Historically Famous Lighthouses: CG-232 — John Shaqi
Historically Famous Lighthouses: CG-232United States. Coast Guard
History
Historically Famous Lighthouses: CG-232
United States. Coast Guard
Lighthouses -- United States
Little Sable Lighthouse, a white brick tower, 107 feet in height,
connected to the keeper’s dwelling, and surrounded by a picturesque
group of trees, stands on a point about 10 miles south of Pentwater. The
lighthouse was built in 1874, and the light now shown from the tower is
fixed and flashing white, the flashes being of 40,000 candlepower.
Several miles to the northward is Big Sable Lighthouse, on the point of
that name, distinguished at night from Little Sable by having a fixed
white light, and by day by the color of the tower, banded in black and
white. Big Sable Lighthouse is the same height as the tower at Little
Sable, but was erected in 1867. (1) (2)
_MICHIGAN_
SPECTACLE REEF LIGHTHOUSE, LAKE HURON
The Spectacle Reef Lighthouse cost $406,000 and is the best specimen of
monolithic stone masonry in the United States. The work on the
lighthouse, which stands on a submerged limestone reef off the eastern
end of the Straits of Mackinaw, was commenced in May 1870. It was
planned and built by Maj. O. M. Poe, who was General Sherman’s chief
engineer on his march to the sea. The light was first exhibited from the
finished structure in June 1874. The available working time on the
structure was, however, only about 20 months, because no work could be
done on it during the winter months.
The nearest land to Spectacle Reef is Bois Blanc Island, 10½ miles away.
The stone for it was prepared at Scammon’s Harbor, 16 miles distant and
one of the items in its cost was the purchase of a steamer to convey the
materials to the site.
The waves at Spectacle Reef have a fetch of 170 miles to the
southeastward and the ice fields, which are moved by a current and are
thousands of acres in area, are often 2 feet thick. These had to be
especially provided for because when they move in mass, they have an
almost irresistible force. This force was overcome by interposing a
structure against which the ice is crushed and by which its motion is so
impeded that it grounds on the 7-foot shoal, which thereby forms a
barrier against other ice fields.
The tower, in the shape of a frustrum of a cone, is 32 feet in diameter
at the base and rises 93 feet above the base, which is 11 feet below the
water. The focal plane is 4 feet 3 inches above the top of the parapet,
making it 97 feet 3 inches above the top of the submerged rock and 86
feet 3 inches above the surface of the water. For 34 feet up the tower
is solid and from them on up it is hollow. In it are five rooms, one
above the other each 14 feet in diameter, with varying heights. The
walls of the hollow portion are 5 feet 6 inches at the bottom, tapering
to 16 inches at the spring of the cornice.
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