Cape Mendocino Light
Cape Mendocino Light (USCG)
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 California
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| Location |
Cape Mendocino California United States |
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| Coordinates | 40°26′23.66″N 124°24′21.71″W / 40.4399056°N 124.4060306°WCoordinates: 40°26′23.66″N 124°24′21.71″W / 40.4399056°N 124.4060306°W |
| Year first constructed | 1868 |
| Automated | 1951 |
| Deactivated | 2013 |
| Foundation | concrete basement |
| Construction | cast iron tower |
| Tower shape | 16-sided frustum tower with balcony and lantern |
| Markings / pattern | white tower, red lantern roof |
| Height | 43 feet (13 m) |
| Focal height | 422 feet (129 m) |
| Original lens | First order Fresnel lens (removed) |
| Characteristic | Fl W 15s. |
| ARLHS number | USA-129H |
| USCG number | 6-0515 |
| Managing agent |
Cape Mendocino Lighthouse Preservation Society |
Cape Mendocino Lighthouse Preservation Society
Cape Mendocino Light was a navigation light at Cape Mendocino, California. The former lighthouse was relocated to Shelter Cove near Point Delgada, California in 1998, and the historic Fresnel lens to Ferndale, California, in 1948. An automated beacon operated for a number of years but was removed in May 2013.
After many ships, including the SS Northerner and a lighthouse tender with supplies to build the facility, were lost to the jagged rocks surrounding the 326-foot (99 m) foot sea stack "Sugar Loaf" and Blunt's Reef offshore of Cape Mendocino, the lighthouse with attendant buildings including a carpenter shop, an oil house, a barn and a two-story residence were built on 171 acres (69 ha; 0.267 sq mi) of remote rangeland. On December 1, 1868, the light began sending a signal of one white flash every thirty seconds. The United States Coast Guard took control of the Cape Mendocino Lighthouse in 1939 when the United States Lighthouse Service merged with the Coast Guard.
The lighthouse was a 43-foot (13 m) iron tower, sixteen-sided and double balconied, a twin to the lighthouse at Point Reyes but for the roof shape. At 43-foot (13 m) the height of the light exceeded the 420 feet (130 m) Makapuu Point Light, making it the highest focal plane of any lighthouse in the United States. The lens had been shipped in through Eureka, California and then overland to the remote location as it was too risky to ship it directly to the lighthouse. Also due to the remote location, lighthouse tenders serviced the facility. In 1881, three men being sent to the lighthouse were killed while attempting to land in a small boat from the tender Manzanita. New dwellings were built in 1908 for the keepers, some of whom raised cows or ponies for the Ferndale to Petrolia stage coach line. At least ten keepers served this lighthouse from 1869 to 1926.
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Wikipedia