Being Tourists

Port Orford, Oregon       high 61 Low 46

This morning we drove down by the Port Orford dock and watched a couple of fishing boats lowered into the water. All the boats are pulled out of the water with a crane and placed on trailers and stored on the dock. When they want to go out, the boats are pulled to the crane and then lowered into the ocean. on the way Cindy got some flower pictures.

We let Penny off her leash to run around on the sand. She had a good time running and rolling around. I’m afraid she wore herself out, but she seemed to have a good time.

We then went to the Hughes house. It is a farm house built in 1898. Patrick and Jane Hughes moved to the area in the early 1860s Patrick started ranching and acquiring land until he owned 1800 acres. Finally in 1898 he had the ranch house built where he only lived for three years. In 1901 at the age of 71 his horse fell on him and he died soon after. Jane was the mother of 9 children of which 7 lived to adulthood. She lived in the house until she died in 1923 at the age of 93. One of their sons became assistant light keeper.

The house was scheduled for demolition in 1971 when the Oregon Park Service acquired it, but the town’s people of Port Orford talked them into restoring it with their help. It was interesting to visit.

We then went to the Cape Blanco Lighthouse. It has worked continuously since it was built in 1870. At first the lamp was burned by pig oil from San Francisco until it got electrified. The light signature of this lighthouse is 2 seconds on and 18 off. This is accomplished by slowly rotating the lens so the light, which can be seen for 26 miles, is in the bull’s eye of the lens. The lens has to be covered on sunny days because we were told that the sun shining through the lens has caused forest fires much like starting a fire with a magnifying glass. We saw an example of the heat on one of the reflecting lens that had melted a little bit, when the lens didn’t get covered fast enough. On the way to the top, we were required to stop at the watch station. There are 4 windows facing the points of the compass, so the watchman can see if any ships are in trouble on the ocean and instantly know what direction they are from the lighthouse. If it happened, someone was sent by horse back to the Coast Guard station in Port Orford, where help was sent. We were told that the walls of the lighthouse are double with a space in between and we saw vents which allowed air for the burning lamp.

You can see the vents between the windows.
 The air circulating also stopped mold and mildew from growing.

There are two lamps, one for if the first goes out.

After the lighthouse it was time for lunch, so we went to the Crazy Norwegian for fish and chips, which are reasonably priced and are very good.

Thanks for visiting.