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The process languished, and it took the near disaster of a ship sinking to move the project ahead. A fleet of ships served the west coast from Vancouver, Canada, to San Diego. In fact, steamships were the major means of transportation in and out of the Central Coast prior to the completion of the railroad along the coast of California in 1901. On the night of May 1, 1888, the Queen of the Pacific owned by the Pacific Coast Steamship Company carrying passengers and freight began to take on water. It was about 2 AM and the ship was about 15 miles from Port Harford. The captain turned his ship to the harbor but had to proceed slowly because of the dark and for fear of the rocks at the harbor entrance. The ship made it to within about 500 feet of the pier, where it settled to the bottom in just 22 feet of water. Since most of the ship was still above water, there were no lives lost and the ship was eventually refloated. It was argued, however, that with a lighthouse to guide it, the ship would have easily made it to the pier. On July 17, 1889 the Republic reported that bids for the construction of the Light Station had been opened. After several delays, work at the station was completed in June 1890, and the light was officially lit for the first time on June 30, 1890. An article in the Republic reported that the light would generate alternate red and white flashes every 30 seconds that would be visible 17 _ nautical miles out to sea. (It is not clear that the red filters were ever installed.) The same article went on to describe the buildings: “The light is shown from a black lantern surmounting a square frame tower attached to the southwest corner of a one and a half story frame dwelling painted white, trimmings lead color, blinds green and the roof brown. About 50 yards to the eastward stands a one and a half-story double dwelling painted in a similar manner, between the two dwellings … stands the fog signal building with its two black smokestacks, and painted like the dwellings.” <BACK | MORE > |