Signal station, Grondines, 1932

Interviewer: If we’re talking about the lighthouse itself, when you arrived there in 1946, what was there around the lighthouse?

Maurice Côté: There was nothing.

I.: Were there any other buildings around?

M. C.: There was nothing at all. There were no houses. We were all alone out there doing our thing.

I.: Just a lighthouse?

M. C.: Just that.

I.: There was no shed, there was no… ?

M. C.: No, no. There was one… on poles to put balls on, because we had signals to put on for fog and light. At night, they were lanterns. When there was a lot of fog, we used red lights. When it wasn’t too foggy, we used white and yellow lights. Then we got electricity.

I.: Where did you put these lights?

M. C.: There was a big mast there, a hundred feet high. We hung them on the mast.

I.: The lanterns?

M. C.: Yes. Then at night, there was always one at the end, to indicate them. The guys aboard the boats could get their bearings. They’d say that the light in the air, which was high up, meant Grondines.

I:. Okay

M. C.: Then they knew where they were.

I.: Hm.

M. C.: In the river, there were buoys, you sail between them.

I.: Yes, but your lighthouse had a light inside.

M. C.: Yes, yes. We had an oil lamp.

I.: But your lighthouse didn’t have a… ?

M. C.: No, there weren’t any lanterns like they use in the Bas-du-fleuve, in some places, when you go down the river.

I.: But did you have mirrors or reflectors?

M. C.: No, no, there was nothing like that.

I.: There was nothing in the lighthouse?

M. C.: Oh no, just a small lamp to give us light.

I.: No more than that?

M. C.: No.