S. Oregon Coast's Cape Blanco Celebrating 155 Years: A Look At That Lens

Published 02/02/26 at 12:55 a.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Port Orford, Oregon) – When the Cape Blanco Lighthouse first lit up on December 20, 1870, there were a lot of little historical connections. The Oregon Coast itself was newly named: this place had only become a state 11 years earlier. And it wasn't quite fifty years that the Fesnel lens had been in existence. The very thing that made Cape Blanco's light a decent light had been invented in 1822 by a guy named – you guessed it – Fresnel. (Photo Bureau of Land Management)

According to the Cape Blanco Historical Society's Jack Graham, it was head keeper Harvey Burnap who fired up the station’s first-order fixed lens from the Henry-Lepaute works in Paris. Its drum-shaped panels produced a steady 45,765-candlepower beam visible 21 miles offshore.

The Cape Blanco Lighthouse has just begun its 155th year as of this December, and it was good cause to look back at the history of its mighty glass wonder.

“The Fresnel lens was a game-changer in optics, particularly for lighthouses,” wrote Graham recently.

One thing true of all lighthouses in the world is that they have a distinct signal: meaning how many long and short blinks and the intervals between. Sometime just after 1911, Cape Blanco’s steady beam was replaced with a flashing characteristic using an eclipsing device driven by clockwork - adding “winding the machinery” to the keepers’ daily duties.

Cape Blanco in 1936

Electrification arrived in early 1936, along with a new eight-sided, rotating second-order beehive lens from Henry-Lepaute. The original first-order lens was removed, shipped to Tongue Point in Astoria, and vanished from the historical record. Head Keeper Orlo Hayward supervised the transition, but the new lens arrived damaged: a sprung door frame and three broken bull’s-eye prisms. An investigation found Assistant Keeper E.E. Lewis negligent; he resigned in 1937. The repairs, carried out by Louis Sautter of the famed Sautter lens works in Paris, left Cape Blanco with a rare artifact signed by two master craftsmen - Augustin Henry-Lepaute and Sautter himself.

Courtesy BLM

The second-order lens measured 4'8" across and 6'8" tall. Driven by an electric motor, it produced a distinctive 20-second flash cycle visible 26 miles at sea. This level of automation foreshadowed the eventual end of resident lighthouse keepers.

Operations remained steady through the mid-20th century, even in 1939 when the Bureau of Lighthouses merged into the U.S. Coast Guard. During World War II, the USCG established a base and added numerous structures, including a LORAN station. In 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy attempted - unsuccessfully - to use the light as a reference point for dropping incendiary bombs on the Oregon coast.

Keeper's quarters

These days, Cape Blanco's light is the oldest continuously operating lighthouse in Oregon and the westernmost active light in the contiguous United States.

“Cape Flattery Lighthouse, WA, no longer has a light,” Graham noted.

That new lens continued shining until 1992 when vandals broke it, but it was replaced about two years later, and then once more in 2002.

In 2023, the lens stopped rotating due to motor failure, likely caused by worn bearings. The room is now curtained - echoing pre-USCG practice to protect a stationary lens - and a temporary LED beacon shines to the west while experts assess the historic mechanism.

“The fresnel lens is due an inspection,” said Rebecca Malamud-Evans, director of the Cape Blanco Heritage Society (CBHS). “Our priority is keeping that on schedule for everyone who is involved and cares about the Cape Blanco Lighthouse.”

The landmark is still in fundraising mode with plenty of need for repairs. See saveourlighthouse.net .

In the meantime, 155 years is something to whoop it for.

“We will be celebrating the 155th Anniversary all season out at the Cape Blanco Lighthouse Greeting Center Gift Shop with interesting exhibits and entertaining events for our visitors,” Malamud-Evans said. “Keep an eye out for details on our annual Christmas Concert that is a Southern Oregon Coast Tradition held annually each year on December 20th (the anniversary date of our first lighting).”

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