48o 



HISTORY OF COHASSET. 



Section of Mi.not Lighihuusk, show- 

 ing Six Rooms, Lantern, Well, 

 Iron Columns, etc. 



The tower was finished Septem- 

 ber 15, 1S60, just in time for the 

 autumnal fury of the Atlantic to 

 accord a full test to its right of 

 existence. The total cost was 

 about $300,000. Of rough stone 

 there were used 3,5 14 tons, of ham- 

 mered stone 2,367 tons, and from 

 this amount were produced 1,079 

 separate blocks. The first cut 

 stone was laid July 9, 1857, and 

 the lowest block July 11, 1858. 

 The entire time consumed was 

 1,102 hours 21 minutes. 



The dimensions are not realized 

 from a distant view of the tower. 

 From the lowest stone to the top 

 of the pinnacle is 114 feet i inch. 

 The height of the focal plane 

 above the lowest point is 96 feet 

 I inch, and above mean high- 

 water mark, 84 feet 7 inches. 

 The diameter of the first full 

 course, the third from the 

 bottom, is 30 feet, and that 

 forming the granite floor, or 

 the top of the twenty-second, 

 is 23 feet 6 inches. Its com- 

 pletion must have seemed to 

 the builders like the finishing 

 touch to a pedestal, for such 

 it was, to the lighter yet no 

 less important work 

 which grew, course 

 by course, above it. 

 The lantern parapet 

 rises four courses 

 above the cornice 

 of the tower proper, 



