Oregon - Cape Arago Lighthouse

This Cape Arago Lighthouse is located at Charleston, Oregon.  It is the third lighthouse to be built on this site from 1866 to 1934.  For a short time there were three lighthouses on the island which is affectionately named "Lighthouse Island." The island is only 100 yards from the mainland. The first lighthouse built in 1866 had a 25 foot truncated skeleton iron tower and wooden structure.  It was only 100 feet above the sea. (It became the replacement light after the first Umpqua River Lighthouse, built in 1857, was destroyed by erosion.)  In 1908 a second lighthouse was built at the opposite end of the small island, and the original lighthouse was abandoned. However, due to erosion that second lighthouse had to be replaced by a third one, as seen above.  The second lighthouse was later moved a short distance and became the keepers office. In 1937 the first (original) lighthouse was blown up.  The new lighthouse is a modern building with reinforced concrete.  It is one of the last structures built on the Pacific Coast under the Lighthouse Service.  This lighthouse was built during 1933-1934.  The tower is 44 feet tall and in 1966 the light was automated with a 1000 watt electric bulb.  It shines 24 hours a day through a fourth order lens which projects a beam of light that can be seen for 20 miles out to sea. The present lens was installed in 1998 and is solar powered.  (The original Fresnel Lens is on display by the US Coast Guard North Bend.  The site is not open to the public, but can be viewed from Sunset Bay State Park.)