Photograph as originally submitted to this page in the Historical Marker Database www.HMdb.org. Click on photo to resize in browser. Scroll down to see metadata.

Photographer: Don Morfe
Taken: July 5, 2009
Caption: Point Reyes Light Marker
Additional Description: Photo caption - Upper right:
At sundown a lightkeeper lit the wick of an oil lamp that set inside the lens.1,3032 dazzling prisms directed a beam to the horizon. In this 1927 photo a lightkeeper polishes the lens.

Photo caption - middle:
An exquisite brass clockwork rotated the lens to give the appearance of a flashing light. The mechanism still works.

Photo caption - lower right: Until 1929 the fog signal occupied a niche well below the lighthouse. During foggy spells a steam whistle on the roof blew once a minute. Lightkeepers stoked the boilers with 140 lbs. of coal per hour.
Submitted: February 16, 2013, by Don Morfe of Baltimore, Maryland.
Database Locator Identification Number: p234435
File Size: 2.707 Megabytes

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