The lighthouse comprises a granite dwelling of two floors for the accommodation of the keepers, from the centre of the front of which rises a granite tower, square at the base, but round at the top, to carry the lantern, the light of which, of the fourth order, is 67 feet above mean high-water. The warning is an alternate flash of red and white, with a ten seconds’ dark interval. For the protection of the base of the pier, the ledge on all sides is covered with a thick layer of boulders. The work was commenced in 1872, but, owing to its difficult character, occupied six years. The Race Rock lost its terrors for all time when the beam flashed out on the night of New Year’s Day, 1879. On the Pacific seaboard, while the American lighthouse engineers have not been so active in regard to engineering work of an impressive nature, owing to the more slender proportions of the maritime traffic, they have accomplished some notable triumphs. The Tillamook Rock light, described in the previous chapter, is the most important, and is to the Pacific seaboard of the country what the Minot’s Ledge light is to the Atlantic coast. The majority of the lights on the Pacific are stationed on the mainland, or contiguous thereto. These beacons are of more modern construction than those on the Atlantic shore, and in some instances are very powerful. Pride of place in this respect is shared between Point Arena and Cape Mendocino. The former, perched on the cliff-shore of California, has a flashing group of two flashes of 3/8 second in five seconds, with eclipses of 1-1/8 and 4-1/8 seconds respectively, thrown by its light of 1,000,000 candle-power over the water for a radius of eighteen miles from a height of 155 feet. Cape Mendocino light, on the same coastline, has the further distinction of being the most elevated light on the United States Pacific coast, the 340,000 candle-power beam being thrown for ten seconds once every thirty seconds from an elevation of 422 feet. Although the tower itself is only 20 feet in height, the cliff sheers up for 402 feet. Consequently the flash may be detected from twenty-eight miles out to sea in clear weather.