28299. (large mounted photo) Point Loma Light Station c.1915. Large 12 ½” x 16 ½” on 16” x 20” mount provides unusually close, clear view of the early 1854 light structure. In 1851, a year after California entered the Union, and the U.S. Coastal Survey selected the heights of Point Loma, 422 feet above sea level, for the location of a navigational aid. Construction began three years later. Workers carved sandstone from the hillside for walls and salvaged floor tiles from the ruins of an old Spanish fort. A rolled tin roof, a brick tower, and an iron and brass housing for the light topped the squat, thick-walled building. By late summer 1854, this work was done. More than a year passed before the lighting apparatus — a 5 foot, 3rd order Fresnel lens, the best available technology — arrived from France and was installed. At dusk on November 15, 1855, the keeper climbed the winding stairs and lit the oil lamp for the first time. In clear weather its light was visible at sea for 25 miles. For the next 36 years, it welcomed sailors to San Diego harbor. The light had only a short life because the seemingly good location concealed a serious flaw: fog and low clouds often obscured the beam. On March 23, 1891, the keeper extinguished the lamp for the last time. Boarding up the lighthouse, he moved his family and belongings into a new light station at the bottom of the hill. Superb large b/w photographic view, clear and clean, on original aging mount was put together by the Union Title Insurance Company. Would look striking framed. (VG). $134.