Linda’s Monthly Monday Morning Moaning’s for May 6, 2024
There are eleven lighthouses on the Oregon Coast and nine of them are on the National Register of Historic Places, along the 363 miles of that Oregon Coast. This summer Arcadia will publish ‘Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast’ the third in a series of four vintage postcard lighthouse books and I hope to bring you a taste of what Oregon has to offer with three examples below.
Yaquina Head Lighthouse (Cape Foulweather), Newport. The 93 foot tall tower, is the tallest lighthouse tower on the Oregon coast, it was built with bricks from a California brick company. It has been said that over 370,000 bricks were used to complete the project. They used a double wall when building the tower to keep out the dampness and make it more insulated. The tower light shines 162 feet above the water and has a visibility of nineteen miles, with its first-order Fresnel lens by Barbier & Fenestre. By 1872 the keepers residence was built as a two story duplex, with the keeper residing in on one side and the assistant keepers sharing the other side. Maintance and storage buildings were added as needed for use with the three light keepers on duty. By 1920 additional housing was built at the light station.
Coquille River Lighthouse, Brandon. Originally called the Brandon Light, and because of the shifting sandbars in the Coquille River and the Brandon Harbor had such dangerous area for the marine traffic, a light was soon necessary and started in 1895. Before the light could be started, a leveling of the rocky ground was needed on Rockliff Rock, where stone was cut for the foundation. A cylindrical tower was attached to the octagonal signal equipment room on the east side of the building. A keepers duplex, with three bedrooms, dining room with kitchen and a sitting room, was attached to the tower by a wooden walkway, running 650 feet in length. In 1936 an out of control forest fire swept into the town of Brandon and burn all but sixteen of the towns many hundreds of buildings. With most of the town gone, shipping to the area declined. By 1939 at the south jetty an automatic light was erected and the Coquille River light was shut down. In 1939 the Coast Guard felt the lighthouse was no long needed, and was abandoned and soon in need of major repair.
Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, Clatsop County. Located just over a mile from Tillamook Head in the Pacific Ocean and 20 miles south of the Columbia River, the lighthouse sits atop an acre of volcanic rock. At times called ‘Terrible Tilly’ because of the terrible weather conditions, isolation, and continuing environmental hazards for all that worked there. Supply’s could be delayed for days or even weeks. Workers would have to dynamite the rocks rounded areas to flatten a portion to hold the lighthouse. Soon a one-story stone dwelling, forty-eight by forty-five-feet with a sixty-two foot tall tower and thirty-two by twenty-eight-foot lantern room with a first-order Fresnel lens. After working for 575 days for the building to take place, the light was first lite in January of 1881. In the following year, on the northeast slope of the rock, a brick engine and supply house was built. A landing wharf was needed and attached to the keepers dwellings along with a tramway to help raising supplies from the wharf to the supply house. There would always be continual repairs to be made to the light and surrounding buildings because of water and storm damage. Tillamook Rock Lighthouse was decommissioned in 1957, with a history of being the most expensive lighthouse to operate.
All images used are from the author’s collection. On that ‘wee note’ till next month, Monday June 3rd, 2024.
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Linda Osborne Cynowa 