The Paducah sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1898-1906, 1903-11-10
There Are About 1900 of Them
Maintained.
The First We're Established in 1870
Are Great Aids to Steam
beat Pilots.
THEY COST MUCH toNEY

tern rivers, following channel course
3S20 miles long. Uncle Sam maintains
nearly 1909 post lights, day marks
and floating lights to guide pilots and
navigators of his mighty streams, says
the Washington Times. He pays his
1900 light keepers sums varying from
ESQ to $3.50 year to trim and oil his
inland beacors once day. His anx-
ious care for the safety of the thcus-
and craft that steam over the surface
Of this great waterway is such that he
lights the course with o clear warn.
ing glimmer at short intervals Of a
few hundred yards. where it is danger
Gus and difficult.
Pilots and river captains are kept
we'll informed Of the location Of lights
on which side of the channel they are
placed, the color. name ard number of
the light, and the distance to the frac-
ton of mile from the headwaters of
navigation.
Along the Ohio river, from Pitts
burg to the Mississippi. there is a
light about every two miles, uniess
some portion of the river is unusually
crooked, when the lights are placed at
more frequent intervals.
Some old veteran, whose hardwork-
ing days are over. and ON whose relia
bility the lighthouse inspectors can
depend, usually is selected for the sim
pie task of cleaning and trimming the
lamps.
The distance the keeper has TO walk
regulates the amount of his pay. 1t
10 worth $40 to $50 month that some
Of them receive to make the trip Of as
high as FIVE miles 365 dsys a year.
Charts and navigating directions
are not Of much use. as the rivers
change their courses and channels
with dangerous frequency.
The lights and day marks are posted
on that side of the river on which the
channel runs, and are moved with the
course of the current. Upward of
1000 people are employed, some of
them, of course. at a modest stipend,
TO light the way for the inland mari.
ner. and keep his course clear OF dan
gerous obstacles.
The inland Lighthouse districts have
their headquarters at Cincinnati, st
Louis and Memphis, and each is in
charge of an inspe ctor and corps of
assistants. The largest district en-,
braces the Ohio, Kama gha and Ten
nessee rivers of 1895 navigsble miles,
with 52S lights needing regular sup
plies of oil, wioks and lamp chimneys.
The Mississippi is divided into two
districts Above Cairo 10 st. Paul
the fifteenth district, includes the
Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois riv-
ers Of l462 nayigable miles.
Below Cairo to New Orleans, the
sixteenth district, extends to the gulf,
a distance of 1853 miles, Of the Missis-
sippi and nine miles Of the Red river,
with 1871 lights.
Bridge piers are marked with the
red lamp and a green light swinging
IN the center Of the span. 1t is a Gu
rious fact, and one of which the pilots
complain most loudly, that bridge
lights are poorly attended 10, and usu-
ally a dull, siokly CLEAN, hardly dis
cernible through the dirty, smoky
glass of the i'll kept lamp steuben-
willie bridge, with its narrow span and
dangerous center pier, probably is the
cause of more wrecks than any other
obstacle in the ONO river, and has
about as poor set OF lights as there
is 10 be found along the entire course.
Rivermen speak with praise OF the
way the old country lighrkeepers at
tend to their lights. With polished
glass chimney, evenly trimmed wick,
ami fall can Of oil, they send out a
ray that can be seen for miles through
the darkness of the night. When the
post light is on q high bluff 1t Ii al
good q steering point as could be pro-
vided.
The first government lights were o.
tablished along the rivers about 1870.