Rubicon Point Light

Rubicon Point Light is the highest lighthouse in the world. Built in 1919 at an altitude of approximately 6300 feet (1920 meters) shipping characters located in the DL Bliss State Park on the edge of Lake Tahoe in California, part of the Sierra Nevada. He is the only surviving set up by former two lighthouses on Lake Tahoe in California.

History

The history of the lighthouse dates back to 1913 when the Lake Tahoe Protective Association asked for aids to navigation for the located in the Sierra Nevada Lake Tahoe in a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce. After years of struggle for funding the request in October 1918 was finally granted and the decision to build a lighthouse and three floating aids to navigation. In the summer of 1919, the lighthouse at Rubicon Point was about 19 miles ( 31 km ) south of Tahoe City, completed for a total cost of $ 800.

The lighthouse was built at an altitude of 800 feet (244 meters) above the water level of the lake. The operation of the beacon was ensured by a gas lamp that was operated with acetylene. The required gas tanks with a capacity of 300 gallons ( 1136 liters) were on the steamer SS Tahoe delivered daily to Emerald Bay and brought from there by a mule in a car to the lighthouse.

Already in May 1921 and thus only two years after commissioning first came to votes to relocate the lighthouse north to Sugar Pine Point. The exact date and circumstances of the withdrawal of Rubicon Point Light are unclear today. The local historian Mary K. Henley believed that it was the high operating costs, which eventually led to the end of the use of Rubicon Point Light.

Present situation and usage

Rubicon Point Light is now on the verge of a hiking trail high above Lake Tahoe in the middle of the DL Bliss State Park. This is on U.S. Highway 89 accessible and is located approximately 11.5 miles north of South Lake Tahoe and 19 miles south of Tahoe City. Signs in the parking lots of state parks draw attention to the existence of the lighthouse and give visitors information about its history. After the lighthouse over the years has been exposed to vandalism and graffiti, it was restored in 2001 with funds from the State of California.