The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1891-12-24

THEN THE SHIP BROACHED TO AID WENT
EROADsIDE on THE REEF.
at is n big fellow" the captain said.
He stand l12 feet high in his shoes"
I'm his shoes; how can light house
have shOesI" l asked
Well, It's this way" replied the old
salt, as he got his pipe well to going.
You see she tower is built on a coral
reef, out in tho Gulf stream. The coral is
dead and on the outside is hard enough:
but after you get down into it, a bit, in
where II is yet alive it becomes soft and
givey, and won't hold a pile, firm as 1t
ought. And then, too, the coral is
only about ten feet thick. any way,
AMI underneath there is nothing
but sand, maze up of broken
shells and rotten coral. 1t is no good to
hold and It's like driving a post through
thG Tea into tho mud below. The light
house stan..s on nine wrought iron piles,
each nearly as big round as your waist,
any way they are eight inches through.
They stand in such Il way "a to make an
eight-sidod square and they are made
rigid and firm by network of cross trees
and braces"
Yes, but how about the shoes?" I
asked.
Why, you see that when these piles
were screwed into the coral
Screwed in?"
" Yes, screwed in. Every pile had an
auger point on the end and it was turned
round and round from platform, by men
who walked it round as they would cap
stan, and SO worked il down into the rock
a. an augur is worked down into tho
wood
But whero do the shoes come in?' in
sisted.
Cant you sec? pile would no sooner
get down into the sand tuan 1t would
begin to bible and make tho hole
through the coral bigger and bigger. 1t
had no bitc-no hold. so to give it a good
b"nring broad iron foot-pIate. shaped
like Quot. With IL hole In the middle.
was slipped over the top of the pile and
followed the pile down to the rock and
was wedEcd tight to the iron. SO, you
see each of those iron legs had shoe.
Each one covers about fourteen square feet
ana the nine gave the logs u bearing of $50
square feet So there is no slip, no give
ana no wobbIe to those piles and the
lighthouse has as firm a foundation as you
can ass.
Who built it? Well, tho army en-
giueers did it, Captain Howard Stan
berry Was at il for Il while but Major
Thomas r. I.iuuari finished it. They
were four years about ii from '4S to 80
and the Lighthouse CIVIL Engineer, AL
phnbet Lewis. as We called him-I. w. p
were his iultial~-hn stayed by il all the
time Max" il here No You can't
maze anything here. 1t was made in
Philadelphia I'.d they DO say it was
set up there Just as il is here
and ten every piece was mum
bered and they took it down and
brought it here and put it up as boy
would put up puzzle | saw them put
ting her up a. | was going by, and
couldn't max" out What they were up to-
hut when my schooner was chartered &c
carry a part uf the iron. ! soon had fin
ger In the pie. You see the water is not
moro than four OF i've feet deep there anC
ali the stuff had t. ha landed on the reel
by boats or floats from the vessels, anC
hen handled i'll tie shallow water till Il
vas got up on L. the buIIditG platform.
After taty got the nine legs set unC
their shoes put on and tied up, then they
braccd them and laid floor on them
and then the back Of the job was broken
Dear me, how they run up the Skeleton
tower with their Eoistin- engine. WheI
that was done they built two story
house, Inside the skeleton. Of corrugated
iron. They put il forty feet from thu
water. high enough 10 b1 out Of the reach
q even i tidal wave And then they ruI
up a tub" cf iron, some ten feet through
-
and on top Of that they put the watcl
room. and the lantern crowned all wit
the great Tresucl lens IN it. big as hal
bedroom on end and inside that was tn
great lamp that makes the light. Tn
dwelling house, and tail tube, and tn
watch room are all inside the sheleto
tower. tut the lantern tops the whole cor
Germ as You can see.
= took no end Of interest in the cor
sarn as II grew and fact Is, ! about tn
same as fell in love with it grew int
II somehow. l seemed 20 belong to l.
I've been going away from il and cOmin
back to il ever scuce- II has had to
many years Of my life for me 10 forget il
OF forgive il, for that matter. l neve
see II now without = sauIdcr and l don
get over 4 fit OF the blues much under
week, after I've been there.
\ gu see il came about this way. Their
was no money in freightinE for a schooner
then, so l shipped as third assstan
keeper on that lighthouse. | got m
keep and clean hundred dollars ever
quarter, and no expenses the others, NOR,
according to rank, and the keeper got $50
year. | was saving up then to get mar
ried, and the 800 year, clear, was bi
help toward it. OF and on, l stayed Il
that lighthouse with spells in the othe
reef lighthouses, for better'n ten years
and when quit was head keeper"
Why did quit-why, man, If | stage
much longer, I'd gone crazy. To tell til
truth, fear l was crazy when threw u
the job
:. Il can't tell just what put bee in N
! bonnet But looking back at it l onl
wonder that all those odd-eome-shol