Summary
Northwest Point is a GNIS-named cape on the northwestern end of Garden Island. A January 1965 Beaver Beacon retrospective of the 1900 Squaw Island light tragedy describes fish tugs passing the “northwest point of the island” while the survivors drifted toward the steamer channel and expected to miss Trout Island. Because the account does not give the point’s proper name, it is retained as contextual maritime evidence rather than a definitive identification of that passage with this GNIS feature.
Open questions
- Can charts or the original 1900 lighthouse-service reports identify the island named in the passage?
- What other navigation or fishing records locate Northwest Point more precisely?
Sources
- U.S. Geological Survey, Geographic Names Information System, Domestic Names (Michigan), retrieved 2026-07-28.GNIS feature 1618651; feature class 'Cape'.federal · gnis · gnis_names
- Beaver Beacon, January 1965, “48 Years Ago Tragedy Struck Squaw Island Light Crew.”Retelling a 1900 lighthouse-service disaster, the article says fish tugs passed the “northwest point of the island” and that the survivors would miss Trout Island. The article does not use the GNIS name, so the association is contextual rather than asserted as an exact name match.