Southern Oregon Coast: Cape Blanco
Cape Blanco is formed by uplifted marine sediment and is still rising. Offshore and out to sea three tectonic plates collide and the PNW mega-earthquake-to-come could originate there. On land, Oregon’s most southerly publicly accessible lighthouse stands out on the promontory of Oregon’s most westerly point, and the second most westerly of the contiguous United States.
Over the years, I’ve visited every lighthouse on the Oregon coast that the public can access, and many in Washington state too. Entry to the inside of Cape Blanco Light requires purchasing tickets and being escorted by a docent in small groups up into the lighthouse. It is well worth it if you can handle the stairs and the height.
I’ve taken this view up the spiral stairs of a handful of lighthouses. I love the geometry.
The lighthouse went electric in 1936 and the original Fresnel lens was replaced and apparently lost forever, from the Cape Blanco Heritage Society:
In early 1936, the lighthouse was electrified, and the actual lens was replaced with an eight sided, rotating lens, built in France by Henry-LePaute. The new lens coupled with the speed it turned, provided a flash of light every 20 seconds.
The second lens is a second order lens. Cape Blanco’s lens measures 4’8" in diameter and 6’8" in height. We do not know what happened to the original lens after it was shipped to the Tongue Point (Astoria) depot by way of the steamer "Manzanita."
Ventilation still intact for pre-electric light provided by oil lamps.
A 1,000-watt incandescent bulb replaces Cape Blanco’s soot producing oil lamps of old. Gone are the keepers who spent hours polishing the magnificent lens and winding the clockworks. Today, it rotates with the help of a 120-volt, 75-rpm electric motor, specially manufactured for lighthouse duty. The electrified light flashes it's 320,000 candlepower beam, 1.8 seconds bright (flash) every 18.2 seconds.
The weather can be ferocious at Cape Blanco. The flora that grows on and around the cape, as well as most of the Oregon coast, is adapted to this harsh environment. The namesake Cape Blanco stonecrop is no exception. It is native to and can be found all along the Pacific Coast of the US where soil is rocky and doesn’t stay too wet.
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