The Iron Lighthouse

The Founding Of The Salvin Lighthouse

In 1856 Samuel Protney moved from Maryland, his home state, up to Maine. Samuel had heard stories of gold being discovered in Maine from one of his friends, Joseph Salvin who had a brother that was with the team who found the first bit of gold. He went with his friend up to Maine, believing he could find some himself. He had nothing to lose at the time, as he was an orphan and had no wife or kids. 

When he reached Maine, he joined the search for gold in the mines. Weeks passed and nobody found any more gold. There was only a small team of fifty or so looking for the gold by the time Samuel and his friend got up there, because the discovery was being kept a secret. Nobody wanted too many people to know about it, because they wanted to find it themselves. 

Samuel made a pact with three other men, including his friend Joseph Salvin, Joseph's older brother Matthew, and a man named Jones Travis. They called themselves 'The Saprtra's. They agreed that if any gold was found between them, they would all split it.

Then Samuel made a discovery. It was not gold but iron. Samuel and the other Saprtra's kept the discovery to themselves and continued to mine it without others knowing. Two days after their discovery, gold was discovered in another part of the mine. The Salvin brothers went to go mine for it, while Jones and Samuel kept mining the iron. 

As they were mining the iron, Jones and Samuel noticed many things about the iron that were unusual. It was rather lightweight, didn't scratch no matter how much a rock or knife was scraped against it, and also was very durable and took a lot of time just to get one piece out. This led them to wonder if it was actually iron.

Several weeks passed, and all the iron and gold that had been discovered had been mined. The Salvin brother had gotten a lot of gold, and they kept their deal with Jones and Samuel and they split the gold. The four decided to stick together and traveled to a town at the coast of Maine called Rockstill at the time. At the time, there was no lighthouse for the town, and many of the supply ships that sailed to Maine kept getting recked. Because of this, the town was short of many resources, since ships were afraid to sail and bring them. Instead, they had to be brought by carts, a much slower and not as efficient process.

The Saprtra's decided that they would use some of their gold to pay for a lighthouse, and to make sure it would last, they would use the iron they had because they had a plentiful supply of it. They hired workers, and the Salvin Lighthouse was created. It is not confirmed why it was named the Salvin Lighthouse, but it is believed that there was a bet between the four men, and one of the Salvin brothers won, so they got to name the lighthouse.

After the lighthouse was created, the men went their separate ways. They all stayed in the town of Rockstill and found different ways of life. Joseph Salvin became the most successful of the four. He married the mayor's daughter, and when the mayor died, he took his place. As mayor, he renamed the town Salvin. 

Matthew Salvin and Jones Travis both found jobs and wives in the town, an easy task because of their riches. Samuel Protney also found himself a wife, whose name was Georgia Springs, and they built a house next to the Salvin lighthouse, which Samuel took care of. 

Five years passed, and everything was going well for all of the Saprtra's until Joseph Salvin was found dead on the rocks beneath the lighthouse. There was no evidence to show who could have done it, but everyone suspected it was one of the Saprtra's. All of his money and gold were also stolen but never found. Two days after the incident with Joseph, the same thing happened to Jones Travis. Another two days passed and Matthew Salvin also was found on the rocks, dead, with all his money gone. Everyone thought that Samuel Protney was next, but two weeks passed and nothing happened.