Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1894-03-06

The Historic Storm which wiped tho Orig
inni Structure Out Of Existcnco.
The lighthouse on Minot's ledge
stands within the shadow of a tragedy.
IL Is the second structure erected upon
the ledge. The dfst lighthouse and the
lives IL held were claimed by the sea.
Begun in 1S47 and completed In No
vember, 1849, Il wal overwhelmed in
April, 1851. It's destruction was the
most tragic event in tho history Of orr
lighthouse establishment. The struc-
ture was an octagonal tower supported
upon wrought iron piles strengthened
by braces. The piles penetrated five
feet into the rock. On the braces, 84b
feet above the rock, the keeper had con-
structed a platform for the storage Of
bulky articles and had fastened to The
lantern deck, 90 foet above tho rock, a
81 inch hawser, which he had an
chored 70 a seven ton granite block.
Along THE hawser articles were hoisted
up to the Isatforni and there landed.
These improvements were convenient
and fatal, not, however, to the keeper
who made them, for no was on shore
when the storm which has become his
torio for it's fury burst over tho coast.
On Monday, April IA, 1851, there
was a strong e%asterly gale blowing. At
that time there were ON the tower two
assistant keepers and a friend of the
principal keeper. The visitor became
frightened at the first indication of a
storm, and in response to a signal from
tho fnrunw n hAaN rAsf III 80 D-T.-~-.N
and took him ashore. On Tuesday the
wind swung around TO the northeast,
the most dangerous quarter from which
the elements can hurl themselves upon
Minot's, as they then rejoice in the nc
cumulated fury Of miles of wind torn
sea. By the 10th il had increased to
a hurricane, and the tower was 80 COM
pletely buried in the heavy seas that
nothing Of it could be seen by the group
of anxious watchers at Cohasset. About
4 O'Clock in the evening Of the 10th
the platform was washed ashore. Then
the watchers knew that the water had
risen to within seven feet Of the tower.
At nightfall IL was seen that the light
was burning. 1t was observed at itful
intervals until 10 o'clock that night,
when it was finally lost to sight. at l
O'Clock on the morning of Thursday,
April II, just at the turn of the flood,
when the outstreaming tide and the in
rushing hurricane met at Minot's, a
violent tolling Of the lighthouse bell
was heard. After that no sound rose
above the din of the storm. About 6
o'clock in the morning a man walking
along the shore saw a chair washed up
a little distance ahead of him. Exam
lining it, he recognized it as having been
In the watchroom of the tower. After
this discovery no ono had any doubts of
the tragedy which had been enacted be-
hind the curtain Of the storm. When
1t lifted, naught was seen over Minot's
ledge but the sea. its white crests
streaming triumphantly in the gale.
1t is believed by those competent to
judge Of such matters that the destruc
tion of the tower was due to the surface
which the platform constructed by the
keeper offered to the waves and to tho
strain Of the hawser upon the structure.
Every time this hawser was struck by
a sea it actually tugged at the tower.
There seems also little doubt that the
sum appropriated by congress for the
building of the lighthouse was INSULT
cient by about two-thirds for such a
structure as the perilous situation called
fOr.-Gust0v Kobbe in Century.