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Thursday 10 april 2025 locAl
A10

A brief history of the California Light House

direction. The Lighthouse rotates
from 6 pm in the evening, when
the sun sets, until 6 am in the morn-
ing. During the entire night, the light
shines on the lantern, it goes down
24 meters, and the Lighthouse is 30
meters high. It is designed not to
collapse," Mr. Fingal explains.

(Oranjestad)—At the furthest west- mantled it, and after many years, planes used; clean kerosene," Mr. Mr. Fingal further explains that in
ern point of the island, there lies the I heard that it is in a train museum Fingal said. one night, the lighthouse rotates
tallest structure on the island: The in San Nicolas, where we found this 4,320 times and consumes one
California Light House. Standing on very special lens that, when the Mr. Fingal discovered something gallon of kerosene for the whole
top of a limestone cliff, this light- light shines through it, it reaches 30 very interesting about the light- operation. "At that time, the kero-
house oversees the entire island, kilometers out to sea." Mr. Fingal house after much research was sene was supplied from the Lago
offering one of few best views of told our reporter. documented in his book 'History refinery. Every day it was brought
the island and the surrounding sea. of the Lighthouse at Westpunt.' down, and to start the light again,
It is also one of the few monuments The lighthouse has a long and very He found many details: "I found they had to lift the weight up, so
that hold a rich history. interesting history. The reason why out that the height of the light- our job as children was to crank
the lighthouse was built, according house was due to the absence it and raise the weight back up in
The lighthouse was constructed to Mr. Fingal, dates back to the day of electricity. There was also the the evening when the light stuck,
in between 1914-1916, and its when the cargo ship S.S. California presence of coral. There is a long they would take it down again,
first keeper was a young trained sank because of the lack of light. steel cable from where the light is, and the light stayed down. That's
lighthouse keeper from Curacao In 1913, Aruba made a request and under the light, at the highest how it worked for a very long time,"
names Jacob Jacobs. Mr. Frederi- to Curacao to build a Lighthouse point, there is a hanging weight, a Mr. Fingal explains.
co Fingal was the last man to have at Westpunt, and the governor of sort of pendulum that swings like
occupied this position until 1962. Curacao responded to Aruba to that, with a weight that measures Thanks to the Monument Fund
Though his son, Mr. Romulo Fingal come back in 1915 with a well-de- about 1 meter by 30 centimeters Aruba, which worked hard and
did not continue in his father’s foot- tailed plan. "During the First World wide, which is a block of solid iron is currently in charge of the Light-
steps, he does have a special con- War from 1914 to 1918, they had to attached to a cable. When you house, Mr. Fingal is very happy
nection to the lighthouse. He sat wait for the light to be transported release it upwards, it comes down, with its preservation, along with all
down with our reporter and shared to Aruba because it was manufac- and the weight that comes down the renovations that have taken
a bit of its history. tured in France. At that time, there pulls it up, gradually. And while it place. He hopes that the story of
was no electricity, and the light comes down, the same weight the lighthouse will continue to live
As Mr. Fingal explains, "In 1915, was very interesting because it ro- that is descending causes many on for future generations.q
cargo donkeys were hired from tated with a kerosene lamp that small wheels to turn in the opposite
Figaroa di Noord to help build the
Lighthouse at Westpunt. The don-
keys had to walk along the beach
all the way to Westpunt carrying
the cargo, poles, cement, and all
these things. At that time, it was a
difficult task until Aruba got its first
truck. These things reflect how peo-
ple could have accomplished this
tremendous job with so little." Mr.
Fingal said, "At that time, it wasn't
a place for people to work. It was
very challenging because it was
full of goats and donkeys, and it
was very isolated. There were no
hotels or roads to get there. There
was only a donkey trail. Those were
the only means of transportation."

Mr. Fingal continues, "In 1939, I was
born in the lighthouse, and my fa-
ther was the last lighthouse keeper
until he retired in 1962. After that,
they removed the power cables
all the way to the top. According
to the story, we couldn't have the
light ourselves because they dis-