and too expensive to transport the monolith to Chicago in time for the opening of the World’s Fair. Instead, the obelisk was cut up and used for building stone. By 1893, a series of factors had led the Prentice Brownstone Company to go into bankruptcy. To recoup some of his losses, Prentice sold all of his holdings, on the Apostle Islands and the mainland, to the Excelsior Brownstone Company investors. The Excelsior Brownstone Company remained in operation on Hermit Island for another two years, continuing to produce 220,000 cubic feet of stone each year, but by 1897, the company was no longer able to remain in business with the low demands for brownstone. In the fall of 1897, operations on the island ceased, and all land and the title to the island was sold to the estate of Elias Drake for $10,000, and quarrying on the island was concluded for good. ~Site Description: The remains of the Hermit Island Quarry Dock extend nearly 156.6 feet into Lake Superior from the southern side of Hermit Island and is located in 1 to 21 feet of water, consisting of a main crib, a finger pier crib, and a North crib. The main crib measures 228.8 feet in overall length and measures 18 to 22 feet wide. The main crib connects to the island with a cribbing gangway, two timbers in height, which extends 54.5 feet from the inshore side of the crib to shore, and measures 16.5 feet wide. Approximately 164.0 feet to the northeast of the main crib, measured on a heading of 225 degrees, are the remains of a finger pier crib, now completely submerged, extending 147.5 feet from shore. At its widest point, the rock fall from the finder pier measures 75.6 feet wide. Although the finger pier seems to be made up of mostly stones, evidence of cribbing remains near the end of the structure. The pier functioned as a working pier, as numerous artifacts were found along its length, including two narrow gauge rails measuring 24.9 feet and 9.1 feet in length, a segment of narrow gauge rail, measuring 26.0 feet in length, and a derrick flywheel, measuring 1.3 feet in diameter, near the southern end of the breakwater. Scattered through the rest of the remains of the breakwater are fasteners, rods, and stone splitting wedges, along with numerous cut stones. Located 158.5 feet to the northeast are the remains of the North crib, lying in 2 to 5 feet of water. The inshore side of the crib is 91.1 feet from shore. This crib raises 4.0 feet from the sand and rock overburden, and is constructed of three timbers on all sides. It is likely that this crib was associated with the Cedar Bark Lodge that was built nearby as a summer home for Fredrick Prentice and his family.
Attraction
Location
Body of Water: Lake Superior
Trail Name: Lake Superior
Year Built: 1891
Nearest City: Bayfield
County: Ashland
Zip Code: 54814
Latitude: N 46°52.96900'
Longitude: W -090°40.57400'
Attraction
Features
Open to public?: Yes
Mooring buoy?: No
Mooring buoy in place?: No
Snorkelable?: No
Dive guide?: No
Trails sign?: No
National Register?: No
 
Map
 
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Shipwrecks (12)
Charlotte (1912)
Finn McCool (1926)
Francis R. Anderson (1885)
Idlewild (?)
Josephine Addison (1919)
Lua (1905)
Marquette (1881)
Moonlight (1874)
Mystic (?)
Ontario (1891)
Phantom (?)
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