TIIIC PIGEON I'OIXT LIGIITIIOUSI':, OX THE RUGGED PACIFIC COAST, CALIFOKXIA 



This light gives each lo seconds a flash of 4 seconds' duration and 160,000 candle power. The 

 fog signal is a tirst-class air siren, giving each 30 seconds two blasts in quick succession 



a traveler on a cable. The total cost of 

 the work at St. George Reef was about 

 $712,000, making it the most expensive 

 lighthouse that has been built in this 

 country. These two exposed light sta- 

 tions on the Pacific coast are the only 

 ones having five keepers (see pp. 16-18). 

 Of lighthouses built on piles in the 

 water, the original Alinots Ledge struc- 

 ture has been mentioned. r)randywine 

 Shoal light, in 6 feet of water in Dela- 

 ware r>ay, completed in 1850, was the 

 first in the United States built on iron 

 screw-piles. These were bored down 6 

 feet into the sand bottom, the broad 

 screws at the ends of the i)iles also fur- 

 nishing additional bearing surface: this 

 structure has stood 62 years, but now 

 mtist be rebuilt on account of the ])iles 

 having been damaged by the ice. 



LIGHTS ox THE FLORIDA REEFS 



Fi\e i^yramidal iron skeleton light- 

 houses have been built in the water along 

 the Florida reefs ; these are supported on 



iron piles forced about 10 feet into the 

 coral rock or sand. The piles are driven 

 through large cast-iron discs, with a 

 shoulder bearing on the disc ; these discs 

 are about 8 feet in diameter and give a 

 broad support for the structure. 



Sombrero Key, with its light 142 feet 

 above the sea, is the tallest of these reef 

 lighthouses (see page 22). The keepers' 

 quarters are carried within the skeleton 

 tower, and they thus live 37 feet above 

 the water. 



LIGHTS ox SAND BOTTOM — THE I4-F00T 

 BAXK LICHT 



The first lighthouse built in the sea 

 distant from the land and not on a rock 

 foundation was the Rothersand. This 

 notable engineering work stands in 20 

 feet of water, on a sand foundation, in 

 the Xorth Sea, 10 miles from the Ger- 

 man coast, in the approach to I'rcmen. 

 The first attempt to place a lighthouse 

 in this position resulted in failure, but a 

 structure was finally completed in 1885. 



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