Rubicon Point Light
Rubicon Point Light is the highest lighthouse in the world. Erected in 1919 at an altitude of approximately 6,300 feet (1,920 meters), the navigation sign is located in DL Bliss State Park on the edge of Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada part of California . It is the only surviving of two lighthouses formerly built on Lake Tahoe in California .
history
The history of the lighthouse dates back to 1913, when the Lake Tahoe Protective Association wrote a letter to the US Department of Commerce asking for navigation signs for Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada. After years of struggling for funding, the application was finally granted in October 1918 and a decision was made to erect a lighthouse and three floating navigation signs. In the summer of 1919, the lighthouse at Rubicon Point, some 19 miles (31 kilometers) south of Tahoe City , was completed for a total of $ 800 .
The lighthouse was erected at a height of 800 feet (244 meters) above the water level of the lake. The operation of the beacon was ensured by a gas lamp that was operated with acetylene . The required gas tanks with a capacity of 300 gallons (1136 liters) were delivered daily to Emerald Bay on the steamship SS Tahoe and from there brought to the lighthouse by a mule in a wagon.
As early as May 1921, only two years after it was put into operation, voices were raised for the first time to move the lighthouse further north to Sugar Pine Point. The exact date and circumstances of Rubicon Point Light's retirement are unclear today. Local historian Mary K. Henley suspects that it was the high operating costs that ultimately led to the end of Rubicon Point Light's use.
Today's condition and usage
Rubicon Point Light is now on the edge of a hiking trail high above Lake Tahoe in the middle of DL Bliss State Park . This is accessible via US Highway 89 and is approximately 11.5 miles north of South Lake Tahoe and 19 miles south of Tahoe City. Billboards in the state park's parking lots draw attention to the existence of the lighthouse and provide visitors with information about its history. After years of vandalism and graffiti , the lighthouse was restored in 2001 with funds from the State of California.
literature
- Mary K. Hanley: Lighthouse or Outhouse? Historic Spot on Lake Tahoe , Second Printing, [o. O.] 1999
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ To this end, Hanley, Lighthouse or Outhouse , p. 4f.
- ^ Hanley, Lighthouse or Outhouse , p. 12.
- ↑ Hanley, Lighthouse or Outhouse , p. 12. Signs in DL Bliss State Park say a cost of $ 900.
- ↑ On this and the following cf. Hanley, Lighthouse or Outhouse , pp. 1f.
- ^ Hanley, Lighthouse or Outhouse , p. 14.
- ^ Hanley, Lighthouse or Outhouse , p. 14.
- ^ Hanley, Lighthouse or Outhouse , p. 2.
Coordinates: 38 ° 59 ′ 45.2 ″ N , 120 ° 5 ′ 40.7 ″ W.