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The Craighill Channel is the first leg of the entrance to
the Patapsco River and Baltimore Harbor. Starting at
the mouth of the Magothy River, the Craighill Channel
guides vessels north until it intersects the Brewerton
Channel. The channel is named after William Price Craighill,
who served on the Light-House Board, was chief of the Army
Corps of Engineers, and was responsible for improving
the channel approaches to Baltimore.
To guide vessels up the channel, a pair of range lights was proposed
in 1870. The original plan was for a pair of screwpiles.
$45,000 was appropriated for new lights, which would make the old
North Point Range lights obsolete.
By this time, the screwpile design was losing favor due to its
vulnerability to moving ice. After the severe winter of 1872-3,
the screwpile design was replaced by two very different styles of
lighthouse.
Work on the rear range light (sometimes called Miller Island light)
began in April 1873. The lighthouse frame formed a pyramid; the
tower was built atop nine supporting concrete piers. A keeper's dwelling
was constructed at the base of the tower, and a central enclosed stairway
led to the top of the tower. The light was 105 feet above the tide,
and remains one of the tallest in the bay.
The front range light was the first caisson structure built on the Chesapeake.
The site chosen was a difficult location to build a lighthouse. Beneath the seabed
was 22 feet of mud, and no solid foundation existed until 60 feet below sea level.
To support the caisson, pilings would need to be driven into the mud. An additional
$25,000 was requested for the caisson light.
Construction did not go smoothly. The pilings were not cut level, and a diver had to
place blocks on top of the pilings to level them. The initial attempt to
place the caisson was thwarted by a gale. Additional cast-iron sections were
bolted to the caisson to reduce the risk of it sinking in transport. The caisson
was ultimately placed successfully, filled with concrete, and supported by 5000
tons of stone, or rip rap, placed around the base. An additional 675 tons were
placed in 1875. The front light housed two lights - one at 22 feet, which serves as
the range light. The second, at 39 feet, serves mariners approaching from
directions other than the range.
Unlike the keeper's dwelling of the rear range, the living space in
the front range was very small. The small light's main deck, only 27 feet
in diameter, housed the range light, the engine room, kitchen,
and another room which served as radio room, office, and sleeping quarters.
According to one keeper, "It's so small, everytime you sneeze, you have
to swab the place."
The two lights were put into service in 1875. The rear range was damaged by a cyclone
in 1888. In 1889, the government was sued by a landowner on Miller's Island who
claimed the lighthouse was built on his property - even though it was built
on the bay. The courts ruled against him, stating that the government had a right
to built lighthouses in navigable waters.
The rear range light was automated in the 1930's, and the keeper's dwelling
removed. The front range light remained manned until 1964, due to a radio-telephone
installation. Both lights remain active today. An organization
has formed to preserve the range lights.
(See links.)
These two lights are referred to as the lower range lights, even though they
are north of the other pair of channel lights - the
upper or "New Cut-off" Craighill Range Lights. The terms
"upper" and "lower" refer the portion of the
channel which ships are navigating when they use the range lights. Ships
travelling north in the lower portion of the channel navigate using the
lower range lights. When ships make the turn into the Patapsco, they use
the upper range lights.
Bay Beacons, Turbyville pp. 18-22
The Lighthouses of the Chesapeake, de Gast p. 105
Lighting the Bay: Tales of Chesapeake Lighthouses, Vojtech pp. 37, 77, 172-173
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