2426. (plan) St. George Reef Light Station. California. Plan of Rock and Relative Position of the Men’s Quarters, the Schooner La Ninfa and Her Moorings c.1883.
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2426. (plan) St. George Reef Light Station. California. Plan of Rock and Relative Position of the Men’s Quarters, the Schooner La Ninfa and Her Moorings c.1883.
- (plan) St. George Reef Light Station. California. Plan of Rock and Relative Position of the Men’s Quarters, the Schooner La Ninfa and Her Moorings c.1883. 13” x 13”. From early Lighthouse Service Annual Report with original folds. St. George Reef is a collection of exposed rocks and covered ledges lying about eight miles northwest of Crescent City. In 1883, sums were allocated to start construction. The schooner La Ninfa was towed to the reef in early April 1883 and moored to four buoys and two points on the rock [shown on this plan] to serve as the barracks and mess hall for the construction crew. A cable was stretched from the schooner to the top of the rock, and a platform suspended from the cable was used to transport the workmen to and from the rock. When the seas threatened to wash over the rock, the workers would lash their tools to iron rings set into the rock and then ride the platform to safety. By September, the crew had terraced an area of the rock for construction of the lighthouse. The final appropriation, which brought the total cost of the lighthouse to $721,000, came late in September 1890, and the next spring, the crew returned to the rock, and the first stone for the lighthouse tower was set in place on May 13. By the end of August, the tower was complete. Although the lighthouse was finished in 1891, it would be another year until the Fresnel lens arrived from France. In the meantime, the station’s twelve-inch steam whistle was activated on December 1, 1891 and kept the keepers partially occupied until the reef was finally lit for the first time on October 20, 1892. Would be lovely framed. Quite clean, crisp. (F-). $34.