Old Yaquina Bay Lighthouse
| Old Yaquina Bay Lighthouse | ||
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| Place: |
 Newport, Oregon
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| Location: | Yaquina Bay State Park at the entrance to Yaquina Bay | |
| Geographical location: | 44 ° 37 '26.9 " N , 124 ° 3' 46.7" W | |
| Fire carrier height : | 16 m | |
| Fire height : | 50 m | |
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| Identifier : | FW | |
| Scope knows: | 9 nm (16.7 km ) | |
| Optics: | Fresnel lens | |
| Operating mode: | electric | |
| Function: | lighthouse | |
| Construction time: | 1871 | |
| Operating time: | 1871–1874 and since 1996 | |
The lighthouse Yaquina Bay Light is at the northern entrance to Yaquina Bay on the west coast of the United States in the state of Oregon . The tower, built in 1871, is located on the Pacific Ocean in the port city of Newport , and marks the mouth of the Yaquina River and the entrance to the ports in Newport and Yaquina City. The lighthouse is the only historic wooden lighthouse in Oregon that has survived and one of the few that have the lighthouse keeper's house in the same building as the tower.
history
1871-1874
Construction of the wooden building began in 1871. The tower was able to start operating in the same year. A burner supplied with whale oil was used for the light. The light had a range of almost 20 kilometers. With the increase in shipping traffic along the Oregon coast, the agency responsible for lighthouses in the United States, the Lighthouse Board , decided that a lighthouse directly on the coast, on Yaquina Head, would be more suitable. The Yaquina Head Lighthouse , which was finally completed in 1873 and stands about five kilometers to the north, made the operation of the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse superfluous after just three years. After a short transition period during which both towers were active, it was decommissioned in 1874. After decommissioning, the Fresnel lenses could be installed in the lighthouse opened in 1875 on the island of Yerba Buena Island in the Bay of San Francisco and used again.
1875-1996
After about 15 years of vacancy, the United States Army Corps of Engineers used the building as accommodation between 1888 and 1896 while building the jetties north and south of the bay entrance. From 1906 to 1913 the tower was used as a lookout point and the building was used as housing by the United States Life-Saving Service and the United States Coast Guard . In 1934, the Oregon State Highway Division bought the land around the tower for a state park . After several years of vacancy, the building, which was in a very poor structural condition, was supposed to be demolished in 1946. Then the Lincoln County Historical Society formed to maintain the lighthouse along with the Oregon Historical Society . With the help of LE Warford , an Ohio industrialist , the building was partially restored. As a result of these efforts, it was finally officially recognized as a historically valuable site and could thus be saved from demolition. The entry in the National Register of Cultural Monuments ( National Register of Historic Places ) took place in 1970. Until about 1974 the building was used as a district museum. At that time, the windows were permanently closed by shutters to protect the inner structure of the building. After the museum was closed, a complete renovation of the building was carried out.
Since 1996
Since December 7th, 1996, after a break of 122 years, the tower is again officially used as a navigation mark , equipped with a modern look and fully automated. The optics were donated by the lighthouse historian James A. Gibbs , who described the history of many lighthouses on the Pacific coast in his books. The tower now operates as a private navigation aid officially recognized by the United States Coast Guard . With its permanently burning white light, it now has a range of around nine kilometers.
Trivia
In the short story The ghosts Lighthouse ( The Haunted Lighthouse ) of Lischen M. Miller from 1899 of empty at the time standing lighthouse in mysterious disappearance of a young girl plays Muriel Trevenard a tragic role. Also in the book Lighthouses of the Pacific by James A. Gibbs mysterious circumstances in connection with the lighthouse are described.
use
Visiting Yaquina Bay State Park, which is maintained by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department and where the tower is located, is free. Parking spaces, picnic areas, children's playgrounds and toilets are available. There are several hiking trails and lookout points in the state park, and there are paths from the park directly to the beach. The building now serves as a souvenir shop, some rooms have been reconstructed from the original. With approximately 350 visitors a day, the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse is a major tourist attraction in Newport and on the edge of US Highway 101 .
Yaquina Head Lighthouse , the other active lighthouse in the Newport area, is located on the Yaquina Head Peninsula about 3 miles north and can also be visited.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.yaquinalights.org/?dir_cat=87899 Yaquina Bay Lighthouse at Friends of Yaquina Lighthouses (engl.)
- ↑ a b c http://www.splintercat.org/YaquinaBayLighthouse/YaquinaBayHistory.html The History of the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse
- ↑ http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=132 Description of the tower at Lighthousefriends.com
- ^ Lischen M. Miller: The Haunted Lighthouse. reprinted from Pacific Monthly, 1899, accessed February 16, 2010 .
- ↑ http://www.pbs.org/legendarylighthouses/html/pnworgl.html Great Lighthouses Oregon (Engl.)