The Coolidge examiner., 1937-11-04

five miles, but the mooring chain
withstood the tremendous strain.
Our coastal lighthouse system was
fairly well completed in the last
| century. Structures which house
the great lights of today were for
the most part built from 90 to 80
years ago.
Progress in recent years has been
more in technical improvements,
making use of radio, electricity,
new illuminants. and improved fog
signals.
Now and then. however, changes
must be made in the primary sta
tions themselves; new needs call
I for new stations. the abandonment
of old towers. or the substitution of
less expensive automatic lights.
Six light stations of the first rank.
recently completed, show the differ
ent needs that occasionally arise.
At North Manitou, in the northern
part Of Lake Michigan, station
has been built in % feet Of water TO
take the place of lightship. Two
other simil3r stations have recently
been completed in this lake.
At Cape Decision, Alaska, new
light and fog signal station stands
in key position for the navigation
| of southeast Alaska, situated as II
| is at an entrance from the outside.
and at turning point for the inside
passages.
At the south end Of Santa Barbara
channel. off the coast Of California,
navigation is now safeguarded by
the station on Anacapa island. a
guide both to coasting vessels and
to those approaching Los Angeles
from the open sea.
The sixth of these new primary
stations stands at the entrance from
Lake Huron to the st. Mary's river.
where it was necessary to have a
guide close to the channel for the
Lake Superior traffic.
The most powerful light in the
American lighthouse system shines
from low structure atop the At
lantic Highlands at Navesink, New
Jersey. It's penetrating beam meas
ures 10000 600 candlepower.
Vicissitudes of Lighthouses.
Progress, as well as natures as
saults, sometimes dooms fine old
lighthouses. Often these towers fig
ure prominently in local history and
romance. Fortunately. such old
towers sometimes can be preserved.
The state Of New Jersey has taken
over the tall tower of Barnegat
light, which is of diminished inn
portance to navigation. The first
Cape Henry tower. in Virginia. has
been transferred to a patriotic or
ganization, and that at Cape Flori-
da is preserved by private pur-
chaser.
When the sea encroaches, il is
often difficult to save an old station.
Usually it is less expensive to
move it. or to build another light
| house.
Thus, along the low-lying, sandy
south Atlantic states and Gulf
coasts, many early masonry towers
have succumbed to the sea. Metal
structures have been dismantled
and moved back to places of safety.
Eleven years ago the historic
lighthouse at Cape Henlopen. Della
ware, was destroyed by the inroads
of the Atlantic. Henlopen was one
of the early Colonial lights.
Our steady change to modern au-
tomato lights has saved the public
much money. But for primary
lights the maxim is, Safety is
found only in certainty" and human
attention, given by ightkeepers.
must be retained. An exception is
the lighthouse operated by the Unit
ed States government on NavaSsa
island in the West Indies. Here the
keepers were removed because of
difficulty in maintaining them on
this uninhabited and barren island
between Jamaica and Hispaniola.
This lighthouse now has two auto
matte flashing lights, one above the
other, with independent gas supplies
for each, to insure that one light will
always show.
Ingenious devices are utilized to
save gas or electricity in burning
the automatic lights. Sun valves,
depending on the rate of expansion
of different metals, are used to turn
off the acetylene gas lights during
the daytime.
Recently the light-sensitive cell
has been employed to turn on and
off automatic electric lights operat-
ed from batteries.
The unattended flashing light at
Molokini, Hawaiian Islands, burned
without failure for nearly 20 years,
flashing over 200, 900, 900 times. Two
lighted buoys each have a record
of burning nearly year and half
on one charge of acetylene gas.