Early 19c U.S. Lighthouses: The Original Tallies

In the course of doing research for our lighthouse maps, we came across widely varying estimates as to the number of lighthouses in early 19th century America. Which to believe?

We were stumped. Then after months of exhaustive Googling, we hit the jackpot: THE AMERICAN STATE PAPERS: Documents, Legislative and Executive of the Congress of the United States, from the First Session of the First to the Third Session of the Thirteenth Congress, Inclusive: Commencing March 3, 1789, and Ending March 3, 1815.

Above: Sandy Hook, NJ (1764), the oldest standing U.S. lighthouse. Illustration by Peter M. Mason, from Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses: Illustrated Map & Guide.

From an 1804 report in THE AMERICAN STATE PAPERS:

Our own Government has attended to the erection of light houses, with a vigilant eye. Already their number on our extended sea coast amounts to thirty-one...

Those lighthouses, listed north to south, were in a statement "shewing" expenses:

New Hampshire: Portsmouth; Massachusetts: Boston, Nantucket, Nantucket Beacon, Cape Roge [Cape Pogue], Thatcher's Island, Plum Island, Plymouth, Seguin Island [now in Maine], Baker's Island, Cape Cod, Wigwam Point [Annisquam], Gayhead; Rhode Island: Newport; Connecticut: New London, Faulkner's Island, Lynde's Point; New York: Montauk, Sandy Hook, Eaton's Neck; Delaware: Cape Henlopen; Virginia: Cape Henry, Smith's Point, Old Point Comfort; North Carolina: Cape Fear, Cape Hatteras, Shell Castle [off Ocracoke Island]; South Carolina: Charleston, George Town; Georgia: Tybee.

In 1811 Winslow Lewis won a contract to outfit all U.S. lighthouses with his patented lighting system, which was a cheap imitation of the Argand system used in Europe (an example of the need for international copyright protection). He listed 45--in no discernible order, whether geographical, alphabetical or financial:

New Bedford Gay Head Cape Page [Cape Pogue] Nantucket Chatham, 2 lights Cape Cod Plymouth, 2 lights Boston Baker Island, 2 lights Cape Ann Wigwam Point Newburyport, 2 lights Portsmouth Portland Seguin Franklin Island West Quoddy Scituate Whitehead St. Simonds Sapelo Island Charleston, S.C. Georgetown, S.C.

Cape Fear Cape Lookout Cape Henry Cape Hatteras New Point Comfort Old Point Comfort Smith’s Point Cape Henlopen Sandy Hook Montauk Point Little Gull Island Eaton’s Neck New London Faulkner’s Island Lynde Point Five Mile Point Fair Weather Point Watch Hill Newport Point Judith Tybee Wood Island

Building St. George Reef Lighthouse: "The Dragon"

Left: St. George Reef, from California & Hawaii Lighthouses: Illustrated Map & Guide, coming in summer 2012.

St. George Reef Lighthouse, in the Pacific about 8 miles NW of Crescent City, CA , remains a marvel of engineering. The construction superintendent was Alexander Ballantyne, who in late 1880 completed the light station at Tillamook Rock, OR (aka "Terrible Tillie") in just 575 days. He brought the job in under budget, which must have brought great joy to the perpetually underfunded Light-House Board.

Perhaps the Board and Congress thought Ballantyne would repeat his performance at Northwest Seal Rock, as the site was originally called. (Later it became known as "The Dragon.") Instead the project ground on from April 1883 to November 1891, delayed by storms and rough seas; but most of all by Congressional penny-pinching.

From Ancient & Modern Light-Houses by David Porter Heap: View from the South-West, showing the Rock as it appeared at the end of the Working Season, and the Method of Landing Men from the Schooner “La Ninfa”.

In a final report dated Jan. 1, 1893, Ballantyne wrote:

In four years only one working season of about one hundred working days was utilized advantageously on the rock. During a part of this four years other attempts were made to work on the rock, but on account of small and insufficient appropriations expensive plant had to lie hired, property and plant which we had and which for lack of appropriations could not be used, deteriorated by exposure, rot, and rust, all of which combined to make the first four years of the work unduly expensive.

Ballantyne also reported:

The weather this season [1889] was more severe than in 1888, but rather an improvement over 1887. The men's quarters, although strongly built, were smashed in during a gale about 2 o'clock one morning in May. No one was injured, but some of the men were washed out of their bunks.

To get a further idea of the horrendous working conditions, here are passages from Ancient & Modern Light-Houses by Major David Porter Heap, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army (Ticknor & Co., Boston, 1888):

There was much parting of lines and tackle, and the men often had to be taken hastily off the rock just after they had been put on, but in spite of many narrow escapes and some dangerous accidents, there was no serious injury to any one. Work on the north low bench was the most difficult, though it was twenty-five feet above the sea; the men there were almost constantly drenched with spray, and hardly a day passed when the sea did not break upon it at high water.

During a gale on the 29th and 30th of September [1883] stones, over a ton in weight, which had been rolled overboard from this bench, were swept like chips up along its whole length and over again on the east end. On September 10, while two quarrymen were drilling a hole on the lee side, just below the top of the rock, a tremendous sea swept completely over it, washing them down the steep south slopes nearly thirty feet, where they fortunately lodged on the south bench, none the worse save for a few bruises.

Breeches buoy, from Ancient & Modern Light-Houses

At first the men were hauled to and fro singly in a breeches-buoy, but the cage was found much more convenient as it permitted the transport of at first four, and later of six men at a time, and allowed them to easily extricate themselves should any accident happen. The whole arrangement worked perfectly, and by the aid of the engine a round trip, taking off six men, and return, could be made in three minutes. The shore end of the cable being some sixty feet above the sea, and the lowest point of its curve not over fifteen feet, the cage, when released from the rock ran down this slope with great speed. Taking advantage of this, and standing by to haul in with the engine, the men were often taken on board dry, when every sea went over the low part of the cable; such confidence did they gain in this moans of retreat that they did not think of leaving the work till the sea began to run continuously over all the working levels; then, lashing their tools to ring-bolts prepared for the purpose, the cage was put in use and in twenty minutes all hands would be in safety. But one accident occurred with it, and that was the parting of the traveller-rope in a heavy sea just as four men were being swung off the rock, but, luckily, they had only started, and so fell unharmed on the east bench. Whenever the sea would permit, the men were taken to and from the rock in a surf-boat to save the costly item of water and also time. It was extraordinary to see how, little by little, they became more venturesome, till, at the end, they would jump out one by one from the boat, holding to a life-line from the rock, with the sea rising and falling fully fifteen feet on the nearly vertical east face.

All Hands Lost in Buffalo (1913); Lighthouse Reopens (2011)

Buffalo, Light Vessel No. 82, in Buffalo Harbor (Michael Vogel Collection).

From the Lighthouse Board Annual Report of 1914:

On November 10, 1913, Light Vessel No. 82, on Buffalo Light Vessel Station, was wrecked in storm and sunk in Lake Erie near her station, with her entire crew of six men. The vessel was valued at $50,000.

Read the story of LV 82 at BuffaloHistoryWorks.com.

The good news is that the Buffalo Lighthouse, which was closed after the Sept. 11 attacks, has been restored and reopened to the public. Here's the story:

Lighthouse restored, open to public: wivb.com

Postcard from Stella DuBois

Postcard of New Canal Lighthouse, New Orleans, from Klaus Hülse's website of vintage lighthouse and light vessel images from around the world. (Don't visit unless you have time to spare; before we knew it an hour had gone by--and we only looked at US lighthouses.)

Caption: Light House, West End, New Orleans, La.

Message:
N.O. 18 Jan. 1906
Chère cousine--Merci beaucoup de votre jolie carte et de vos bons souhaits. Tous deux m'ont fait grand plaisir--Stella

Translation: Dear [female] cousin--Many thanks for your pretty card and for your good wishes. They both gave me great pleasure--Stella

Stella DuBois Kowalski would have been born in the 1920s. But we can imagine that she was named after her grandmother, who left Belle Reve for a winter jaunt to New Orleans.

New Canal Lighthouse which appears out of plumb in the picture above, was badly damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and collapsed in November 2005. The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation is seeking donations for rebuilding.

New Lighthouse for Rondout Creek, NY or Inside the Congressional Sausage Factory

Rondout Creek Light by Diana Hertz, from U.S. Lighthouses Illustrated Map & Guide. Available as a giclée print; contact Bella Terra to order.

Below are excerpts from Feb. 1910 proceedings of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce of the 61st Congress, chaired by Illinois Republican James R. Mann, author of the (in)famous Mann Act. Congressman George W. Fairchild (R, NY) had introduced a bill for the lighthouse two years previously, requesting $20,000 less (see Feb. 1908 Kingston Daily Freeman clipping here).

Maybe we've been reading too many old documents, but we were amused by the exchange between Frederick Clement Stevens (R-MN), William Henry Stafford (R, WI), Admiral Marix (photo) and Colonel William E. Craighill (Army Corps of Engineers) at the end.

NB: Kingston is across the Hudson River from Bella Terra World HQ.

February 1, 1910.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that a light-house and fog-signal station be established at the mouth of Rondout Creek, Hudson River, State of New York, together with a suitable building, under the direction of the Light-House Board, and that the sum of fifty thousand dollars, or so much thereof as maybe necessary, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated therefor out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

Statement of Hon. George W. Fairchild, A Representative From The State of New York.
I desire to present to the committee the matter of the proposed light-house at the mouth of Rondout Creek, in the Hudson River, and I should like to have Captain Van Keuren. who is present with me, make a statement relative to the same...

Statement Of Capt. W. S. Van Keuren
...A good many years ago they built a light-house at Rondout Creek, which is now maintained by the Government, but which has...become absolutely obsolete....

...the channel of the creek has been changed by a government survey and diked, so that as the present light-house stands it is absolutely of no use; nobody pays any attention to it; the only protection we have there to get in and out of that creek is a stake light on the upper side, which is some 1,200 or 1,300 feet from the present light-house, which stands in only about 4 feet of water, and if a boat attempted to be guided by it, it would be sure to go aground....

The volume of business in a day at Rondout Creek...is immense. The largest steamboat ownership on the Hudson River has its headquarters in Rondout Creek. We have all sorts of interests there that produce marine commerce—coal, bluestone, cement, and various other things.... And to get into the creek, at the town of Kingston, they have to go at least three-quarters of a mile after they leave the river proper, and in getting into this creek they are guided by this stake light...which is but a small lantern....

Mr. Stevens. Is there any navigation at night?

Captain Van Keuren. Yes, a great deal; we have boats coming in and out at all times.... We now want a light-house there with a fog bell and a flash light, in order that people will not have to lie outside, whether it be a tow, a passenger vessel, or the ferry. A ferry runs there after dark. And for three months in the year the light is not available at all, for the reason that they can not get to the light-house to light that light, and can not get to this stake light unless some different means are provided on account of the ice.

The Chairman. Just where is Rondout Creek?

Captain Van Keuren. It is 16 miles north of Poughkeepsie... It is the water front of the city of Kingston...

The Chairman. Mr. Fairchild, may I ask you a question? You introduced the bill originally for $40,000 and subsequently introduced one for $50,000?

Mr. Fairchild. Yes, sir.

The Chairman. Was there any examination made, so far as you know, as to the cost, except this report of the Light-House Board or their statement?

Mr. Fairchild. That is the only statement so far as I know. I took the matter up with them and they told me that $30,000 would be insufficient, and therefore I reintroduced the bill and called for $50,000.

Mr. Stevens. Now, we have a bill to erect a light-house and fog-signal station at Rondout Creek, Hudson River, New York. Have you given any consideration to that bill?

Admiral Marix. I think we made a report on that.

Mr. Stevens. I can not find any report on that.

Admiral Marix. On February 12 the Assistant Secretary addressed a letter to Representative Mann in regard to this bill, and stated that the proposed light and fog signal would be a good adjunct to the navigation of the Hudson River. It is apparent from the locality that the construction of the dike at Rondout, extending about a quarter of a mile toward deep water, has diminished the usefulness of the main light at this point, and in fact the light will not now serve to mark the entrance, to indicate the channel. He then went on to state that the increasing importance of Rondout and the growing river trade have rendered it necessary, and recommends that an appropriation be made for the establishment of the main light to be established on Boon Point, immediately outside of the end of the present dike, and that it be provided with a fog bell. It is estimated that $50,000 mentioned in the bill will cover such a structure rather than $30,000.

Mr. Stafford. Why was $30,000 mentioned in that connection?

Admiral Marix. They thought they could build it where the present dike was, but these dikes extend out into the river and make a more expensive structure necessary.

Mr. Stafford. What is the reason for putting a fog bell there rather than a fog horn?

Colonel Craighill. The bell is sufficient up there. The river is narrow, you know; and the bell is cheaper, and it does not disturb the neighbors as much, either.

Mr. Stafford. I was thinking that it was more a convenience to the dwellers rather than an aid to navigation.

Admiral Marix. It is a secondary bell. A fog signal is much better, of course, but it is more expensive.

Lights Kept Burning in the Civil War

From National Almanac and Annual Record for the Year 1864:

NOTICE TO MARINERS.

All the lights on the coast of the United States from Cape Henry, Virginia (entrance to Chesapeake Bay), to the Rio Grande, Texas, except those at Naval Hospital (Norfolk), Craney Island Shoal, Cape Hatteras and Beacon, Ocracoke, Cape Lookout, N.W. Point, Royal Shoal, Roanoke Marshes, Brant Island Shoal Light-Vessel, Long Shoal Light-Vessel, Croatan Light-House, Wade’s Point Light-House, Martin’s Industry Light-Vessel, Carysfort Reef, Dry Bank, Sand Key, Key West, Dry Tortugas, Pensacola, Ship Island, Chandeleur Island, Merrill’s Shell Bank, Pleasanton’s Island, West Rigolets, Port Pontchartrain, New Canal, Pass à L’Outre, South Pass, Head of Passes, and Southwest Pass, have been extinguished or destroyed by lawless persons during the past year, but will be relighted as soon as practicable after being repossessed by the Government. The lights above named are now in operation.
TREASURY DEPARTMENT,
Office Light-House Board, Washington City,
July 1, 1863.

Illustration: Pensacola Light (FL) by Gerald C. Hill, from United States Lighthouses Illustrated Map & Guide.

Creating a Spectacle in the 1870s

Spectacle Reef Light, in northeastern Lake Huron near the Straits of Mackinac, was begun in 1870 and first lit in June 1874. The masonry tower is still considered a feat of engineering. How'd they do it?

Funny you should ask...

From “The Light Houses of the United States” by Charles Nordhoff* in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, March 1874.

The light-house on Spectacle Reef [illustration above], on the coast of Lake Huron, cost $300,000.... The following account of the difficulties encountered in preparing for its construction will give an idea of what natural obstacles have often to be overcome in this kind of building. The account is taken from the official report:

The site of the tower being determined, and the proper soundings and surveys made, a crib ninety-two feet square was built, having a central opening forty-eight feet square to receive the coffer-dam which was to form the pier of protection, as well as the landing-place for materials. This huge crib was floated to its place.

In order to get accurate soundings to guide in shaping the bottom of the crib, and to fix with a degree of certainty the position of these soundings and that to be occupied by the crib, four temporary cribs, each fifteen feet by twenty-five feet, of round timber, were placed in from eight to ten feet of water, in a line corresponding with the proposed eastern face of the pier of protection, and filled to the level of the water with ballast stone. These four cribs were then decked over and connected together. Upon the pier thus formed about seventy cords of ballast stone were placed, ready at the proper time to be thrown into the crib forming the pier of protection.

The lower two complete courses of the pier of protection having been fastened together by screw-bolts, forming a raft, constituting a ground-plan of the pier of protection, were then towed from the harbor where framed to the reef, and moored directly over the position to be occupied by the finished pier. Its position was marked upon the temporary pier referred to above, and soundings taken at intervals of two feet along each timber in the raft, thus obtaining accurate contours of the surface of the reef within the limits of these timbers. The raft was then towed back to the harbor, hauled out upon ways, and by means of wedges of timber the bottom was made to conform to the surface of the reef. The raft, now become the bottom of the pier of protection, was then launched, and additional courses of timber built upon it, until its draught of water was just sufficient to permit its being floated into position on the reef, at which time it was estimated that the top of the pier would be one foot out of water.

The depth of water on the reef at the points to be occupied by the four corners of the pier of protection was found to be as follows: At northeast corner, ten feet six inches; at northwest corner, thirteen feet; at southwest corner, fourteen feet six inches; and at southeast corner, nine feet six inches—the position to he occupied by the pier of protection having been so chosen that the sides would correspond to the cardinal points of the compass. Meanwhile five barges at the harbor had been loaded with ballast stone, making, together with those on the temporary pier at the reef, 290 cords (about 1800 tons) at command, with which to load the pier of protection and secure it to the reef as soon as it should be placed in position.

On the evening of the 18th of July, 1871, every thing being in readiness, and the wind, which had been blowing freshly from the northwest for three days previously, having somewhat moderated, at 8 P.m. the tugs Champion (screw-propeller) and Magnet (side-wheel) took hold of the immense crib and started to tow it to the reef, fifteen miles distant, followed by the Warrington (screw-propeller), having in tow the schooner Belle, the two having on board a working force of 140 men, the tug Stranger (screw-propeller), with barges Ritchie and Emerald, and the tug Hand, with two scows of the Light-house Establishment. The barge Table Rock, with fifty cords of stone on board, was left in reserve at the harbor. The construction scow, with tools, etc., on board, was towed with the crib. At 2 A.M. next morning, six hours after starting, the fleet hove to off the reef, awaiting daylight and the abatement of the wind, which had again freshened up. At 6½ A.M., it having moderated, the pier, with considerable difficulty, was placed in position, and after being secured to the temporary pier and the moorings previously set for the purpose, all hands went to work throwing the ballast stone into the compartments, and by 4 P.M. succeeded in getting into it about 200 cords, or 1200 tons. By this time the wind was blowing freshly, and the sea running so high as to make it necessary to stop work for the time, but early next morning all the reserve stone was put into the compartments.

After the pier was in position the schooner Belle was moored on the reef to serve as quarters for the working force, which proceeded to build up the pier to the required height above water (twelve feet). On the 12th of September the pier had been built up to its full height, and by the 20th of September quarters for the workmen had been completed upon it, which were at once occupied, and the Belle returned to the harbor.

By means of a submarine diver the bedrock within the opening of the pier was then cleared off, and the work of constructing the coffer-dam was taken in hand. The coffer-dam itself consisted of a hollow cylinder, forty-one feet in diameter, composed of wooden staves, each four inches by six, and fifteen feet long. The cylinder was braced and trussed internally, and hooped with iron externally, so as to give it the requisite strength. It was put together at the surface of the water, and when complete was lowered into position on the bed-rock by means of iron screws.
As soon as it rested on the rock (which was quite irregular in contour), each stave was driven down so as to fit as closely as it would admit, and a diver filled all openings between its lower end and the rock with Portland cement. A loosely twisted rope of oakum was then pressed close down into the exterior angle between the coffer-dam and rock, and outside of this a larger rope made of hay. The pumping machinery having meanwhile been placed in readiness, the coffer-dam was pumped dry, and on the same day (14th October) a force of stone-cutters descended to the bottom and commenced the work of leveling off the bed-rock, and preparing it to receive the first course of masonry.

The bed-rock was found to consist of dolomitic limestone, confirming the previous examinations, highest on the western side, toward the deepest water, and sloping gradually toward the eastern. In order to make a level bed for the first course of masonry it was necessary to cut down about two feet on the highest side, involving a large amount of hard labor, rendered more difficult by the water forcing its way up through seams in the rock. But the work was finally accomplished, the bed being as carefully cut and leveled as any of the courses of masonry.

The first course of masonry was then set, completing it on the 27th of October. While setting this course much trouble was caused by the water, already referred to as forcing its way up through seams in the rock, which attacked the mortar-bed. For this reason water was let into the dam every evening, and pumped out next morning, to give the mortar time to harden during the night. This mortar was composed of equal parts of Portland cement and screened siliceous sand. Specimens of it obtained the following spring, after being in place under water for seven months, were quite as hard or harder than either the bed-rock or the stone used in building the tower.
The weather having now become very boisterous, with frequent snow-squalls, often interrupting the work, and the setting of any additional stone requiring the removal of a portion of the most important of the interior braces of the coffer-dam, it was deemed prudent to close the work for the season. This, too, would give ample time for the hardening of the mortar used in bedding the stone, and the concrete used for filling cavities in the bed-rock, as well as the space between the outside of the first course and the coffer-dam, which was solidly filled with concrete to the top of the first course. Therefore the coffer-dam was allowed to fill with water, the process being hastened by boring holes through it to admit the water, and it was secured to prevent its being lifted by the ice during the winter.

The machinery was laid up, and on the last of October all the working force, except two men, was removed. These two men were left to attend to the fourth-order light which had been established on the top of the men's quarters, and the fog-signal, consisting of a whistle attached to one of the steam-boilers. At the close of navigation they were taken off the pier by the lighthouse tender Haze.

The degree of success of this novel coffer-dam may be inferred from the fact that although prepared with pumps of an aggregate capacity of five thousand gallons per minute, not more than a capacity of seven hundred gallons was used, except when emptying the coffer-dam, and then only to expedite the work. Once emptied, a small proportion of this capacity was ample to keep the coffer-dam free from water; and this at a depth of twelve feet of water, on rock, at a distance of nearly eleven miles from the nearest land. Every person connected with the work may well feel a just pride in its success. All the stone which had been delivered at the harbor, consisting of the first five courses (each course two feet thick), having been cut by this time, the work there was also closed.

The season opened a month later in 1872 than in 1871, consequently work was not resumed at the harbor until the 3d of May, and upon the reef until the 20th of the same month. On the 13th of May the ice in the coffer-dam was still a compact mass, of some feet in thickness. Masses of ice still lay on top of the pier itself. As soon as any thing could be done, the ice still remaining was cleared out of the coffer-dam, the machinery put in order, the braces removed from the interior of the coffer-dam, and then the work of setting additional courses began.

The work upon the tower was carried on at such a rate that one entire course of masonry was set, drilled, and bolted complete every three days.

The Spectacle Reef tower was founded upon a rock the highest part of which was ten feet under water.

Photo of Spectacle Reef Light from LighthouseFriends.com.

*German-born American journalist. Per Wikipedia: Ojai, CA was named after him until WWI anti-German sentiment caused it to be changed.