Point Atkinson Lighthouse is a lighthouse erected on Point Atkinson, a headland in southwestern British Columbia named by Captain George Vancouver in 1792, when he was exploring the Pacific Northwest in the ship Discovery. The first wooden lighthouse went into service in 1875 and was replaced by a reinforced concrete structure in 1914.
The first lighthouse at the site was a wooden structure with an attached keeper's house, built by Arthur Finney of Nanaimo in 1874. It did not go into service until the following year because initially the wrong light was sent from England. The beacon was lit for the first time 17 March 1875.[2]
The light was 95 ft (29 m) above the sea and was visible for 14 mi (23 km). When the visibility was poor, ship captains would sound their foghorn three times, prompting the lightkeeper to pump a horn by hand until the vessel signalled that it was safe to desist.[3]
In 1889, Canadian Pacific Steamships demanded that a fog alarm be added. This was located in a separate building to the west of the lighthouse. It had a rotating drum which was driven by steam to make an audible sound. In 1902, this was replaced by a diaphone fog alarm in which a slotted piston moved inside a similarly slotted cylinder.[3]
The present lighthouse was built in 1914 on granite boulders jutting out into Burrard Inlet in West Vancouver, Canada. The concrete structure was considered at the time innovative in lighthouse design. It is now automated and still in use.[4]
The Point Atkinson Lighthouse may be reached by hiking the Valley Trail in Lighthouse Park.[5]
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