1871-1900 Yaquina Head Lighthouse Letter books

channel five feet deep from the mouth of the Snake to Lewiston, Idaho, 139 miles upstream. However, this portion of the river presented additional problems in that the rise in elevation to Lewiston from the mouth was 400 feet and the waters swift and shallow. Army Engineers had surveyed this section in 1934 at a cost of $150,000.00 but by 1940 the survey marks were missing and existing maps of the river were unreliable. Althought railway lines paralleled the Snake River on either side to Lewiston, most of the shipping in the area was done by barge as the freight charges for rail transportation was excessive. In anticipation of the Army's proposed dredging, wheat elevators had been constructed along the banks of the Snake, in spite of the fact that river traffic had been discontinued for some time prior to the Army's proposed project. Improvement of the Snake River was calculated to reduce the price of waterborne gasoline about 1 cent at Lewiston and 3/4 cent at Spokane and to insure navigation at least nine months of the year. On the strength of the Army's proposal, Headquarters allotted $33,000.00 for the establishment of aids along the Snake to Lewiston but this was later diverted to other projects as so little progress was made by the Army in the dredging of the proposed channel by 1945.

Ranges were not established even though there was a minimum of river traffic near Lewiston as the Board felt that the establishment of any aids implied responsibility for the safety of the courses over which soundings and chart data were incompleted. By the end of World War II, river traffic on the Columbia had reached a peak. Day and night, winter and summer, through fog or clear weather, tugs and barges, fishing boats and other commercial marine craft plied the river from Astoria, Oregon to Pasco, Washington. The Upper Columbia had been thoroughly marked with additional aids to insure safe navigation; Army Engineers had dredged channels to promote commerce; and inland navigation companies had increased their tonnage so that by 1945 the Columbia River had taken its place amongst the top ranking commercial waterways of the world. But, at Pasco, extensive river traffic ceased for beyond this point the conditions of the river made through traffic impossible. Although the Columbia reached for hundreds of miles beyond Pasco, Washington, all commerce was localized in small areas along its length.

AIDS IN ROOSEVELT LAKE

The building of the Grand Coulee Dam on the far reaches of the Columbia, to provide water for irrigation and water power for this great Northwest section, brought about additional activities for the Aids to Navigation Section. The building of the dam created a lake which extended almost 200

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RACON - LORAN

Of all the ingenious war developments which were diverted to peace time use, RACON and LORAN were the two which effected safer navigation for air and surface craft and were, therefore, the concern of the Aids to Navigation Section, both during and after the war.

RACONS (formed by the contraction of RAdar and BeaCON and not to be confused with RACAN, the initial terminology for ANRAC equipment)¹ had been established during the war years at Air Stations or Light Stations (or activities where the need for them was evident) along the coasts of North America, from Greenland to the West Indies, in the Hawaiian Islands and the Canal Zone. Military agencies were the sole users of RACONS until the conclusion of the war, at which time the use of RADAR was permitted to commercial concerns and, consequently, dictated the post war expansion of the RADAR beacon installations. Although many RACONS were discontinued at Air Stations which the Army or the Navy abandoned, more were eventually established along the routes of commercial aircraft.

Both the Army and Navy awaited eagerly the completion of RADAR and, when it was perfected, began installing it, ashore and afloat. It was not, however, until the early months of 1943, that the RACON program reached the Northwest Coast. Early in that year, the Navy had determined to establish RACONS on Coast Guard Light Stations at Cape Arago, Charleston, Oregon, Cape Blanco, Port Orford, Oregon, heceta Head, Florence, Oregon, and Yaquina Head, Agate Beach, Oregon. As the aerial activity in the 13th Naval District had increased rapidly, the RACONS were located at highly important navigational points and were regarded as a responsibility comparable to that of a light or radiobeacon. No additional personnel were required for the RACONS as the equipment itself needed very little attention. Although a continuous watch was necessary, the radio-telephone watch was able to maintain and operated the RACONS without hindrance to their other assigned duties. Sixteen Coast Guardsmen from the above mentioned Light Stations were schooled in operation and maintenance of RACON equipment at the one week training course at the Naval Air Station, Seattle, a short time before the installations were completed.

The installation of these early RACONS was supervised by the Air Officer, Northwest Sea Frontier. All equipment, including the converted power supply and its installation, were supplied through the Radio Material Officer, 13th Naval District. The Coast Guard's responsibility was to assign

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space for and accept responsibility of the security, monitoring and maintenance of these installations. The local maintenance crew had no responsibility for repairing the equipment; this was the charge of the Radio Material Office.

By the end of May, 1943, RACONS were in operation at the above Coast Guard Units as well as at the Port Angeles Air Station and Tatoosh Island, Washington. The Army Signal Corps had installed a RACON at the Grays Harbor Fog Signal Station, Westport, Washington, which was operated and maintained entirely by Army personnel. The Coast Guard had no cognizance of this Army RACON other than its existence for the equipment and its operation was classified as "Secret" and carefully guarded. This RACON was discontinued and the maintenance crew was withdrawn about a year after its installation when a new RACON was established at Hoquiam, Washington, also under Army supervision.

The YH RACON installations were in operation only a few months when the Navy advised that all activities were to be equipped with the newer, improved model of RACON, the YJ.³ Two YJ RACONS were installed in the former locations of the YH and the latter models, together with their antennae, spares and instruction books were placed in storage. The installation of the new equipment was again done under the supervision of the Radio Material Officer, 13th Naval District. At the same time, the Chief Of Naval Operations directed that a site be selected, plans drawn and estimates made for a complete RACON Lighthouse (YJ, AN/CPN-3, and AN/CPN-6, in duplicate). Surveys for this site were made by Radio Material Officer's representative and a representative of the District Coast Guard Officer.

RACONS had not proved themselves "aids" to navigation by the beginning of 1944. Improper performance was prevalent and was due, in the main, to inefficient maintenance and to lack of appreciation of the importance such equipment bore to the safe passage of aircraft. At this time, a Chief of Naval Operations directive^4 transferred all Navy pulse equipment to the Coast Guard for operation and maintenance; the equipment was turned over to the custody of the Coast Guard, thus eliminating any financial transaction. The first RACON Station to be transferred was the installation at Tillamook Naval Air Station which was assumed by the Coast Guard on 1 May, 1945. An inventory of all equipment (together with condition in which it was received) was signed by the Commanding Officer of the Group, Hammond. Inventories were kept on file at the RACON Station, Group, District Coast Guard Office and Headquarters. Equipment was later signed for by the District Property Officer which left only the operational end of transfer to the Aids to Navigation Section.

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The directive from the Chief of Naval Operations, in addition to authorizing the transfer of equipment, also urged the establishment of new RACONS wherever the need for them was apparent. Headquarters was also directed to transfer RACONS to Coast Guard property wherever feasible. At Tillamook, Oregon, Shelton, Washington, Coast Guard personnel were messed and quartered with the Navy as the RACON Stations were facilities of those activities. However, at Astoria Naval Air Station, the RACON Station was a facility of the Astoria Operating Base and the men were billeted there. Seattle RACON Station, although a facility of the Naval Air Station, could not provide accommodations for the Coast Guard personnel; the men were placed on subsistence and quarters and lived in the nearby town of Kirkland. All other RACON Stations were established near a Coast Guard unit where the men could be billeted. (Exception was RACON at Oceanside where personnel were quartered with Army. See paragraph concerning Army RACONS.)

Prior to the Navy's transfer of all pulse equipment to the Coast Guard, all matters dealing with electronic aids had been handled by the District Communications or Communications Engineer Officer. However, in compliance with Headquarters' new policy regarding the electronic aids, the operational activities of the RACONS became the responsibility of the Aids to Navigation Section (under Operations). The following specific duties of the Aids to Navigation Officer were listed as follows:

(a) Obtain from the Chief of Naval Operations pertinent information concerning the specific Navy RACONS to be transferred to the Coast Guard.

(b) Obtain approval form the Chief of Naval Operations for the establishment of new units and decommissioning of old ones.

(c) Conduct a study to determine the operational requirements for the RACON system.

(d) Determine the operational requirements for various areas and furnish this data to the Office of Engineering for procurement of the equipment and the preparation of budget estimates.

(e) Recommend operating and supporting (non-technical) personnel complements for RACON Stations and set up priorities for assignment of these personnel.

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STANDARDIZATION OF MINOR AIDS

In order to avoid a heterogeneous supply of lamps for spares and replacements, the Aids to Navigation Section received Headquarters' approval to replace 3.5 volt and 4 volt lamps in many of the stations with an 8 volt lamp. This change was prompted by a survey of lamps in the District which shows that the use of 3.5 volt lamps had almost been eliminated by the increased installation of the Willard cells and that the 4 volt lamp was used in a comparatively few number of stations. The four volt lamp could be used at stations having a fixed characteristic but, since the installation of 4 volt flashers had been avoided for several years, insofar as was practicable, the 8 volt lamp was favored from the standpoint of efficiency and utility. At stations where the 4 volt lamp had been required, an additional battery cell had been provided and placed in series with the main lighting batter,y but wired to provide current for operation of the 6 volt flasher only. This practice had been entirely satisfactory but, while limiting the requirements for flashers in the District to only two types ( 6-8 and 12-15), was open to the objection of requiring one additional cell at each station where a flasher was used. This cell was not utilized to the full extent of its ability since only a small portion of its charge was consumed by the time the main battery was discharged.

The charge in lamps was accomplished immediately in all stations where no charge of flashers was required. In those lights where the charge was necessary, the new lamp installed at the time of the regular servicing of the station. The entire replacement was completed withing six months after Headquarters' approval. by this program of standardization of minor lights, a uniform observed candle-power was maintained and the problem of servicing was materially lessened.

At the same time, Headquarters requested that the characteristics of flashing minor lights in all Districts be standardized as nearly as possible. The characteristics of light 0.4 seconds and dark 3.7 seconds and 0.4 - 0.6, respectively. It was the policy of Headquarters to show a fixed light where commercial current was available and where such a light could be readily distinguished against a background of other lights. The 0.4- 3.6 flashing characteristic was used on lateral aids along the sides of clearly defined channels where the importance

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