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LOCAL Wednesday 29 november 2023

A brief history of the California Light House

(Oranjestad)—At the fur- the beach all the way to
thest western point of the Westpunt carrying the car-
island, there lies the tall- go, poles, cement, and all
est structure on the island: these things. At that time, it
The California Light House. was a difficult task until Aru-
Standing on top of a lime- ba got its first truck. These
stone cliff, this lighthouse things reflect how people
oversees the entire island, could have accomplished
offering one of few best this tremendous job with so
views of the island and the little.” Mr. Fingal said, “At
surrounding sea. It is also that time, it wasn’t a place
one of the few monuments for people to work. It was
that hold a rich history. very challenging because
it was full of goats and don-
The lighthouse was con- keys, and it was very iso-
structed in between 1914- lated. There were no hotels
1916, and its first keeper or roads to get there. There
was a young trained light- was only a donkey trail.
house keeper from Cura- Those were the only means
cao names Jacob Jacobs. of transportation.”
Mr. Frederico Fingal was
the last man to have occu- Mr. Fingal continues, “In
pied this position until 1962. 1939, I was born in the light-
Though his son, Mr. Romulo house, and my father was
Fingal did not continue in the last lighthouse keeper lometers out to sea.” Mr. of the Lighthouse at West- plains.
his father’s footsteps, he until he retired in 1962. Af- Fingal told our reporter. punt.’ He found many de-
does have a special con- ter that, they removed the tails: “I found out that the Mr. Fingal further explains
nection to the lighthouse. power cables all the way The lighthouse has a long height of the lighthouse that in one night, the light-
He sat down with our re- to the top. According to and very interesting history. was due to the absence house rotates 4,320 times
porter and shared a bit of the story, we couldn’t have The reason why the light- of electricity. There was and consumes one gallon
its history. the light ourselves because house was built, according also the presence of coral. of kerosene for the whole
they dismantled it, and to Mr. Fingal, dates back There is a long steel cable operation. “At that time,
As Mr. Fingal explains, “In after many years, I heard to the day when the cargo from where the light is, and the kerosene was supplied
1915, cargo donkeys were that it is in a train museum ship S.S. California sank be- under the light, at the high- from the Lago refinery.
hired from Figaroa di Noord in San Nicolas, where we cause of the lack of light. est point, there is a hanging Every day it was brought
to help build the Light- found this very special lens In 1913, Aruba made a re- weight, a sort of pendulum down, and to start the
house at Westpunt. The that, when the light shines quest to Curacao to build that swings like that, with light again, they had to lift
donkeys had to walk along through it, it reaches 30 ki- a Lighthouse at Westpunt, a weight that measures the weight up, so our job
and the governor of Cura- about 1 meter by 30 cen- as children was to crank it
cao responded to Aruba timeters wide, which is a and raise the weight back
to come back in 1915 with block of solid iron attached up in the evening when the
a well-detailed plan. “Dur- to a cable. When you re- light stuck, they would take
ing the First World War from lease it upwards, it comes it down again, and the light
1914 to 1918, they had to down, and the weight stayed down. That’s how
wait for the light to be trans- that comes down pulls it it worked for a very long
ported to Aruba because up, gradually. And while time,” Mr. Fingal explains.
it was manufactured in it comes down, the same
France. At that time, there weight that is descending Thanks to the Monument
was no electricity, and the causes many small wheels Fund Aruba, which worked
light was very interesting to turn in the opposite di- hard and is currently in
because it rotated with a rection. The Lighthouse charge of the Lighthouse,
kerosene lamp that planes rotates from 6 pm in the Mr. Fingal is very happy
used; clean kerosene,” Mr. evening, when the sun sets, with its preservation, along
Fingal said. until 6 am in the morning. with all the renovations
During the entire night, the that have taken place. He
Mr. Fingal discovered light shines on the lantern, it hopes that the story of the
something very interesting goes down 24 meters, and lighthouse will continue to
about the lighthouse after the Lighthouse is 30 meters live on for future genera-
much research was docu- high. It is designed not to tions.
mented in his book ‘History collapse,” Mr. Fingal ex-