 | | Don Hunt | | The 12-foot-deep Mendota Canal, finished in 1867, was built to ship copper from Mt. Bohemia and provide a harbor of refuge for Lake Superior boats. It replaced the shallower river through which Lac la Belle emptied into Superior. Barely visible on the left side of the entry is the old lighthouse. | At the end of Bete Grise Road, after it passes the long beach, there emerges a small colony of summer homes in a pine glade. The road dead ends at the Mendota Canal
Across the canal you can see the Mendota lighthouse and light. There was a light here first in the 1870. The current structure was built in the 1890s.
 | | Across the canal one can spot the Mendota Lighthouse. Now privately owned, it was completed in 1895 to guide commercial boats through the canal to safety during storms. | The canal and first light were built as the result of a company which attempted to mine copper from Mt. Bohemia during the Civil War when copper prices were high. The copper was to be shipped from Lac la Belle through the canal to Lake Superior and beyond. The mountain didn't turn out to have enough copper to sustain such an operation, but the second light was built to guide emperilled Great Lakes boats to this strategic harbor of refuge. Its use now is recreational, allowing fishing and pleasure boats from the Lac la Belle marina and boat launch access to Superior.
Though water flows into Lac la Belle from the Little Gratiot River and Haven Creek and out the canal, a wind from the east off Superior can make it appear the current is headed westward back to the lake. (—2007)
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