WHITEHALL, MI — Almost 150 years ago, White River Light Station became a guiding beacon connecting West Michigan to Chicago − first for lumber and then for tourists. The historic light station sits on the channel connecting White Lake to Lake Michigan. The light station was decommissioned in 1960 and is now a museum run by Sable Points Lighthouse Keepers Association. Visitors can climb the 38-foot tower and look out over Lake Michigan. The channel was dug in 1870 for the purpose of moving lumber from White Lake sawmills across Lake Michigan to Midwest cities. The goal to move Michigan lumber became all the more pertinent after The Great Chicago Fire in 1871. The light station was completed in December 1875 and lit for the first time in May 1876. Its light guided lumber schooners from the sawmills on White Lake, a tributary of the White River and adjacent to the pine forests, to the big lake.