Cape Blanco Lighthouse V
by Inge Riis McDonald
Title
Cape Blanco Lighthouse V
Artist
Inge Riis McDonald
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Cape Blanco Lighthouse
Erected in 1870, the Cape Blanco lighthouse stands on Oregon’s farthest west point of land and is the oldest lighthouse continually operating in Oregon.
Before construction began in 1869, the site was covered with a dense spruce forest that had to be felled to prevent obstruction of the light and eliminate any chance of a fire endangering the station.
Since no roads led to the cape, the following cost-saving decision, as recorded in the 1869 report of the Lighthouse Board to Congress, was made: It was agreed the bricks would be made locally, instead of bringing them from San Francisco at an enormous expense. So an agreement was made with a local craftsman to furnish two hundred thousand brick for $25/thousand - about a third the cost of transportation from SF alone. About eighty thousand of these bricks were accepted and paid for, the rest rejected.
The cape Blanco lighthouse began operations on December 20th, 1870.
This isolated lighthouse holds at least four Oregon records: it is the oldest continuously operating light, the most westerly, it has the highest focal plane above the sea, (256 feet), and Oregon’s first woman keeper, Mabel E. Bretherton signed on in March 1903
Uploaded
May 6th, 2016
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