The morning journal-courier., 1908-01-23
Winter Hard Season for the Keepers and Their
 Families.
LONELY STATIONS, ALASKA
Life in Light House Monotonous But Not Wholly Un-
 interesting.

! around somewhat as ordinary folks ( do. the winter is a long, hard pull ! Tn the United States there are about l 1,70O light houses. built in large variety of situations, not one of which I was chosen with a view to the comfort and social advantages of the occu- pants. For instance, when it comes to linked Loneliness long drawn out , the. eight families who keep the 2 Scotch Cap and the Sarichef lights off x the coast of Alaska are candidates for & first prize. There are four of them 2 at each light, but they do not see @ each other for months at a time, 1 As for seeing anybody else, a pass {, ing steamer occasionally lowers <, boat and sends them mail. But as | the. steamer company charges Uncle x Sam $50 every time it does this the 5s light house folk have to put up with \ rare visits aN rf7 .sttt
 P Life on a light ship is even worse \ than it is in a light house, The house
 at any rate, keeps fairly steady, ! whereas light ship is never absolute 4f ly still, and in stormy weather rolls
 
 K its crew until they almost go crazy 1 under the strain The best of them
 can't stand too long spell of that ;ss sort of thingegEE N
 z The Dfatnoiid x Shoals light ship, z thirteen miles out in the ocean off 5s Cape Hatteras,s of evil memory to # mariners, was kept there once for five E months instead of the three prescrib-
 led by the regulations. She was No MI, and was waiting for No. 72 to aabe completed and to come out and re- silieve her.
 x The five months wound up in Hsmutiny It started by the captain sAetalling the mate to task because the q ,,latter had beguiled the weary hours gftby playing cards with the sailors The ~ fmate's feelings were sensitized by his EEsmonths upon the light ship and he
 fbrooded over the affair. He told the
 engineer and the latter sympathized.
 ' The two finally wrought themselves Hto the point of calling upon the cap NAtain and informing him that he was stuck up and that it made saaathem tired. The captain promptly E.dpulled a revolver and announced his to put them out of their 4Afnisery, but they got his revolver away sssIfrom him and practically kept him a the sailors taking their side. 85hntil the ship was relieved. 2 When they got back to port every 2fa3nother's son of them except the mate ElIieserted the ship which had so got on IL YyI- Hbus drunk, captain and all. and were H}1arrested and tried The captains of EjV,ence evidently appealed to the de-, iVoartment as the more heinous, for he Ial!vas discharged and the mate was not :lIlbnly forgiven for his little mutiny but kNvas put in command of the ship. H1d He had shown one trait which is al- 1Snost the most important in the make
 p of a light keeper. He had stuck to dihe job
 ;xE Even when the crew were half dis Mracted from the strain of their long ! '#luty it did not occur to them to aban- kESon their post AS a matter of fact .sll1nly three or four instances have been Accorded of American keepers aband- Hning a light which was in their
 Enlarge.
 ls4N Probably when 1t comes to out and Eut wintry rigors some of the light Eouses on the Great Lakes suffer ' hore even than those on the seacoast. sHhAy become coated with thick ice |Hnd have also to stand up against on aughts of cake ice forced up out of 1s1e water and driven against them 4fyith terrific force. One light house BxHn Lake Erie had to stand on one occasion against ice which piled up k fkgainst 1t to a a7height of forty feet. But it's no summer resort in the k%4pwer of any light house this weather. N}Fo heat is allowed, as that would EHause dirnming of the plate glass
 -indows or the lenses. The heat from
 the great lamp is carried off by a Nentilator oyer head and the turret is kE48o cold that on the New England E soast keepers say that glass of wa
 zer will quickly freeze solid if set on ks1e window sill
 The big lamps. by the way. are al Hksbwed to burn only four hours at a a me. If they burn longer there is lNa.Ept to be vaporation of the gases in |sssane oil, diminishing the briliance of H1e light So the lamps are changed svice every night When there is fog
 sr storm first-elass light house will
 y'eep, three men husy all night tending he lights and the engine which keeps ssne siren whistle going
 These whistles differ from one an zsther, just as the lights do. so that Even if 8 vessel cannot distinguish s}Kght 1t can determine it's position by lne whistle, For instance, if one 4khistle has a note eight seconds in
 Fngth. coming every half minute. an Ather whistle may, have a note five hconds in length. coming every ouar- i 1er- minute No two whistles within section where there would be the Brightest chance of confusing them Ire alike. -
 ! Neither are any two lights alike Sfhere they might be mistaken one for 3Ae other There are nowadays five
 ihfferent classes of lights. fixed. re ablving. flashing, colored and inter
 Mittent There are some combina- & Hons of these also which provide still liner variations such as intermittent
 ashing lights and group flashing
 ghts
 Eee Oil is still the fuel used Wherever
 se it mav be 8 back number it
 eeps its lead over all other lights for
 .seadiness and reliability in signal ~>iork
 There are some buovs which are
 .ectrically lighted and some which
 ave Pintsch lights. There are also
 bme light ships which are electrical
 lighted But the instability of
 Aloys and ships are theexplanation
 ss.iehf hnl1ses stick rn nnal oil