Sabine Bank

The Sabine River, which forms most of the long border between Texas and Louisiana, saw a major increase in usage during the late 1890s, which prompted the U.S. Lighthouse Board to suggest a tower to mark its entrance. In 1898, the Board requested $80,000 from Congress to build a lighthouse on Sabine Bank, a shoal about 17 miles offshore. Congress authorized a lighthouse, but capped its cost at $50,000.

The contracting advertisement offered bidders some flexibility in recommending the type of construction, and the Board soon found that the lowest bids were from contractors proposing a caisson foundation. Though caisson lighthouses had been built for years in the north, Sabine Bank was the first to be built in the Gulf. This quickly earned it the moniker "Texas sparkplug on a tin can."

The Sabine Bank Lighthouse was also the first ever attempted by the U.S. Lighthouse Establishment in open water. Its caisson foundation was created by building a floating cylinder with a lower rim sharpened into a cutting edge. The tube was then ballasted and sunk atop the bank, allowing for more sections to be affixed on top. The workmen entered into a pressurized chamber and shoveled seabed out from under the cutting edge, enabling the caisson to settle downward to a solid footing. Eventually, concrete was poured at the base, holding the caisson in place and creating a watertight seal. The work was not unlike that of divers of the time, who would journey to the bottom of the ocean in pressurized diving bells. 

The caisson design allowed the tower to be built in much deeper water than a screwpile lighthouse. The water depth on the bank was 20 feet. Once the base was settled and secured, a circular iron tower was built above, holding a third order Fresnel lens 72 feet above sea level. The Sabine Bank Light Station was first lit on March 15, 1906.

During the Hurricane of 1915, heavy seas swelled against the Sabine Bank tower. Some of the tower's iron plates were torn free or loosened. The hatches were pulled from the gallery level by the fierce wind, and the iron gallery was swept entirely away. In spite of all this, the keepers kept the light burning throughout the storm and for several days after. The light was only extinguished when the keepers were forced to go ashore for water and supplies.

The Sabine Bank Light Station was automated in 1923, when an acetylene lantern replaced the lens. The lens is now on display in the Port Arthur museum. The station remained in use as an aid to navigation until around 2002, when it was permanently discontinued.