Alexander Hamilton Papers

To Alexander Hamilton from Jedediah Huntington, 3 December 1790

From Jedediah Huntington

New London [Connecticut] December 3, 1790. “… The Light, which has been usually kept in the Light House, cannot be maintained for a less Sum than 380 dollars Per Annum, allowing the Contractor any Thing for his Trouble and Risque it consumes in a year about 800 Gallons of the best strained Sperma Ceti Oil, which, delivered at the House, will cost at the common Price, 350 dollars. I have made experiments of several Oils of a cheaper Kind, but the Light they afford is too faint & the Trouble of finding it too great for the Purpose, they require the Wicks to be snufled almost incessantly.…”

ALS, RG 26, Lighthouse Letters Received, Vol. “C,” Connecticut and New York, National Archives.

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