Here are more interesting building terms. Could you draw a rough sketch, as though
you were it a helicopter above it, of the horseshoe-shaped pier with all those items sitting on it and the caisson located
between the wings of the pier?
At this lighthouse all the ballast rock placed around the caisson to protect it from
the waves is under water. All that rock would have been brought to the waterfront by rail or by horses pulling wagons
and then barged out to the site. If dump trucks had been available in 1906, they would have each held maybe 6 or 7 tons of
rock. Dump trucks hadn’t yet been invented, so how many wagon loads do you think it took to protect this tower?
The 1915 storm destroyed the gallery below the lantern and damaged the enclosed
roof just above it. Can you imagine staying in this lighthouse after such a storm until your fresh water ran out?
Because the lighthouse was abandoned and deteriorating badly, the Coast Guard removed
the tower and replaced it with an automatic light on a steel skeleton tower on the old caisson foundation. (See D'Entremont's
article under Links)
