This beautiful first order Fresnel lens is located atop the
Umpqua River Lighthouse at Winchester Bay, OR. Barbier and Cie of Paris,
France manufactured this lens in 1890. The lens consists of six hundred sixteen prisms and
includes twenty-four bulls-eye panels. The lens completes a revolution every
two minutes, and its signature light is two white flashes followed by a red
flash. This lens is nine-foot seven-inches tall and six-foot two-inches wide, and
weighs two tons. The original lamps, which provided the light, were replaced by
electricity in the 1930's. A 1,000 watt
quartz bulb currently powers the light, and its light can be seen for nineteen miles
out to sea on a clear night.
This lens is only one of two first-order lens' you can climb
up inside to see the massive lens close up. This pleasure is only possible via
a guided tour. To my knowledge, the other lens is in Brazil. The light in the Umpqua
River Lighthouse operates twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and is
operated by Douglas County, OR and maintained by the US Coast Guard. The Coast Guard, in 2011, reclassified the light
from a Primary to a Secondary aid to navigation.
The Umpqua River Lighthouse is listed on the National
Register of Historic Places as well as the nearby former USCG Station Umpqua
River. The former USCG Station is now home of the Umpqua River Lighthouse Museum. Seasonally,
both the museum and the lighthouse are open for daily tours.
You can also read about this lens in my book "The
Wickie." It’s a heartwarming story about the lighthouse keepers, their
families, and the many challenges they faced at both Umpqua River Lighthouses. (There were two? What happened to the first? Read the book.)
No comments:
Post a Comment