"Calif Bill" wrote in message link.net...
I had heard the light was originally a beacon for guiding ships into the
bay. They could see it out many miles. 300 or so sticks in my mind.
Looked out, but with the weather, did not see it from my house in
Pleasanton.
Bill

It was one of hundreds of beacons all over the country used by
aircraft. I think there were 20 or more just in CA. This one was
installed by Standard Oil in 1928. I don't think they were importing
oil into the bay by ship in 1928, but they were using airplanes. If I
recall some of what I have read correctly, Charles Lindburgh threw the
switch to turn it on when it was first commissioned.

While some of the 'histories' of the one on Mt. Diablo mention that
it was for aircraft and ships, I don't think it was a primary nav aid
for ships. At least that isn't why it was put there. Ships could
probably use it make sure that were headed in the right general
direction. But it's what 30+ miles inland from the Golden Gate, and
several miles from any navigable water?

When we got home Sunday, we couldn't see it from our house in Concord
either. The overcast was still shrouding the summit. A couple of
years ago the overcast was just barely above the summit, and the
bright beam lit up the bottom of the cloud cover for probably a half
mile or so. The beam moving around along the bottom of clouds looked
really cool.

"Curtis CCR" wrote in message
om...
(Curtis CCR) wrote in message
. com...
snip
My wife and I attended a Pearl Harbor cermony last night at the summit
of Mt. Diablo (Northern CA). There were 100 or so people there. One
of the speakers mentioned that the membership in the local chapter of
the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association (I don't recall if that is the
actual name of the organization) was less than half what it was when
they started holding the cermony about 40 years ago. And judging by
the appearance of the survivors that were introduced, I'd say that we
are very close to losing all the living links we have to that event.
(These are military people... I am sure there are those among us that
were even younger civilians that witnessed the attack).

The ceremony was for the annual beacon lighting.

The bright white, rotating beacon was placed on Mt. Diablo in 1928 as
an aid to naviagtion for aircraft. It was turned off, with numerous
other beacons on the west coast, after Pearl Harbor for fear that it
could be used by the enemy. It remained dark for years and was
eventually turned back on. But then it was soon turned off again for
lack of funding to maintain it (it wasn't really needed with arrival
of radar and radio navigation) and keep it running all the time.

I think some local organization(s) fund it now. But it is only
lighted on December 7th, for one night.

It was cold and windy at the summit last night. In the 30s and the
wind was blowing the fog at about 20 mph. But a lot of people came up
anyway to be a part of it... Seniors, veterans of other wars, kids...
my pregnant wife

We took a couple of pictures with the digital camera while we were
there. It got so foggy that the flash made a mess of things. There
are a couple of web sites around with daytime photos of the beacon -
you can google on something like "mount diablo beacon" to see them.
This is photo my wife took of the light running in the fog... best we
could get for the cold, wet conditions.