Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Newspaper Articles

Reprinted by permission of The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina

March 10, 1999

The News & Observer

Lighthouse work now focuses on foundation

By Jerry Allegood; Staff Writer

Page: A3

BUXTON -- For more than a century, the spiral-striped portion of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse that can be seen for miles has grabbed all the attention, but preparations to move the lighthouse away from the beach are now focusing attention on the part below ground.

Workers have sawed, drilled and chipped away part of the granite foundation, replacing the rock and mortar with specially made steel braces and a bed of steel beams. In about two months the lighthouse will be completely severed from its foundation, said Skellie Hunt, a spokesman for International Chimney Co.

Then the 200-foot-tall tower will be jacked up, moved to a specially made track of plate steel and slowly rolled to a new site about 3,000 feet away. The National Park Service is paying the Buffalo, N.Y., company $9.8 million to move the lighthouse, two keepers' quarters, and support structures to protect them from erosion on the ocean beach.

As part of the advance preparations, workers pumped out groundwater and dug a hole about 6 feet deep completely around the lighthouse base to reach the granite.

The foundation is being cut with a cable-like blade that loops around the lighthouse. The cable, about the thickness of a man's finger, includes bits imbedded with diamonds, like beads on a string.

"I couldn't believe how fast it goes through," said Dan McClarren, chief of maintenance for Cape Hatteras National Seashore. "It doesn't make any difference if it's rock or mortar."

After the blade slices a few feet, workers using jack hammers and drills chip out the rock below.

Section: News
Edition: Final
Estimated Printed Pages: 1

Index Terms:
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
NC
coast

Copyright 1999 by The News & Observer Pub. Co.

Record Number: 1999068036