Episode 90 - Green Island Lighthouse, Ohio

WEBVTT

00:00:00.430 --> 00:00:08.589
All right. Recording 85? 90. 90. I'm so far off.

00:00:08.949 --> 00:00:10.669
Well, that's because you're supposed to be 89

00:00:10.669 --> 00:00:14.609
and I'm recording this early. Oh. Oh. I'll be

00:00:14.609 --> 00:00:17.429
ready. Hi, everybody. I'm Emily. And I'm Vince.

00:00:17.649 --> 00:00:29.820
And this is The Lighthouse Lowdown. So everybody

00:00:29.820 --> 00:00:34.399
knows, ouch, I'm recording podcasts early, you

00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:36.600
know, because we're getting married in December.

00:00:36.719 --> 00:00:40.259
Yep. Big, big event. It's currently October.

00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:46.479
Yes. And I'm thinking before and after, I'm not

00:00:46.479 --> 00:00:48.140
going to be one, or I'm not going to really have

00:00:48.140 --> 00:00:50.479
time to focus on anything else, you know? Yes.

00:00:50.600 --> 00:00:52.119
Just going to put everything I have into this

00:00:52.119 --> 00:00:55.539
one day. So I'm recording our episodes early.

00:00:55.700 --> 00:01:03.810
Yep. Episode 80 today. 90. 90 today. Yep, we're

00:01:03.810 --> 00:01:06.310
wedding planning. We're getting married in December.

00:01:07.810 --> 00:01:10.730
Thank you to our listeners for still listening.

00:01:12.269 --> 00:01:14.489
Last night we talked with our DJ, a good friend

00:01:14.489 --> 00:01:18.010
of ours, about some music. Yeah, really good.

00:01:18.129 --> 00:01:19.829
We're going to be dancing the night away. It's

00:01:19.829 --> 00:01:21.430
going to be awesome. It's not going to be the

00:01:21.430 --> 00:01:23.250
stuff you normally hear at a wedding. It's going

00:01:23.250 --> 00:01:25.230
to be something. It's going to be a step up.

00:01:25.290 --> 00:01:28.870
We should send him our intro song. Oh my gosh.

00:01:29.069 --> 00:01:32.609
I'd be like, I just turned so red with embarrassment.

00:01:34.150 --> 00:01:44.310
So I'm doing a series. I looked up Green Island,

00:01:44.549 --> 00:01:47.489
the one in Taiwan, right? I don't know anything

00:01:47.489 --> 00:01:50.909
about it. Taiwan is how you say it? Yeah, Taiwan.

00:01:53.530 --> 00:01:54.730
You're like, I don't know anything about it.

00:01:55.049 --> 00:01:57.650
I actually need help with something else. And

00:01:57.650 --> 00:01:59.930
realize that there are other Green Island lighthouses,

00:02:00.109 --> 00:02:02.670
like lots of other Green Island lighthouses.

00:02:02.890 --> 00:02:05.849
So I'm doing a Green Island series until they're

00:02:05.849 --> 00:02:08.830
all gone. Okay. It's like Snake Island. Exactly.

00:02:09.050 --> 00:02:13.069
But there's several Snake Islands. Yeah. At least

00:02:13.069 --> 00:02:15.990
the ones that I'm covering are pretty well documented.

00:02:16.069 --> 00:02:19.110
So they're actually a little less stressful.

00:02:19.210 --> 00:02:22.650
Yeah. Nice. So how many did you find? Well, you're

00:02:22.650 --> 00:02:24.509
going to find out. Okay. They're just going to

00:02:24.509 --> 00:02:27.780
keep going until they're done. Okay, here we

00:02:27.780 --> 00:02:30.139
go. So the first one I'm covering today is the

00:02:30.139 --> 00:02:33.699
one in Ohio. We had a small conversation about

00:02:33.699 --> 00:02:37.039
Ohio right before this. But I'm going to do a

00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:40.719
history buoy first. I do have one. And I'm going

00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:44.580
to cover strontium. Strontium? Which is an element

00:02:44.580 --> 00:02:47.180
on the periodic table. I would not have guessed.

00:02:48.120 --> 00:02:50.620
It's how we got our lighthouse today. So I figured

00:02:50.620 --> 00:02:53.419
I would go ahead and cover it. Strontium. Yeah,

00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:55.500
we know the background of what brought us our

00:02:55.500 --> 00:02:58.479
lighthouse. I can't wait to learn. Yeah. It's

00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:03.680
element number 38, symbol SR, for those who know

00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:05.340
anything about the periodic table. What's the

00:03:05.340 --> 00:03:11.719
atomic mass? How dare you? I don't have it pulled

00:03:11.719 --> 00:03:15.379
up. Turd. I thought you would have. Originally

00:03:15.379 --> 00:03:18.520
called strontium before they, you know, like

00:03:18.520 --> 00:03:21.699
put it into the periodic table. And then they

00:03:21.699 --> 00:03:23.960
wanted to match all the alkaline earth metals

00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:26.240
with EM at the end. And, you know, a lot of them

00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:29.659
are EM at the end. Chemistry was very hard for

00:03:29.659 --> 00:03:34.979
me. Me too. Says the chemical engineer. I cheated

00:03:34.979 --> 00:03:37.960
my way through organic chemistry. Only at the

00:03:37.960 --> 00:03:44.189
end. What? I had to. And just so everyone knows,

00:03:44.229 --> 00:03:46.129
these are entertainment purpose only. These are

00:03:46.129 --> 00:03:47.729
not real stories. Yeah, it's not real. Anyway,

00:03:47.849 --> 00:03:53.610
so originally called Strontian after the town

00:03:53.610 --> 00:03:55.349
in Scotland where it was first discovered in

00:03:55.349 --> 00:03:59.090
1790, which the town wasn't called Strontian,

00:03:59.110 --> 00:04:01.870
but I think it was like Stronta or Stront, Stronts,

00:04:01.990 --> 00:04:04.129
something. Somewhere in Scotland. Yeah. Okay.

00:04:04.389 --> 00:04:08.780
It's soft, yellow, silver in color. and forms

00:04:08.780 --> 00:04:11.159
a dark oxide layer when exposed to air. So if

00:04:11.159 --> 00:04:13.300
it's in a vacuum, it's like, here, I have a picture.

00:04:13.800 --> 00:04:17.500
Just pretty yellow silver. Oh yeah, almost like

00:04:17.500 --> 00:04:20.639
gold. Pale, yeah, almost like gold, but definitely

00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:23.040
notes of silver in there. I do not like the texture

00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:24.459
of what we're looking at. Yeah, it's chunky.

00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:30.839
It's like small dried leaves curled up. I think

00:04:30.839 --> 00:04:35.470
it looks more wet than that. Okay. I see what

00:04:35.470 --> 00:04:37.129
you're saying. So when in a vacuum, this is what

00:04:37.129 --> 00:04:39.250
it looks like, but it oxidizes. And it's like

00:04:39.250 --> 00:04:41.589
really dark when it's in the air. Sure. Okay.

00:04:41.810 --> 00:04:43.990
So the natural form of strontium is not actually

00:04:43.990 --> 00:04:47.009
hazardous at all. Like you can touch it, whatever.

00:04:47.629 --> 00:04:51.269
But the synthetic version is radioactive and

00:04:51.269 --> 00:04:54.089
one of the most dangerous components of nuclear

00:04:54.089 --> 00:04:59.370
fallout. And also it was used in the RTGs used

00:04:59.370 --> 00:05:01.649
in Russian lighthouses. And you covered snaps

00:05:01.649 --> 00:05:07.300
in episode. Which was the U .S. versions of RTGs.

00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:11.279
I already forgot what that stands for. Radioactive

00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:17.459
Thermal Electric Generators. Yeah, they were

00:05:17.459 --> 00:05:21.180
mobile. That's what I think. They had a radioactive

00:05:21.180 --> 00:05:26.519
isotope and it would slowly decay over time and

00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:28.459
that process would create a small amount of electricity

00:05:28.459 --> 00:05:32.790
for a local onboard. basically generator battery.

00:05:33.110 --> 00:05:35.829
And so they took a small sample of radioactive

00:05:35.829 --> 00:05:37.430
material and then they'd be able to run something

00:05:37.430 --> 00:05:39.610
small and electrical for a really long time.

00:05:39.829 --> 00:05:42.910
So there's episode 65. Go listen to it. But they

00:05:42.910 --> 00:05:44.389
put these things in outer space. They put them

00:05:44.389 --> 00:05:47.089
in lighthouses. They put them on buoys to be

00:05:47.089 --> 00:05:50.910
long -term electrical power. Really kind of interesting.

00:05:51.129 --> 00:05:54.290
Very cool. But dangerous. But that's, yeah, that's

00:05:54.290 --> 00:05:59.019
one of the components. Strontium. But the synthetic

00:05:59.019 --> 00:06:02.639
version, not the natural version. After its discovery,

00:06:02.779 --> 00:06:05.379
the main use was in the production of sugar from

00:06:05.379 --> 00:06:08.379
sugar beets. What? By a process called strontium

00:06:08.379 --> 00:06:10.839
process. It's like this whole chemical thing,

00:06:10.980 --> 00:06:14.600
lots of combining and, you know. So they would

00:06:14.600 --> 00:06:18.240
use this artificial strontium. The synthesized

00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:21.480
strontium? No. The synthetic one was radioactive.

00:06:21.740 --> 00:06:24.420
They used the natural version for sugar beets.

00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:26.639
Sugar beets. For the process of extracting something

00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:30.300
from the sugar beet? Sugar, yeah. Oh. That makes

00:06:30.300 --> 00:06:33.300
sense. You're like, oh. You didn't get beets

00:06:33.300 --> 00:06:38.579
out of it? Oh. But that chemical method is now

00:06:38.579 --> 00:06:41.779
obsolete, even though it was widely used the

00:06:41.779 --> 00:06:44.720
mid -1800s to 1900s. Okay. So it was around.

00:06:44.819 --> 00:06:47.240
I think it was actually like one of the... the

00:06:47.240 --> 00:06:50.420
most used ways for them to get sugar out of sugar

00:06:50.420 --> 00:06:53.120
beets, but now there's better ways. And then

00:06:53.120 --> 00:06:56.279
after that, up to 75 % of strontium use was in

00:06:56.279 --> 00:07:00.259
making the glass tubes in colored TVs early on.

00:07:00.339 --> 00:07:03.779
Oh, okay. Because, I don't know if it was because

00:07:03.779 --> 00:07:06.500
they were dark or something, but they stopped

00:07:06.500 --> 00:07:10.300
x -ray emissions from those glass tubes. So essential

00:07:10.300 --> 00:07:13.439
for a household item. So I don't have x -ray

00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:15.660
emissions. So it's like a shielding component

00:07:15.660 --> 00:07:18.100
of the glass tube. And I got kind of excited

00:07:18.100 --> 00:07:21.939
because when it said that strontium was used

00:07:21.939 --> 00:07:24.199
in glass, I was like, oh my gosh, is this going

00:07:24.199 --> 00:07:27.060
to relate to like Fresnel lenses and stuff? But

00:07:27.060 --> 00:07:31.980
no. Our lenses require a lot more purity and

00:07:31.980 --> 00:07:35.480
clear glass. So obviously it couldn't be related.

00:07:35.740 --> 00:07:38.000
But still pretty cool. I don't know anything

00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:42.360
about how TVs work. And then we moved to different

00:07:42.360 --> 00:07:45.860
display methods away from the glass tubes. And

00:07:45.860 --> 00:07:48.680
now strontium is not really used for a lot of

00:07:48.680 --> 00:07:52.120
things in our modern world. It's combined with

00:07:52.120 --> 00:07:53.879
other things to make glow -in -the -dark toys.

00:07:54.060 --> 00:07:59.819
So that's kind of fun. And they also do, they

00:07:59.819 --> 00:08:03.399
use it in deep red colored fireworks because

00:08:03.399 --> 00:08:07.019
when strontium burns, it's like maroon. Like

00:08:07.019 --> 00:08:09.379
they do a flame test to figure out like what.

00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:12.560
is in a sample or something and if there's red

00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:14.879
like a dark red then it's strontium that's so

00:08:14.879 --> 00:08:16.920
funny i always wonder what's in fireworks yeah

00:08:16.920 --> 00:08:18.959
there's all kinds of stuff i mean each color

00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:21.860
is just an element off the table yeah like yeah

00:08:21.860 --> 00:08:24.560
we just blow it up yeah might as well for fun

00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:27.660
and it's also used in the treatment of bone cancer

00:08:27.660 --> 00:08:30.639
this was like a whole fun interesting like um

00:08:31.370 --> 00:08:33.389
tangent i could have gone on because it's right

00:08:33.389 --> 00:08:36.070
below calcium on the periodic table and so it

00:08:36.070 --> 00:08:38.429
acts in a lot of the same ways which could be

00:08:38.429 --> 00:08:40.409
terrible if it was like the radioactive version

00:08:40.409 --> 00:08:43.649
yeah but the natural version it it like it's

00:08:43.649 --> 00:08:45.450
absorbed into your bones in the same way that

00:08:45.450 --> 00:08:50.110
calcium is just like a substitute and so um they

00:08:50.110 --> 00:08:52.250
use it for bone cancer treatment yeah because

00:08:52.250 --> 00:08:54.649
it's a it's like bioavailable for that purpose

00:08:54.649 --> 00:08:59.409
yeah that's really interesting so One quick question.

00:08:59.710 --> 00:09:02.429
Maybe you don't know the answer. You said natural

00:09:02.429 --> 00:09:06.169
versus artificial, I think is the word. So it's

00:09:06.169 --> 00:09:08.590
artificial, it's synthesized, it's made. Yes.

00:09:08.710 --> 00:09:12.169
And it's probably radioactive because of the

00:09:12.169 --> 00:09:14.330
process of how it's made. Things are radioactive

00:09:14.330 --> 00:09:18.409
based on like electrons and stuff, aren't they?

00:09:19.029 --> 00:09:23.490
Oh, imbalance of protons and neutrons. So it's

00:09:23.490 --> 00:09:28.059
like unstable nucleus is why something is. Something's

00:09:28.059 --> 00:09:30.139
radioactive, which is interesting. So it's like

00:09:30.139 --> 00:09:33.740
the natural version is really stable, but if

00:09:33.740 --> 00:09:35.980
you make it unstable, it's radioactive. So like

00:09:35.980 --> 00:09:38.720
when we make it, when it's synthetic, it's because

00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:42.980
we mess up the nucleus on purpose. There's got

00:09:42.980 --> 00:09:44.360
to be some utility there. That's interesting.

00:09:44.500 --> 00:09:49.379
Okay. And I do think the radioactive version

00:09:49.379 --> 00:09:55.610
is maybe also used in bone. Bone cancer treatment

00:09:55.610 --> 00:09:59.669
because it becomes a very targeted area for radioactive

00:09:59.669 --> 00:10:03.710
treatment. Because it's absorbed by the bone

00:10:03.710 --> 00:10:05.409
where it's needed most, that's where you can

00:10:05.409 --> 00:10:08.850
target it with radioactive treatment. So I don't

00:10:08.850 --> 00:10:10.129
know anything about it, but I think that's interesting.

00:10:11.450 --> 00:10:14.629
And that's our history buoy, Strontium. First

00:10:14.629 --> 00:10:17.149
time covering an element for our history buoy.

00:10:17.350 --> 00:10:19.190
And that's how we got our lighthouse today, Green

00:10:19.190 --> 00:10:27.299
Island in Ohio. Okay. Green Island is one of

00:10:27.299 --> 00:10:31.460
21 small islands that make up the Erie Archipelago,

00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:33.799
which I didn't know that Erie had an archipelago.

00:10:33.799 --> 00:10:36.860
I didn't know there was one. So here's a little

00:10:36.860 --> 00:10:40.000
picture I pulled up. Google does its best to

00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:42.299
show all the islands, but obviously it's not

00:10:42.299 --> 00:10:45.840
perfect. So if you zoom in really far on Google

00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:49.460
Maps, that's when you can start to see how Green

00:10:49.460 --> 00:10:52.679
Island is so tiny. On the map, it's not really

00:10:52.679 --> 00:10:58.419
visible. So, but it's right off the coast, the

00:10:58.419 --> 00:11:01.720
west coast of Put -in -Bay, which I just looked

00:11:01.720 --> 00:11:03.460
up the pronunciation of. I hope that's correct.

00:11:03.580 --> 00:11:07.879
Put -in -Bay, which is where our keepers go often

00:11:07.879 --> 00:11:10.860
for getting off of the island. Okay. That's where

00:11:10.860 --> 00:11:14.200
they always head. That's a close by. Yes. So

00:11:14.200 --> 00:11:17.080
the island wasn't well known until 1820 when

00:11:17.080 --> 00:11:19.340
the cliffs of the east end were discovered to

00:11:19.340 --> 00:11:25.070
be laden with strontium. What? Where are we going?

00:11:25.269 --> 00:11:27.230
Are we going to go mine the strontium? Well,

00:11:27.250 --> 00:11:30.590
yes. They mined the island for strontium. And

00:11:30.590 --> 00:11:33.269
it became the main American source of the element

00:11:33.269 --> 00:11:36.730
and nicknamed Strontium Island because of that.

00:11:37.250 --> 00:11:39.889
And also there was a bunch of, like, the picture

00:11:39.889 --> 00:11:42.710
that I showed you is not how strontium looks

00:11:42.710 --> 00:11:47.169
when it's mined. It's like in gems and stuff.

00:11:47.350 --> 00:11:50.789
Oh, cool. It's like light blue crystals. Like,

00:11:50.789 --> 00:11:52.809
pretty cool. I wish I had made a page of, like,

00:11:53.049 --> 00:11:56.009
If you see it in nature, what does it look like?

00:11:56.070 --> 00:11:58.690
And then they mine it and extract the strontium.

00:11:58.870 --> 00:12:01.950
Yeah. Congress appropriated $5 ,000 for a lighthouse

00:12:01.950 --> 00:12:05.789
on the West End due to this whole mining effort

00:12:05.789 --> 00:12:07.870
that was happening. But the lighthouse wasn't

00:12:07.870 --> 00:12:11.509
completed until November 1854 due to a cholera

00:12:11.509 --> 00:12:14.529
epidemic, which I could also go on a humongous

00:12:14.529 --> 00:12:17.389
tangent on because it was like years of... Because

00:12:17.389 --> 00:12:20.620
it was in the water and nobody... It was like

00:12:20.620 --> 00:12:22.240
still during the time when everyone thought it

00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:25.679
was like miasma, you know, the air is dirty and

00:12:25.679 --> 00:12:27.519
that's where you get it from. It's like, you're

00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:31.379
drinking it. But this year is also when they

00:12:31.379 --> 00:12:33.960
discovered that it was passing through the water.

00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:36.120
Colorado's wicked. Yeah, they got a good grip

00:12:36.120 --> 00:12:39.259
on it. Because there was a breakout not long

00:12:39.259 --> 00:12:42.000
before this either, like maybe in the 30s, also

00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:43.899
from the water supply. But they didn't figure

00:12:43.899 --> 00:12:47.320
it out then. Like, shoot. Terrible. So the mining

00:12:47.320 --> 00:12:50.120
was interrupted by the Colorado. The lighthouse

00:12:50.120 --> 00:12:53.620
building. It took like four years because of

00:12:53.620 --> 00:12:57.259
the color. Oh, God. The fourth order lens was

00:12:57.259 --> 00:12:59.899
installed in the lantern room, and then they

00:12:59.899 --> 00:13:02.139
discovered a defect in the revolving machinery,

00:13:02.299 --> 00:13:05.440
and so then the light wasn't lit until 1955.

00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:11.139
1855. It happens, you know, drawbacks. The setbacks

00:13:11.139 --> 00:13:14.600
in construction, you know what I mean. Some machinist

00:13:14.600 --> 00:13:17.460
made a mistake. Yeah. So can you believe this

00:13:17.460 --> 00:13:20.899
picture was taken in the 1850s? Like 1858, I

00:13:20.899 --> 00:13:22.860
think it was. They took this photo. I'm like,

00:13:22.919 --> 00:13:26.320
we don't have a lot of photos that old. No, I

00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:27.600
can't really tell. Are there people in the middle?

00:13:27.820 --> 00:13:30.000
Yeah, I think there's a guy. Looks kind of like

00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:32.639
a haunted film footage. It looks like, yeah,

00:13:32.740 --> 00:13:36.580
someone's attempt at making a 1850s photograph.

00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:41.279
Spooky. Black and white. Very low detail. High

00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:44.820
exposure. Yeah, the... The lighthouse and the

00:13:44.820 --> 00:13:48.080
keeper's house, I assume, are both visible, kind

00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:50.639
of. It looks like they're white. They really

00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:54.799
blend into the sky behind it. They're both made

00:13:54.799 --> 00:13:57.200
of brick, and the lighthouse was attached to

00:13:57.200 --> 00:13:58.759
a one -and -a -half -story keeper's dwelling

00:13:58.759 --> 00:14:01.960
and is a round tower with an octagonal lantern

00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:06.279
room with a 43 -foot focal plane. Cool. And it

00:14:06.279 --> 00:14:08.519
had a fixed white light with a flash every 150

00:14:08.519 --> 00:14:12.129
seconds. Interesting interval. Mm -hmm. We've

00:14:12.129 --> 00:14:15.009
seen a couple of those before, just like bullseyes

00:14:15.009 --> 00:14:19.970
on a normal lens. Colonel, it's Colonel, right?

00:14:20.149 --> 00:14:25.110
Colonel. Colonel, yes. The Colonel of Corn. Colonel

00:14:25.110 --> 00:14:28.350
Charles F. Drake was the first keeper and served

00:14:28.350 --> 00:14:32.049
until 1864 when the lighthouse went up in flames

00:14:32.049 --> 00:14:34.889
New Year's Day. No. And this, it's very famous.

00:14:34.909 --> 00:14:36.889
Like in this area, this whole event was like

00:14:36.889 --> 00:14:39.899
this humongous deal. Because it was one of the

00:14:39.899 --> 00:14:44.019
coldest days in history ever in the area. At

00:14:44.019 --> 00:14:50.279
25 below zero Fahrenheit. Pretty cold. A strong

00:14:50.279 --> 00:14:53.179
storm had come through at the same time. So strong

00:14:53.179 --> 00:14:57.019
that the waves were 30 feet tall. Oh my. On Lake

00:14:57.019 --> 00:15:00.940
Erie. Like, that's crazy. And the keeper didn't

00:15:00.940 --> 00:15:02.879
wake from the fire until it had consumed all

00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:04.779
of the upper floors because the wind was so loud

00:15:04.779 --> 00:15:06.580
that you couldn't hear anything. And it was like

00:15:06.580 --> 00:15:08.399
sweeping away all the smoke. So they were just

00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:10.720
like blissfully unaware of the fact that the

00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:12.299
whole thing was going up in flames. It's getting

00:15:12.299 --> 00:15:15.419
colder in here. And warmer at the same time.

00:15:15.580 --> 00:15:17.779
Oh yeah, it's like I'm getting spots of hot and

00:15:17.779 --> 00:15:21.100
spots of cold. Luckily, Charles Drake managed

00:15:21.100 --> 00:15:23.419
to bundle up his daughter and wife and took shelter

00:15:23.419 --> 00:15:25.759
in the outhouse where they hoped to survive the

00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:28.259
freezing night because... Okay, you can survive

00:15:28.259 --> 00:15:30.860
the fire, but you're outside in negative 25 degrees

00:15:30.860 --> 00:15:33.840
Fahrenheit all night long. No way. With the wind

00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:38.159
and it's like the storm, everything's wet, you

00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:39.899
know? Yeah, nothing waterproof at the time, I

00:15:39.899 --> 00:15:41.259
don't think. Yeah, and I think at first they

00:15:41.259 --> 00:15:43.399
had tried to put out the fire with like pails,

00:15:43.419 --> 00:15:46.320
but like, you know, what can you do? Eventually

00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:48.360
it's a lost cause and their hands are probably

00:15:48.360 --> 00:15:53.399
so cold. Their son, Pitt, was on Put -In -Bay

00:15:53.399 --> 00:15:56.840
for a New Year's party. and had no choice but

00:15:56.840 --> 00:16:00.000
to just wait until the storm subsided to go.

00:16:00.279 --> 00:16:04.399
He can see the lighthouse in flames from where

00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:06.519
he is, and he just has no choice. He tried to

00:16:06.519 --> 00:16:08.480
go out, and everyone's like, you're just going

00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:11.279
to kill yourself. He'll die. Yeah. That's crazy.

00:16:11.399 --> 00:16:13.779
Yeah, they set out in the next morning when the

00:16:13.779 --> 00:16:17.940
storm had subsided, and they said that the water

00:16:17.940 --> 00:16:20.899
was slushy because it's mixed in with so much

00:16:20.899 --> 00:16:24.129
ice. had been so turbulent that it just turned

00:16:24.129 --> 00:16:26.909
into slushy. The outhouse was the only thing

00:16:26.909 --> 00:16:29.830
left standing out of all the buildings for the

00:16:29.830 --> 00:16:32.289
station, and though his family was suffering

00:16:32.289 --> 00:16:35.610
from exposure, they were alive. I'm shocked that

00:16:35.610 --> 00:16:37.870
they didn't go to the lighthouse. It's on fire.

00:16:38.809 --> 00:16:41.250
Well, but it's not made of wood, right? I mean,

00:16:41.250 --> 00:16:43.669
it has wood aspects. I mean, this is the 1850s,

00:16:43.669 --> 00:16:46.210
so. Oh, yeah. Even if something has broken the

00:16:46.210 --> 00:16:47.889
inside. They didn't have steel casings yet. Yeah,

00:16:47.929 --> 00:16:50.610
the inside was probably made of wood steps and

00:16:50.610 --> 00:16:55.309
stuff. The outhouse. That's crazy. I wonder where

00:16:55.309 --> 00:16:59.389
it was in comparison to this. Not connected,

00:16:59.509 --> 00:17:02.909
clearly. I wonder how the fire started up. Lantern?

00:17:03.230 --> 00:17:07.269
Yeah, maybe. Cow kicked over a lantern. A classic.

00:17:07.750 --> 00:17:10.769
But what's even more crazy than them surviving

00:17:10.769 --> 00:17:16.150
in the only structure is that Charles Drake stayed

00:17:16.150 --> 00:17:19.049
as keeper when the new lighthouse was built a

00:17:19.049 --> 00:17:21.440
year later. And he stuck around for another like

00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:27.579
six years. What does that year look like? What?

00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:31.140
The year between having a building and not. Like,

00:17:31.240 --> 00:17:33.740
oh, let's pitch a tent, honey. Yeah, I don't

00:17:33.740 --> 00:17:35.279
know. We're going to build a new lighthouse.

00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:39.279
Somewhere else. I don't know. I don't know. Like,

00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:40.339
you'd have to get paid. That's crazy. I wonder

00:17:40.339 --> 00:17:42.359
if you get compensated for, like, disasters like

00:17:42.359 --> 00:17:45.039
this. I feel like not in these days. Because

00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:47.140
they lost everything inside the lighthouse. It

00:17:47.140 --> 00:17:49.420
was where they lived, so they just lost it all.

00:17:49.460 --> 00:17:53.259
I know. But the new lighthouse went up in 1865.

00:17:53.900 --> 00:17:57.039
Ooh. It is really, really nice. They really pulled

00:17:57.039 --> 00:17:59.460
out all the stops. It's once again attached to

00:17:59.460 --> 00:18:01.740
a keeper's house, but the tower was square and

00:18:01.740 --> 00:18:05.440
made of limestone. And Charles Drake's wife...

00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:08.460
Mary was officially the assistant keeper at the

00:18:08.460 --> 00:18:10.720
new lighthouse, like listed and everything. And

00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:14.440
they both left in 1871. So a couple of years

00:18:14.440 --> 00:18:17.140
later. Yeah. This is a two car garage. It's probably

00:18:17.140 --> 00:18:20.880
a boat. The ramp. I was going to say they're

00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:24.240
on an Island. Why is there a garage? It is a

00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:26.680
garage for boats. That's so funny. That's funny.

00:18:27.400 --> 00:18:29.839
1887. The light was changed to a fixed with a

00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:33.220
red flash every minute. So now we have red instead

00:18:33.220 --> 00:18:35.619
of white flash. I like that. And they also added

00:18:35.619 --> 00:18:38.880
a boat ramp and iron winch to make it easier

00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:41.039
to get to and leave the station, along with an

00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:45.779
iron oil house. Cool. That is cool. Heavy duty.

00:18:46.779 --> 00:18:50.700
John Safe, who was keeper from 1899 to 1903,

00:18:51.140 --> 00:18:55.900
used to bring his kids to and from school in

00:18:55.900 --> 00:18:58.519
winter on Put -In -Bay, which is the closest

00:18:58.519 --> 00:19:01.000
place for them to go to school. But in the winter,

00:19:01.079 --> 00:19:03.750
he... Brought them by sled pulled by a team of

00:19:03.750 --> 00:19:06.390
greyhounds. And apparently could cover the frozen

00:19:06.390 --> 00:19:09.230
distance between the two islands in five minutes.

00:19:09.609 --> 00:19:13.529
I'm like, whoa. That's crazy. Also greyhounds?

00:19:13.650 --> 00:19:15.869
Yeah. I've never heard of greyhounds pulling

00:19:15.869 --> 00:19:19.750
a sled. Sure. They're very thin dogs. Those are

00:19:19.750 --> 00:19:23.529
the racing dogs. Yeah. But I mean. I guess if

00:19:23.529 --> 00:19:27.230
they're not. If it's five minutes each way. That's

00:19:27.230 --> 00:19:30.319
really impressive. I looked up sled dogs, and

00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:31.500
of course, you know, it's all like the winter

00:19:31.500 --> 00:19:33.759
stuff. I don't know. It's definitely greyhounds.

00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:37.420
That's what they said. Cool. That's crazy. What

00:19:37.420 --> 00:19:42.019
a weird life. There's a video on Reddit, r slash

00:19:42.019 --> 00:19:44.599
greyhounds. There's a video of greyhounds pulling

00:19:44.599 --> 00:19:47.259
a sled. There you go. Don't let anyone tell you

00:19:47.259 --> 00:19:48.920
greyhounds can't be sled dogs. That's what it

00:19:48.920 --> 00:19:50.400
says. Yeah, what the heck. Like, that's cute.

00:19:51.180 --> 00:19:54.059
Proven in history. Yeah. Anyway, I mean, any

00:19:54.059 --> 00:19:56.299
dog can be a sled dog if they're like in a pack.

00:19:56.920 --> 00:19:59.920
I guess. I wonder how many he had. But they had

00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:02.359
like a barn where you could keep livestock, or

00:20:02.359 --> 00:20:06.920
in his case, dogs. The dog barn. The dog barn.

00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:09.140
That sounds awesome. So that was just a cool

00:20:09.140 --> 00:20:12.839
little fun fact. In 1905, keeper George Ferguson

00:20:12.839 --> 00:20:16.250
fell very ill. and his wife Bertha had to fetch

00:20:16.250 --> 00:20:18.349
a doctor from Put -In -Bay in a boat because

00:20:18.349 --> 00:20:20.150
nobody else lived on the island, and there was

00:20:20.150 --> 00:20:22.990
no way to communicate with the mainland or anybody.

00:20:23.289 --> 00:20:25.690
Yeah, just had to make the trip. Yeah. So this

00:20:25.690 --> 00:20:27.950
incident established a flag system on the island

00:20:27.950 --> 00:20:30.289
to communicate with the keeper on South Bass

00:20:30.289 --> 00:20:32.569
Island, which I don't know where it is compared

00:20:32.569 --> 00:20:35.630
to this. Somewhere close by. Visible. Yeah. That

00:20:35.630 --> 00:20:37.490
was for during the day, and then the light flash,

00:20:37.690 --> 00:20:39.970
there was a light flash system by night to communicate.

00:20:41.109 --> 00:20:44.390
It's pretty cool. It is cool. 1926, the lighthouse

00:20:44.390 --> 00:20:47.789
was automated and active until 1939 when the

00:20:47.789 --> 00:20:52.309
Coast Guard built an automated light on an 80

00:20:52.309 --> 00:20:56.289
-foot skeletal tower. Also, it doesn't look like

00:20:56.289 --> 00:21:03.250
our normal... It kind of looks like a cell phone

00:21:03.250 --> 00:21:06.630
tower. This has a light on top and replaced...

00:21:06.630 --> 00:21:13.319
In what year? 1939. Wow. This is very strange.

00:21:13.799 --> 00:21:18.039
It's a skeletal tower. Yeah. Four sides. It doesn't

00:21:18.039 --> 00:21:20.440
taper or anything. It's just square all the way

00:21:20.440 --> 00:21:23.359
up. Like a tall rectangle. Yeah. There's a ladder

00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:25.660
that goes all the way to the top. So kind of

00:21:25.660 --> 00:21:28.519
crazy. It's kind of interesting. I don't know.

00:21:29.079 --> 00:21:37.359
It does look like a large telephone wire support.

00:21:37.539 --> 00:21:39.380
I don't know what I'm saying. I know what you're

00:21:39.380 --> 00:21:42.769
saying. every once in a while your telephone

00:21:42.769 --> 00:21:45.910
lines come to yeah the really big skeletal things

00:21:45.910 --> 00:21:50.130
how tall is this thing 80 feet wow like our lighthouse

00:21:50.130 --> 00:21:51.990
was they built it twice as tall as the lighthouse

00:21:51.990 --> 00:21:55.529
was it's kind of crazy that's cool yeah and no

00:21:55.529 --> 00:22:00.250
lighthouse but yeah whatever ruined everything

00:22:00.250 --> 00:22:03.569
but okay and this was built a thousand feet southwest

00:22:03.569 --> 00:22:05.890
of the lighthouse so not like right next to each

00:22:05.890 --> 00:22:09.079
other but In 1961, the island was transferred

00:22:09.079 --> 00:22:11.559
to the state of Ohio and became a wildlife refuge.

00:22:12.220 --> 00:22:15.819
And in 1974, two fishermen landed on the island

00:22:15.819 --> 00:22:18.619
and started a fire. Great. There's different

00:22:18.619 --> 00:22:24.119
sources that say that it was on purpose or like

00:22:24.119 --> 00:22:26.460
maybe not fishermen, but just like teenagers

00:22:26.460 --> 00:22:28.660
or whatever. Well, they probably started a fire

00:22:28.660 --> 00:22:31.960
on purpose. Well, if this is the version that's

00:22:31.960 --> 00:22:35.279
correct, fishermen land are going to cook something,

00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:37.240
build a fire or whatever. And then it gets out

00:22:37.240 --> 00:22:39.140
of hand. But there also could have been like

00:22:39.140 --> 00:22:42.960
vandals on the island. So I went with a nicer

00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:46.980
one, which was fishermen. And this raged out

00:22:46.980 --> 00:22:49.480
of control and only the shell of the limestone

00:22:49.480 --> 00:22:51.380
lighthouse remained along with the oil house

00:22:51.380 --> 00:22:54.240
and the well. And now it is taken over by vegetation

00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:56.799
as, you know, many decades have passed since

00:22:56.799 --> 00:22:59.779
then. I have some pictures of what we have left

00:22:59.779 --> 00:23:03.700
on the island of Green Island Lighthouse in Ohio.

00:23:04.910 --> 00:23:09.250
You can see the shell of the lighthouse survived

00:23:09.250 --> 00:23:12.809
actually quite well. Yeah, all the stone. Looks

00:23:12.809 --> 00:23:15.190
like most of the stone is still there. Obviously

00:23:15.190 --> 00:23:19.890
no more roof or anything. Dang, that sucks. So

00:23:19.890 --> 00:23:23.109
it probably burned the woods and everything that

00:23:23.109 --> 00:23:25.789
was around here. Yeah. And also that tall tower.

00:23:26.069 --> 00:23:29.049
The tall tower still is alive. That's surprising

00:23:29.049 --> 00:23:33.220
because it's wood too. It's steel. What? Skeletal

00:23:33.220 --> 00:23:35.359
tower. It looks a heck of a lot like wood. Really?

00:23:35.500 --> 00:23:38.099
Yeah. My eyes aren't very good, I guess. That

00:23:38.099 --> 00:23:40.700
looks like wood to me. Really? Yeah. That looks

00:23:40.700 --> 00:23:46.839
like steel. Breeze deeply. It was also, I don't

00:23:46.839 --> 00:23:49.799
know how far the fire went, but it definitely

00:23:49.799 --> 00:23:53.220
got the lighthouse. No question about it. Well,

00:23:53.220 --> 00:23:55.700
and in the photos of, you know, roughly today,

00:23:55.839 --> 00:23:57.940
the lighthouse is totally in the woods. Yeah.

00:23:58.019 --> 00:24:00.559
Surrounded by trees. So it may have been at the

00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:02.160
time also. Yeah, I know that there were some

00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:05.900
trees around when it was in service, but obviously

00:24:05.900 --> 00:24:07.640
nothing like this. It's just like in the middle

00:24:07.640 --> 00:24:09.240
of a little forest. It actually looks pretty

00:24:09.240 --> 00:24:11.319
peaceful. But if I came across this, I would

00:24:11.319 --> 00:24:15.599
think that this was like a church, like an abandoned

00:24:15.599 --> 00:24:17.079
church or something, and then I'd be really spooky.

00:24:17.380 --> 00:24:21.339
Church tower, yeah. Spook, spook. Oh, I have

00:24:21.339 --> 00:24:24.619
another picture. Ooh. Yes. Here's our fourth

00:24:24.619 --> 00:24:27.339
order lens at the National Museum of the Great

00:24:27.339 --> 00:24:30.299
Lakes in Toledo, Ohio. And of course the Green

00:24:30.299 --> 00:24:32.660
Island Lighthouse is on the Lighthouse Digest

00:24:32.660 --> 00:24:35.519
doomsday list, which I will be covering in our

00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:39.579
next episode. Shame. So yeah, that's Green Island

00:24:39.579 --> 00:24:42.319
Lighthouse. Unfortunately, covering all the Green

00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:45.339
Island Lighthouses means that some are no longer

00:24:45.339 --> 00:24:48.559
in service or are on the doomsday list. And the

00:24:48.559 --> 00:24:50.839
doomsday list, which we'll talk about next time.

00:24:50.859 --> 00:24:53.940
Yeah. You said this one is on that list? Yes.

00:24:54.039 --> 00:24:56.079
Okay. You're referring to another Green Island.

00:24:56.099 --> 00:24:58.740
There is another Green Island on the list, but

00:24:58.740 --> 00:25:00.839
I think they said that they took them both off

00:25:00.839 --> 00:25:04.099
recently because they're so far gone that it's

00:25:04.099 --> 00:25:06.579
completely unlikely that anyone will ever restore.

00:25:06.839 --> 00:25:09.539
Dang. I know. So it's like they are doomed. It's

00:25:09.539 --> 00:25:12.180
no longer a doomsday list. They're doomed. They

00:25:12.180 --> 00:25:21.329
are, what's the word? Condemned. Yeah. Condemned.

00:25:22.250 --> 00:25:24.769
Yeah. That's a shame. But we got to cover them

00:25:24.769 --> 00:25:27.130
all. Bring light to all of our lighthouses. All

00:25:27.130 --> 00:25:28.630
of the Green Islands. None of which probably

00:25:28.630 --> 00:25:31.509
have green light lighthouses. Hey, you can't

00:25:31.509 --> 00:25:33.809
say that. Hope they do. That would make sense.

00:25:33.950 --> 00:25:35.309
I guess we're going to look at it and say, oh,

00:25:35.369 --> 00:25:37.109
that's green. That must be Green Island. We do

00:25:37.109 --> 00:25:40.750
have one coming. I know enough about all the

00:25:40.750 --> 00:25:42.470
Green Islands to know there is one with a green

00:25:42.470 --> 00:25:45.410
light. Nice. So it's exciting. A little series.

00:25:45.589 --> 00:25:48.700
Part one. Do you already have the order worked

00:25:48.700 --> 00:25:52.339
out of which Green Island is next and last? No,

00:25:52.500 --> 00:25:54.140
I don't. So if there's anyone listening who's

00:25:54.140 --> 00:25:57.579
a Green Island of any type fan, let us know.

00:25:57.700 --> 00:26:00.839
Yeah, it's coming. It's coming for you. So that's

00:26:00.839 --> 00:26:03.480
it. Make sure to listen to our podcast on our

00:26:03.480 --> 00:26:05.960
website, thelighthouselowdown .com. We can also

00:26:05.960 --> 00:26:08.519
leave us a review, watch our YouTube videos,

00:26:08.740 --> 00:26:13.680
send us an email. We love all of it. And we'll

00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:17.079
catch you next time on The Lighthouse. Blur.