Mile mile to diverge. Owing to the importance of the surveyor's rod in deeds and surveying undertaken under Henry VIII, decreasing the length of the rod by would have amounted to a significant tax increase. Parliament instead opted to maintain the mile of 8 furlongs (which were derived from the rod) and to increase the number of feet per mile from the old Roman value. The applicable passage of the statute reads: "A Mile shall contain eight Furlongs, every Furlong forty Poles, and every Pole shall contain sixteen Foot and half." The statute mile therefore contained 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards.
Forty Mile Point Light view of it and the Lakeshore. The Fresnel lens is still operative, being one of only 70 such lenses that remain operational in the United States, sixteen of which are use on the Great Lakes of which eight are in Michigan. There are many recurrent events at the lighthouse. A calendar is available. Half of the lighthouse is now a museum, the other half is caretaker's quarters. Membership in the 40-Mile Point Lighthouse Society is $20.00 per year, and the Society may be reached at: 40 Mile Point Lighthouse Society, PO Box 205, Rogers City, MI 49779. Forty Mile Point