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of iron pile construction was in its infancy, and was one of 
the first works of the kind undertaken by the board. 
Hence it was a matter of deep interest and solicitude. It 
was successfully completed, and the lighthouse stands to- 
day a signal reward for the thought and labor bestowed 
upon its conception and construction. 
The lighthouse at Minot’s Ledge was a work of far 
greater difficulty, and to its proper location and plan Gen- 
eral Totten lent the resources of his great experience and 
exhaustless knowledge. As his intimate acquaintance with 
the whole coast of the United States, acquired while acting 
as a member of the Board of Engineers, and during his 
annual inspections as Chief Engineer, enabled him, with the 
aid of the Coast Survey, to indicate with almost unerring 
certainty the proper location and character of all new light- 
houses, so his practical knowledge of construction, in laying 
the foundation of our sea-coast fortifications and the sea- 
_ Walls by which the sites of many of them had to be pro- 
tected, prepared him to grapple with the-difficulties of con- 
structing a masonry tower in this exposed situation, and to 
bring to their solution all the known and tried resources of 
engineering. : 
Minot’s Ledge is situated about twenty miles southeast of 
Boston. It is the outer rock of a very dangerous group 
called the “ Cohasset Rocks,” lying at the very wayside of 
Navigation to the harbor of Boston. A lighthouse of iron 
had been erected here a few years previous to the organiza- 
tion of the Lighthouse Board, but it was carried away in 
a fearful storm which swept along the coast of New Eng- 
land on the 16th of April, 1851. : 
Not only the commercial interests of the country, but hu- 
Manity demanded that it should be replaced, and Congress 
Promptly made an appropriation for this purpose, stipulating 
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