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BY BILL CLARKE WITH FILES FROM TIM JAQUES

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DALHOUSIE - The Town of Dalhousie will approach the Member of Parliament, Jean-Claude D'Amours for his help in ensuring that the Inch Arran Lighthouse is preserved.

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Courtesy Michel Goudreau Collection

The Bon Ami or Inch Arran Light House in Dalhousie has been around since the early 1870s, and is seen here when the Inch Arran House hotel was still standing. It is still an active light house. Councillor Bobby Harquail of Dalhousie wants to ensure that the building is protected if it is no longer needed for navigational purposes.

Courtesy Michel Goudreau Collection

This is the Inch Arran Lighthouse shown early in the 20th century, perhaps the 1920s or 1930s. Note the poor repair and the broken steps

Courtesy Michel Goudreau Collection

The Inch Arran Lighthouse early the in the 20th century.

Dalhousie once had three lighthouses. This was the one on Douglas Island, where the east wharf now is. It was to be moved for the museum, but through incompetence was dropped and destroyed. It almost fell on Tribune editor emeritus Bill Clarke, who at that time was a freelance photographer.

The Inch Arran or Bon Ami lighthouse today.

Legislation now before the Senate provides for preservation of a certain number of lighthouses as historic buildings. Others will either be turned over to municipalities or community organizations or will be demolished.

At the town council meeting June 16, Bob Harquail moved that the town write to the MP in an effort to see that the one remaining Dalhousie lighthouse is among those that will be preserved. Harquail explained that with modern navigation technology, particularly the global positioning system, lighthouses are no longer needed.

At one time, Dalhousie had three wooden lighthouses. One on Douglas Island was accidentally dropped and destroyed during the construction of the new common user dock (east wharf). Earlier, a small one that stood on the west wharf was sold and is now in Charlo. Earlier than that, a lighthouse had stood on what was usually called Montgomery or Rock Island, which was at the west harbour just about where the storage tanks are east of the current west wharf. This island was levelled when the mill was built.

The Inch Arran Lighthouse (also called the Bon Ami Lighthouse) was built in the early 1870s as the first lighthouse in town, after merchants petitioned the government for its construction. Prior to that, the Arseneau family, who lived in a house where the lighthouse now stands, used to put a lamp in a window for local mariners. The Arseneaus sold the land for the erection of the lighthouse, and the family became the first lighthouse keepers.

The lighthouse marks a large reef which extends from the point, some of which is visible at low tide. It is now one of the oldest buildings left in town and is considered the town's top landmark. The original metal railing around the top of the light is considered unusual, although it has since been complemented by an unpainted modern railing.

Harquail said that the building needs to be scraped and painted.