Category Archives: Construction

A Quick Present for Christmas

December 14, 20113D Drawings, Advertisement, Childhood Memories, Children, Christmas, Construction, Hobbies, Jigsaw Puzzles, Lighthouses, Recreation, Videos3D, jigsaw, jigsaw puzzle, Leuchtturm, lighthouse, litehouse, Ravensburger, toyretlkpr

I came across this item in a sale flyer that came out today. It is a jigsaw puzzle lighthouse in 3D. It is available in many places in Europe, and possibly in America (Canada and USA), although I did not find it in Amazon.ca or Amazon.com. The finished tower is 8.3 cms (3.25″) wide by 35.0 cms (13.5″) high.

The advertising video on the webpage shows it a bit exaggerated I think. To find the videos look to the right of the two small photos on the webpage, and you will find the videos in two blue boxes labelled TV-Spot and Erklärfilm. One of the videos is here – click your mouse on the blue link.

Continue reading A Quick Present for Christmas →

Lighthouse History – 30 – Estevan Point (1907-06-15 to 1912-04-14)

December 1, 2011Construction, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Newspapers1858, 1926, BC, British Columbia, Canada, Estevan, history, lighthouseretlkpr

The following extracts taken from early Victoria, British Columbia (BC) newspapers are credited to Leona Taylor for her excellent work in indexing the papers. Full information can be found here: “Index of Historical Victoria Newspapers“, 2007-09.

As I was collecting this information from the newspaper archive website, I noticed that many articles were in consecutive order and applied to Estevan Point, so I collected them all together here. It is a bit long, but interesting, as it describes the building of a lighthouse from the ground up as they say. Take note of the dates at the end of each article. it surely was not done overnight. More extensive information can be obtained from the actual scanned copies of the newspapers themselves on the above website.

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B H Fraser, Engineer of the Marine Department at Ottawa, is in the city, having arrived on Thurs night, to look into the construction work to be carried on in this province. He said he was now looking over the local situation, and it was possible that other work than that scheduled will be carried out on this coast. Among other works planned is the construction of a first-class coast lighthouse and fog alarm station, which will be perhaps the best on the Vancouver Island coast, to be established at Estevan Point, near Hesquiat. A site for this has been cleared. The light will be of the order of the Pachena Point lighthouse, but the tower will be higher. It is likely that this work will not be carried out until next summer. [Colonist, 1907-06-15] Continue reading Lighthouse History – 30 – Estevan Point (1907-06-15 to 1912-04-14) →

Cape Scott Before the Lighthouse 1942 – 1943

November 28, 2011Adult Memories, Construction, Equipment, Government, History, Information, Lighthouses, Military, Old Website, Radio1942, Cape Scott, LAC, lighthouse, litehouse, military, N. 10 Radio Detachment, RADAR, RDFretlkpr

In July 1942, seventeen (17) years before the present lighthouse at Cape Scott was lit, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) established a radio detection finding (RDF) transmitter and receiver at the point. Work was started in July 1942 and the station was online in December 1942. It continued in operation until September 1945. (please see reference notes below).

Late in 2005 the lighthouse keeper at Cape Scott, Harvey Humchitt, received an inquiry from Ernest J. Ferguson who was reminiscing about his earlier life and wanted to visit Cape Scott, his old haunt from 1942. He was a well-retired RCAF Pilot Officer who started on Cape Scott in July 1942 as a Leading Aircraftman (LAC).

In his email he wished to visit the area once more but Coast Guard would not permit it because of his age (he was 85 years old this year [2006]). Since then he has written Harvey and myself and given us a few black and white photos and stories of his time setting up No. 10 Radio Detachment on Cape Scott. Continue reading Cape Scott Before the Lighthouse 1942 – 1943 →

Porlier Pass Lighthouse 1949 – 1965

November 27, 2011Adult Memories, Automation, Childhood Memories, Children, Coast Guard, Communication, Construction, Equipment, Government, History, Incidents, Keepers, Lighthouses, Medical, Medical Emergency, Old Website, Pensions, Radio, Recreation, School, Stories, Womenlighthouse, litehouse, Porlier Pass, storiesretlkpr

– Denice Goudie (grandaughter of Henry Edward Brown, Senior Keeper on Porlier Pass 1949 – 1965)

Please go to the Porlier Pass lighthouse website, a project of Dennice Goudie, and read the rest of her account and recollections of life at Porlier Pass and a history of her grandfather.

porlier4 — Building on Race Point demolished in 1996 - photo - Chris Mills

Grandfather of this researcher Denice Goudie, Henry Edward Brown (November 29, 1899 – September 27, 1974) served as lighthouse keeper at Porlier Pass between 1949 and 1965 which was established 15 November 1902; automated April 1996.

Every summer and most school holidays of my memory were spent at the north end of Galiano Island. At first in the house which stood further up the hill; lit by coal oil lamps, outhouse, water by bucket from the cistern and after that house burned down a 3 bedroom house that can be viewed from Virago Point Light, looking toward Race Point. Continue reading Porlier Pass Lighthouse 1949 – 1965 →

Lighthouse History – 29 (1907-06-29 – 1907-08-13)

November 24, 2011Construction, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Newspapers1858, 1926, BC, British Columbia, Canada, history, lighthouse, litehouseretlkpr

The following extracts taken from early Victoria, British Columbia (BC) newspapers are credited to Leona Taylor for her excellent work in indexing the papers. Full information can be found here: ”Index of Historical Victoria Newspapers“, 2007-09.

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Work is to be commenced at once on a central wireless telegraph station for Clover Point, Victoria, and also at Pachena Point on the West Coast. Other stations will afterward be established at Cape Lazo, near Comox, for communication with northbound steamers; at Estevan Point, near Hesquiat where a 1st class lighthouse will be constructed, and at Point Grey near Vancouver…
At each station a residence will be constructed for the chief operator and family, and accommodation for 2 operators. At Pachena and Estevan Pnts the stations will be operated from the lighthouses…
When Pachena Point station is ready for service wireless apparatus will be placed on the Empress steamers which will then be able to communicate with the stations at either side of the Pacific a day or 2 before reaching land. Arrangement has already been made to equip the coasting steamers of the Canadian Pacific Railway… [Colonist, 1907-06-29] Continue reading Lighthouse History – 29 (1907-06-29 – 1907-08-13) →

What Do You Do On a Lighthouse?

November 22, 2011Adult Memories, Beachcombing, Books, Construction, Equipment, Hobbies, Lighthousesboredom, dollhouse, furniture, hobbies, lighthouse, litehouse, miniature, recreation, woodwórkretlkpr

Besides the usual question Don’t You Get Bored?, the next question “What do you do on a lighthouse?” also needs to be answered.

What do you do in your house? TV, video games, go to a show, eat out?

We did not have those luxuries, so we worked with our hands as they did in the early days.

Some people liked knitting, crocheting, or sewing; drawing, painting, or designing; writing; photography; and . . . woodwork! Now there was one I liked. Continue reading What Do You Do On a Lighthouse? →

Just In Time For Christmas!

November 18, 2011Advertisement, Childhood Memories, Children, Construction, Lighthouses, Models, Souvenirsboat house, LEGO, lighthouse, litehouse, model, restaurant, toysretlkpr

5770-lighthouse-island2 — LEGO Lighthouse Island

Yes, it’s just in time for Christmas and it is red and white, just like a Canadian lighthouse. It is the new LEGO model # 5770, called Lighthouse Island. Any child would love it; any adult who collects lighthouses will want it too! Just ignore the sign on the box that says ages 8 – 12.

Continue reading Just In Time For Christmas! →

Lighthouse History – 28 (1907-02-06 to 1907-06-15)

November 17, 2011Construction, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Newspapers1858, 1926, BC, British Columbia, Canada, history, lighthouse, litehouseretlkpr

The following extracts taken from early Victoria, British Columbia (BC) newspapers are credited to Leona Taylor for her excellent work in indexing the papers. Full information can be found here: ”Index of Historical Victoria Newspapers“, 2007-09.

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CGS Quadra, now coaling, will probably carry a representative of the Sailor’s Union to the West Coast, when she leaves on a patrol and lighthousetendering cruise about the end of the week. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer of yesterday says: “As a reward for the heroism of Mrs Minnie Paterson in sending aid to the crew of the bark Coloma, which was drifting a wreck off the Vancouver Island coast, the Masters’ and Pilots’ Assn will present her with a handsome gold medal. The inscription on the reverse side reads: “Presented by Puget Sound Harbour No 16, to Mrs Minnie Paterson, for her heroic effort in sending assistance to the bark Coloma, Dec 7, 1906, whereby the lives of 10 men were saved by Dominion Government Steamer Quadra.’
On the reverse side is the figure of a woman fighting her way through the brush with the Latin inscription meaning ‘She hastened that she might save others.” [Colonist, 1907-02-06] Continue reading Lighthouse History – 28 (1907-02-06 to 1907-06-15) →

Don’t Let the Lighthouses Go Dark – special reprint

November 16, 2011Anti-Automation, Automation, Construction, Foreign, Government, History, Lighthouses, Reprint, United Kingdomautomation, British, dark, GPS, lighthouse, litehouse, UKretlkpr

The following article by Bella Bathhurst from the Notting Hill Editions Journal was passed to me by a BC lightkeeper. It was so well written I asked permission to reprint it here. Pay special attention to the author’s reasons for keeping lighthouses.

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Don’t Let the Lighthouses go Dark by Bella Bathhurst
– published November 10, 2011

– published with permission from Notting Hill Editions Journal

We are jettisoning lighthouses at our peril, writes Bella Bathurst, a lighthouse historian. Even in the age of GPS, they remain immensely useful, and retain deep symbolic power.

Twelve years ago, I wrote a book called The Lighthouse Stevensons about the construction of the lights around the Scottish coastline by Robert Louis Stevenson’s family. I was lucky to arrive at exactly the right moment. In 1999, the last of the British lights were being automated and the few remaining keepers were disappearing towards extinction. The men I spoke to were mostly at or near retirement age anyway; most saw the logic of their own removal even if they weren’t persuaded by its effects. At the beginning of the third millennium, you don’t need three grown men to change a lightbulb. But what none of those last keepers would ever have understood or sanctioned was the idea of the lights themselves being switched off.

1320866035_Skerryvore — The Skerryvore Lighthouse, 10 miles south-west of Tiree, in the Hebrides

Continue reading Don’t Let the Lighthouses Go Dark – special reprint →

Lighthouse History – 27 (1906-10-25 to 1907-02-02)

November 10, 2011Construction, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Newspapers1858, 1926, BC, British Columbia, Canada, history, lighthouse, litehouseretlkpr