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Cape Blanco was named by the Spanish Captain Martin de Aguilar in 1603.
He named the cape for its steep white cliffs. The cape lies roughly
60 miles north of the Oregon-California border, just north of
Port Orford. The western-most point of Oregon juts into the Pacific in a location
plagued by heavy winter rains and summer fog.
Lighthouse Service engineer R.S. Williamson reported that rain at the cape
was "equalled at only two other points in the United States where
records are kept." Winds at the Cape have been measured at 100 miles
per hour.
Weather and geography made Cape Blanco a likely candidate for a lighthouse.
A light was first proposed in 1864. Work began on the lighthouse
in 1868. Building supplies arrived aboard the schooner Bunkalation
in May 1870. The vessel was not fully unloaded when it was beached in a storm.
The remaining supplies were lost, and not replaced until July 1870. The 59-tower
and dwelling were completed in December 1870. The tower housed a $20,000
first-order Fresnel lens. At 245 feet above
sea level, the light is the highest on the Oregon Coast.
Despite the construction of the lighthouse, wrecks continued to occur at Cape Blanco.
The passenger steamer Alaskan
was lost in 1889 with at least 31 of its passengers and crew. In 1903, the steamer
South Portland was lost. The captain of the vessel was found to be negligent
for leaving on the first lifeboat, despite one comment in the inquiry that the chief
mate had requested the captain lead the first lifeboat. In 1919 the oil tanker
J. A. Chanslor was lost - 36 crewmen died and 30,000 barrels of oil spilled.
Cape Blanco was isolated and difficult to access. Until a road was constructed
in 1886, the only access was by the hazardous southern beach, or the beach road
to Port Orford which was accessible only at low tide and crossed quicksand.
For these reasons Cape Blanco was not a popular assignment for most keepers.
Two keepers who succeeded in making Cape Blanco their home were James Langlois and
James Hughes. Langlois served for 42 years at Cape Blanco, starting in 1875 as assistant
keeper to Charles Peirce (formerly of Yaquina Bay light).
When Peirce left in 1883, Langlois was promoted to principal keeper. It is said that he
never set foot in any lighthouse other than Cape Blanco. He retired in 1918.
James Hughes arrived in 1888 as first assistant. His parents, Patrick and Jane Hughes,
ran a thriving dairy business at Cape Blanco. Their Victorian home still stands.
When living quarters at the station
became too cramped for the Langlois family and the Hughes family, Hughes bought
his own dairy ranch nearby. Hughes tended to both the lighthouse and the ranch.
A second residence at the station was eventually built.
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