The best description of the first lighthouse is found in an article published in The South Haven Messenger, November 30, 1900.
The South Haven Light-House – continued (3)
At ten minutes before sunset the lamp is lit and at midnight it is necessary to change lamps as the oil in the first one is nearly consumed by this time. At sunrise the lamp is extinguished. A record of the amount of oil is used each night, the expenditures and the length of time the lamp has burned, are sent to the government, monthly, quarterly, annually. About eighty gallons of mineral oil are consumed by the lamp in the course of a season of 10 months, this being furnished by the government, which sends a supply once a month.
5th in Series – Excerpts From The Harbor Light 1872-1940 by Jeanette Stieve, published by the Michigan Maritime Museum