[UA] Lighthouse rediscovered on opposite coast

[Tim Toner]

----- Original Message ----

From: John Tynes <john at tynes.com>
To: UAML Mailing List <ua at lists.unknown-armies.com>
Sent: Monday, June 9, 2008 7:00:05 AM
Subject: [UA] Lighthouse rediscovered on opposite coast


An 1881 cast-iron lighthouse was moved from Cape Cod to California in 1925. Local historians believed it had been destroyed, but it's still going strong.

Why did it really move, who really moved it, and what is it watching out for?

You know, there's a stretch of the Chicago River that runs right past the high school where I work, and a few years back, the state pumped in a bunch of money to return its banks to their original state, as part of a beautification project.  Since it's technically a navigable waterway, the Army Corps of Engineers became involved in the project.  One day, members of the Corps stopped by the main office, and asked to speak to the principal.  They were wondering if he knew who had modified the river, and when.  He had no idea, as he'd only been there for two years.  They sheepishly looked at each other, and said, "Do you think anyone around here knows?"  The principal, being a rather savvy fellow, and noticing their distress, pressed further.  They finally admitted that, as far as they could tell, some time in the 1920s, a section of the riverbed had been essentially paved over with concrete.  This makes the river flow exceptionally fast, making it not so
 much a riverbed as a log flume.  It is deceptively dangerous, as a result.  The Corps had gone through its records, and could find no record of who had done it, or why.  But that's not what bothered them.  What bothered them was HOW it was done.  To do it in the manner it was done would require damming the river entirely or technology that would not be introduced for several decades.  Obviously it was dammed, but there's no record of it being done, either in the Corps records or with the city, and the enormity of the task, with so little apparent gain, would have made someone sit up and take notice.  The principal merely shrugged and said, "Well, it took you 80 years to notice--maybe it'll take you another 80 to figure it out."

tt
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