Cape Mendocino Light was established on northern California’s remote Lost Coast after repeated shipwrecks in the dangerous waters around Sugar Loaf and Blunt's Reef. Beginning operation on December 1, 1868, its relatively short iron tower stood so high on the cape that it had the highest focal plane of any lighthouse in the United States. The isolated station included several support buildings, but reaching it was often hazardous and sometimes fatal. The light remained closely connected to wrecks and rescues along this coast for decades. After automation and later Coast Guard administration, the original lens went to Ferndale, the tower was moved and restored at Shelter Cove, and the final light at the cape was extinguished in 2013.