{ "id": "lighthouses", "title": "Lighthouses of California", "subtitle": "Every light station, fog signal, and lightship station, 1854–1939", "abstract": "Every documented light station on the California coast and inside San Francisco Bay; from the first federal cohort of 1854 to the last stations built before the Second World War; together with the fog-signal stations, the minor bay beacons, and the two lightship stations that held position where no tower could stand. Each pin carries the station's first lighting, its lens, its rebuildings, its automation and fate, and, where the record allows, the words of the Light-House Board itself: this map's primary layer is 173 passages quoted from the Board's annual reports, located in the Treasury's printed volumes and cited to report year and page. Those reports correct the received story in places. The Board never called Alcatraz the first lighthouse on the Pacific coast; its own printed Light List of 1858 gives both Alcatraz and Point Pinos as built in 1854 and does not rank them. Mare Island's fog bell came from Point Bonita, not Cape Mendocino. And the Board located Mare Island's own tower at the island's \"southern end\" in 1872 and its \"extreme eastern end\" in 1874; so that pin, like three others whose stations are gone and whose positions were never published, is an area estimate with its derivation stated in the popup rather than a false precision. Layers are the eras of building; filters cut by station type, present condition, and region.", "date_range": [ 1854, 1939 ], "center": [ 37.6, -122.2 ], "zoom": 7, "cite_key": "lighthouses", "last_updated": "2026-10-16", "hover_labels": true, "layers": [ { "id": "era-first", "label": "First generation, 1854–1858", "color": "#8c4a2f" }, { "id": "era-expansion", "label": "Expansion, 1859–1889", "color": "#a67c52" }, { "id": "era-buildout", "label": "Build-out, 1890–1919", "color": "#2f7f6f" }, { "id": "era-modern", "label": "Modern era, 1920 on", "color": "#1f4e79" } ], "legend_note": "Layers are eras of establishment. Pin size marks the kind of aid (light station, lightship station, fog signal, minor beacon). Dashed pins are area estimates; four vanished stations whose positions were never published are derived from period descriptions, with the derivation given in the popup.", "attribute_filters": [ { "key": "station_type", "label": "Type", "values": [ "light station", "lightship station", "fog-signal station", "minor light" ] }, { "key": "status", "label": "Condition", "values": [ "standing", "building survives, moved", "gone — site only" ] }, { "key": "region", "label": "Region" } ], "era_presets": [ { "label": "First generation", "from": 1854, "to": 1858 }, { "label": "Expansion", "from": 1859, "to": 1889 }, { "label": "Build-out", "from": 1890, "to": 1919 }, { "label": "Modern", "from": 1920, "to": 1939 } ], "features": [ { "id": "st-george-reef-light-station", "name": "St. George Reef Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-buildout", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 41.83722, -124.37556 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1892", "display": "First exhibited 20 October 1892", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1892, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "offshore", "summary": "Long described in the lighthouse literature as the most expensive American lighthouse ever built, St. George Reef took eight working seasons (1883-1891) to raise on a wave-swept rock six miles off Point St. George, using 1,339 dressed granite blocks quarried near the Mad River. Its first-order flashing lens went into service in 1892 and warned shipping off the reef that had claimed the Brother Jonathan in 1865. The Coast Guard disestablished the station in May 1975 in favor of a buoy; the tower still stands and again shows a private light.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "First-order lens installed August 1892; station in operation by October 1892 (NRHP nomination 93001373, which quotes the 1892 Annual Report of the Light-House Board; the nomination dates a keeper's death 17 Oct 1893 'hardly a year after the station began operation'). The Board's report for 1893 (p. 167) describes the lens reaching the station in August and the light going into service that October; 20 October 1892 is the day given in the lighthouse literature." ], [ "Structures", "Single granite tower on Northwest Seal Rock, built 1883-1891/92 on an elliptical concrete-and-granite pier; keepers withdrawn and station disestablished 13 May 1975 (nomination); relit as a restored private aid (Light List 2025, 'Restored historic light')." ], [ "Optic", "First-order Fresnel, 1892, flashing alternately red and white (NRHP nomination; USCG Historian's Office). Lens removed 1975 to the Del Norte County Historical Society museum (nomination)." ], [ "Why built", "Marks the offshore reef where the steamer Brother Jonathan sank in 1865; the USCG Historian's Office narrative states the light 'marks the site of the tragic sinking of the steamer Brother Jonathan.' Land reserved by President Andrew Johnson after a May 1866 Light-House Board draft; construction 1883-1891 under Capt. A.H. Payson and then A. Ballantyne, total cost about $704,634-$726,000 (nomination quoting the 1892 Annual Report)." ], [ "Automated", "Never conventionally automated on station; USCG table marks 'automated' without a year. Disestablished 13 May 1975 and replaced by a lighted buoy." ], [ "Deactivated", "13 May 1975 (NRHP nomination); relit as a private aid in the 2000s-2010s (Light List 2025 carries it as LLNR 561, Fl W 12s, 'Restored historic light'; relight year 2012 is tertiary only)." ], [ "Fate", "Standing; owned by Del Norte County per USCG page; maintained by the St. George Reef Lighthouse Preservation Society (tertiary; not independently verified). First-order lens displayed at Del Norte County Historical Society, Crescent City." ], [ "NRHP", "Listed 1993-12-09, ref 93001373, under Light Stations of California MPS (NRIS dataset 2026-05-22)." ], [ "Keeper", "On 17 October 1893, about a year after operations began, the first assistant keeper lost his life at the station (NRHP nomination); the USCG narrative adds that several men were injured or killed over the years transferring to the rock by small boat, and describes an 1923 storm that tore the donkey-engine house from its foundation 70 feet above the water." ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 561 (41-50-14.000N 124-22-32.000W); cross-checked against corrected UTM 10/385800/4632400 in NRHP nomination 93001373" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] NRHP nomination, St. George Reef Light Station, ref 93001373 (listed 1993), incl. quoted 1892 Annual Report of the Light-House Board", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/93001373_text" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, COMDTPUB P16502.6, LLNR 561", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, Historic Light Station Information & Photography: California (page last modified 2016-09-15), Wayback capture", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "824. St. George Reef, Northwest Seal Rock, seacoast of California.—By the middle of the first month of the fiscal year all the stone required for the completion of this work was quarried and cut, when the available funds not being sufficient to warrant resumption of construction, all work was shut down, the plant stored at the stone yard, and that place left in charge of a watchman. During the year the specifications and drawings for the metalwork for the tower were prepared and contract was made with the Phoenix Iron Company of Trenton, N. J., for its construction. By the end of the fiscal year it was completed and on its way to San Francisco. An item in the general deficiency act approved September 30, 1890, appropriated $81,000 for the completion of this station.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1891, p. pp. 160–161 (both leaves image-verified)" }, { "text": "862. St. George Reef, Northwest Seal Rock, seacoast of California.—There will be found in an appendix to this volume an interesting description by Mr. A. Ballantyne, superintendent of construction of the Northwest Seal Rock Light-Station, California, of the early history, annual progress, and many incidents and facts connected with this work. There have been prepared from the office records, also, tabulated statements showing in detail the cost of its different parts. The work was commenced in 1883 and it was completed in 1891. The long time required for its construction and completion, together with the incidental expenses, were due, in a great measure, to inadequate appropriations.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1892, p. pp. 187–188 (p. 187 image-verified)" }, { "text": "No attempt was made to work at the rock during the season of 1890, as the available funds would not warrant it, and no further appropriation was made until September 30, 1890, when $81,000 became available. This made a total of $721,000 appropriated, which was the estimated cost of the structure.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1892, p. Appendix No. 5, p. 275 (image-verified)" }, { "text": "862. St. George Reef, California.—The 12-inch steam whistles, in duplicate, have been operated some 139 hours since the time of their establishment, December 1, 1891, consuming about 13 tons of coal.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1892, p. p. 190 (image-verified)" }, { "text": "888. St. George Reef, Pacific Ocean, on Northwest Seal Rock, St. George Reef, California.—This station was completed last year, except the lens, which had not then been received. During July the lens reached San Francisco, and in August it was taken by the light-house tender to the station, where it was erected. The light is of the first order, flashing alternately red and white, with fifteen seconds interval between flashes, illuminating the entire horizon. It was exhibited for the first time on October 20, 1892.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1893, p. p. 167 (image-verified)" }, { "text": "888. St. George Reef, California.—The 12-inch steam whistle, in duplicate, was in operation some 405 hours, and consumed about 27 tons of coal.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1893, p. p. 168 (OCR only)" } ], "notes": "Establishment sequence firmly documented from nomination + AR-1892 quote. Day-level first-lit (Oct 20) not confirmed in a located primary source. USCG table's \"Station Established: 1867\" reflects early reservation of the site, not construction. Also known as: Northwest Seal Rock Lighthouse, Saint George Reef Light.", "photo": { "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20161218161356id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/stgeorgereef.JPG", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office · undated", "alt": "St. George Reef Light Station" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "battery-point-light-crescent-city", "name": "Battery Point Light (Crescent City)", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-first", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 41.74417, -124.20306 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1856", "display": "First exhibited 10 December 1856", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1856, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "north-coast", "summary": "Battery Point is one of the survivors of California's first generation of lighthouses: a brick tower rising through a granite Cape Cod dwelling on a tidal islet at Crescent City, first exhibited 10 December 1856. Automated in 1953 and dark from 1965, it was relit as a private aid on 10 December 1982 and now operates as a county museum still showing a light.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "First exhibited 10 December 1856 (USC&GS Pacific Coast Pilot, 4th ed. 1889: 'first exhibited on the 10th of December, 1856'; the same passage notes it was not shown for a period beginning April 1860)." ], [ "Structures", "1856 Cape Cod-type dwelling with integral tower on Battery Point islet, one of the first West Coast lighthouses; still the original structure. Automatic light installed July 1953; leased to Del Norte County; light deactivated 1965-1982 (USCG); relit as a private aid 10 December 1982 (NRHP nomination)." ], [ "Optic", "Fourth-order Fresnel, 1856 (USCG Historian's Office)." ], [ "Why built", "One of the first cohort of Pacific coast lighthouses authorized in the early 1850s to serve the gold-rush coastal trade; Crescent City was one of only two real harbors (with Humboldt Bay) on the redwood north coast (Bookwalter, Light Stations of California MPS, 1989)." ], [ "Automated", "1953 (USCG; nomination: automatic light installed July 1953)." ], [ "Deactivated", "1965-1982 (USCG table); relit 10 December 1982 as a private aid (nomination). Active today as LLNR 555, Fl W 30s, 'Restored historic light.'" ], [ "Fate", "Standing; museum operated with Del Norte County (county lease from 1953 per USCG); tidal-island access." ], [ "NRHP", "Listed 1983-09-15 as 'Cresent City Lighthouse' [sic], ref 83001177 (NRIS dataset)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 555 (41-44-39.000N 124-12-11.000W); NPS NRHP GIS point 41.74403,-124.20309 agrees" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] USC&GS, Pacific Coast. Coast Pilot of California, Oregon, and Washington, 4th ed. (GPO, 1889), Crescent City section", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/cihm_15816" }, { "citation": "[P] NRHP nomination, Cresent City Lighthouse, ref 83001177 (listed 1983)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/83001177_text" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 555", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California light stations page (2016, Wayback)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1857" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "The Santa Barbara light-house has been finished, and the light exhibited, and also the light authorized at Crescent City.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1857, p. 255" }, { "text": "380 | Crescent City | On the seaward extremity of the island point forming the southern and western side of the harbor. ... | F. V. F. | 1 30 | 14 | Stone . | 35 | 80 | [+ 4] | 1856 | ... | Low brick tower rising from keeper's dwelling.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1858, p. 482-483" }, { "text": "457. Crescent City, sea-coast of California. — This station is in a dilapidated condition, and should be rebuilt if the light is to be continued. The entire wood-work of the keeper's stone dwelling must be removed. The ends of many of the lower floor-timbers are entirely gone, and the floor is held up by shores. But the light itself is of little consequence. No vessel can enter Crescent City harbor at night, and no vessel bound up or down the coast can, with safety, run near enough to make the light. The rocks off Point St. George are one of the chief dangers to navigation on the coast. A first-order light should be placed there. When that is done the Crescent City station should be discontinued.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1875, p. 792" } ], "notes": "The famous 1964 tsunami keeper eyewitness story is well known but was not verified in a located source for this survey; omitted. The 1860 dark period noted in the 1889 Coast Pilot deserves follow-up in Lighthouse Board records. Also known as: Crescent City Lighthouse, 'Cresent City Lighthouse' (sic, NRIS spelling).", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/battery-point-light-crescent-city.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office; U.S. Lighthouse Society Lighthouse Research Catalog (node 89402) · undated", "alt": "Battery Point Light (Crescent City)" }, "symbol": "lhhouse" }, { "id": "trinidad-head-light-station", "name": "Trinidad Head Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-expansion", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 41.05191, -124.15146 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1871", "display": "1871", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1871, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "north-coast", "summary": "A squat brick tower of 1871 whose modest height; 18 feet from ground line to focal plane, in the Board's own figure; is multiplied by Trinidad Head's 196-foot cliff, this light covered the crowded lumber-schooner harbor at Trinidad. It keeps its original station arrangement minus the razed Victorian dwelling, and its 1871 lens survives in a replica tower in town. It remains an active Coast Guard aid, automated in 1974.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "1871 (USC&GS Coast Pilot 1889: 'first exhibited in 1871'; NRHP nomination 91001098 and USCG concur on 1871; and the Board's own report for 1872 (p. 547) dates the first lighting to the night of 1 December 1871)." ], [ "Structures", "1871 square pyramidal brick tower, still standing and basically unchanged; 1898 bell house with 4,000-lb fog bell; original Victorian dwelling razed late 1960s for a Coast Guard triplex (USCG). Original 4th-order lens removed 1947 and installed 1948-49 in a memorial replica tower in the town of Trinidad (USCG; NRHP nomination says the original lens was installed in the replica in 1948)." ], [ "Optic", "Fourth-order Fresnel, 1871; replaced 1947 by a 375 mm optic (USCG)." ], [ "Why built", "Served Trinidad Harbor and the north-coast lumber trade; the nomination's significance statement runs from 1871 under commerce, transportation and maritime history, within the doghole-port economy described in the Light Stations of California MPS." ], [ "Automated", "February 1974 (USCG)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never; active USCG aid (Light List 2025, Oc W 4s, HORN)." ], [ "Fate", "Standing; active aid with Coast Guard housing on the head; original lens and bell displayed at the town's memorial lighthouse." ], [ "NRHP", "Listed 1991-09-03, ref 91001098, Light Stations of California MPS (NRIS)." ], [ "Keeper", "In 1913 the keeper reported a freak wave that struck the 196-foot headland: \"The sea shot up the face of the bluff and over it, until the solid sea seemed to me to be on a level with where I stood in the lantern... The whole point between the tower and the bluff was buried in water\" (quoted on the USCG Historian's Office page)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 525 (41-03-06.869N 124-09-05.242W)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] NRHP nomination, Trinidad Head Light Station, ref 91001098 (listed 1991)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/91001098_text" }, { "citation": "[P] USC&GS Pacific Coast Pilot, 4th ed. 1889, Trinidad section", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/cihm_15816" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 525", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback), incl. 1913 keeper's report and 11 Feb 1981 station data", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1871" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "Trinidad Head, sea-coast of California. — An appropriation for the erection of a Light-house at Trinidad Head was approved June 20, 1860, but nothing was done toward building the structures until February of this year. The materials were purchased and the work commenced in June, and the work is now progressing favorably. The Light will be of the fourth order, fixed, varied by red flashes, and will be shown from a low, square, brick tower.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1871, p. 541" }, { "text": "418. Trinidad Head, sea-coast of California. — On the night of December 1, 1871, a fourth-order light of the system of Fresnel was exhibited for the first time from the tower built on the southern slope of Trinidad Head. The structures built consist of a pyramidal tower on a square base, 18 feet high from the ground-line to focal plane; a dwelling for the keeper, and a cistern.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1872, p. 547" }, { "text": "47. Trinidad Head, Pacific Ocean, California.—The fog bell was put in operation July 15, 1898.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1899, p. p. 180 (image-verified)" } ], "notes": "Day-level first lighting (Dec 1, 1871) not confirmed in located primary sources. USCG \"Station Established: 1866\" likely reflects the 1866 land purchase noted in the nomination ('the federal government had purchased the [head] ...'). Also known as: Trinidad Harbor Light.", "photo": { "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20161218161408id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/trinidadhead.JPG", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office · undated", "alt": "Trinidad Head Light Station" }, "symbol": "lhhouse" }, { "id": "table-bluff-light-station", "name": "Table Bluff Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-buildout", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 40.6831828, -124.2345035 ], "coord_precision": "place", "date": { "iso": "1892", "display": "1892", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1892, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "building survives, moved", "region": "north-coast", "summary": "Table Bluff took over Humboldt Bay's seacoast light in 1892 from the failing North Spit station, placing a Stick-style dwelling-tower on the high bluff south of the bay. The Navy added a radio station in 1906 and the site swelled with beach-patrol and radio-compass functions in WWII, after which most of the original complex was demolished. Automated in 1953, the light was discontinued in the 1970s and the property sold.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "1892 (USCG Historian's Office: \"In 1892 the Lighthouse Service constructed a light station on Table Bluff\"; NPS inventory: 'TABLE BLUFF LIGHT (1892)'). The day, 31 October 1892, follows the Board's report for 1893." ], [ "Structures", "1892 Stick-style keeper's dwelling with attached square wooden tower (near-twin of San Luis Obispo), duplex quarters and fog-signal building; most station buildings razed during and after WWII, leaving the tower and fog-signal building; the quarters portion of the lighthouse itself was razed leaving only the tower (USCG). The MPS context groups its fanciful Stick-style plans with San Luis Obispo and Ballast Point." ], [ "Optic", "Fourth-order rotating Fresnel; in 1953 replaced by a fixed smaller lens and the 4th-order optic shipped to Old Point Loma for museum display; the later lens went to the Smithsonian on discontinuation (USCG; the page gives the replacement lens inconsistently as '3 1/2 order' and '2 1/2 order')." ], [ "Why built", "Replaced the 1856 Humboldt Harbor light on the sinking, low North Spit, 'for many years... criticized as being too low' (USCG); the 1889 Coast Pilot already records that 'it has been proposed to remove the Humboldt Light-house to this bluff.'" ], [ "Automated", "1953; fog signal discontinued the same year (USCG)." ], [ "Deactivated", "1975 per the USCG narrative (\"In 1975 the light was discontinued and the property transferred to GSA and sold\"); the same page's data table says deactivated 1961 - conflict noted." ], [ "Fate", "Station property sold; tower reportedly relocated to Woodley Island, Eureka, in the 1980s (tertiary, not verified in located records)." ], [ "NRHP", "Not found in the NRIS listed-properties dataset (2026-05-22); apparently never listed." ], [ "Coordinate source", "USGS GNIS DomesticNames_CA, feature 235952 'Table Bluff' (Cliff, Humboldt County) - coordinate is for the bluff, not a published lighthouse position" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback), Table Bluff entry", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[S] NPS, Inventory of Historic Light Stations - California (2003, Wayback)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.nps.gov/maritime/light/ca.htm" }, { "citation": "[P] Jack Bookwalter, Light Stations of California, NRHP Multiple Property Documentation Form (Oct 16, 1989), ref 64500058", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/64500058_text" }, { "citation": "[P] USGS GNIS DomesticNames_CA, feature 235952", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://prd-tnm.s3.amazonaws.com/StagedProducts/GeographicNames/DomesticNames/DomesticNames_CA_Text.zip" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "821. Humboldt, entrance to Humboldt Bay, California.—Congress at its last session appropriated $25,000 for the reestablishment of this station on a new site. The Light-House Board having decided that the best interests of navigation would be subserved by locating the new station on Table Bluff, a point about 4 miles south of the present light, the inspector and engineer of this district visited the place on May 8, 1891, and selected a site for the station. The owner of the selected land refused to sell for less than $5,000 for about 10 acres of land and the right of way for a road from the county road to the proposed station. This price was deemed exorbitant, and measures were initiated to acquire title by condemnation.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1891, p. p. 160 (image-verified)" }, { "text": "859. Humboldt, entrance to Humboldt Bay, California.—The suit brought to obtain, by condemnation, title to the land needed for the reestablishment of this station on Table Bluff was withdrawn and a compromise was made with the owner whereby the United States secured for $2,220 some 10 acres of land, together with the right to take water from an adjacent spring.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1892, p. p. 186 (OCR only; NOT image-verified)" }, { "text": "885. Humboldt, near the western edge of Table Bluff, entrance to Humboldt Bay, California.—The reestablishment of this station on the new site at Table Bluff, commenced last year, was continued until October 5, 1892, when it was satisfactorily completed. The lens and one fog-signal boiler were kept at the old station until October 31, the date set for starting the new station. On October 31, the light was exhibited from the new station and the old station was abandoned. The new station on Table Bluff consists of a keeper's dwelling and tower combined, a double dwelling for the assistant keepers, a fog-signal building containing two boilers and engines and a coal shed.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1893, p. pp. 166–167 (both leaves image-verified)" } ], "notes": "Deactivation year conflicting within the USCG page (1961 table vs 1975 narrative). Woodley Island relocation and the Oct 31, 1892 first-lit day both need Lighthouse Service records; MPS says the Stick-style cohort was 'constructed' 1890, i.e., the design cohort, while the station itself dates to 1892. Also known as: Table Bluff Lighthouse.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/table-bluff-light-station.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office; U.S. Lighthouse Society Lighthouse Research Catalog (node 94902) · 1917", "alt": "Table Bluff Light Station" }, "symbol": "lhhouse" }, { "id": "humboldt-harbor-light-1856", "name": "Humboldt Harbor Light (1856)", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-first", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 40.76694, -124.22056 ], "coord_precision": "place", "date": { "iso": "1856", "display": "First exhibited 20 December 1856", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1856, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "gone — site only", "region": "north-coast", "summary": "Lit on 20 December 1856, the Humboldt Harbor light was a brick Cape Cod dwelling-tower planted on the low, unstable North Spit of Humboldt Bay. Sited too low and plagued by fog and settling ground, it was criticized for decades; the Coast Survey was already reporting a proposal to move the light to Table Bluff in 1889, and the 1892 Table Bluff station superseded it.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "First exhibited 20 December 1856 (USC&GS Pacific Coast Pilot, 4th ed. 1889: \"The Light was first exhibited on December 20, 1856\")." ], [ "Structures", "1856 one-and-a-half-story brick keeper's dwelling with a conical tower rising 21 feet above the roof, plastered and painted white (Coast Pilot 1889). Superseded by Table Bluff in 1892; the MPS context cites it as the type-case of a Cape Cod design failing 'when constructed on the sinking sands of Humboldt Bay.'" ], [ "Optic", "Fourth-order Fresnel, fixed white (Coast Pilot 1889). The third-order lens originally intended for Humboldt Harbor was diverted to Old Point Loma in 1855 (USCG Historian's Office, Old Point Loma entry)." ], [ "Why built", "Humboldt Bay was one of the two harbors of the redwood coast and the outlet of its lumber trade; one of the first cohort of Pacific lighthouses funded in the early 1850s (MPS context; Coast Pilot 1889 notes the excessive fog at the site)." ], [ "Automated", "Never; replaced instead." ], [ "Deactivated", "1892, when Table Bluff was established (USCG Table Bluff entry). " ], [ "Fate", "Abandoned after 1892; ruins later lost (final demolition/collapse date not verified in located sources)." ], [ "NRHP", "Not listed (not in NRIS dataset)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "No published coordinate located. The 1889 Coast Pilot places it 'on the North Spit or Peninsula, three-quarters of a mile north of the entrance to the bay and about midway between the bay and the sea-shores.'" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] USC&GS, Pacific Coast Pilot, 4th ed. 1889, 'Humboldt Bay Light-House' section", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/cihm_15816" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback), Table Bluff and Old Point Loma entries", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] Bookwalter, Light Stations of California MPS (1989), ref 64500058", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/64500058_text" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1852" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "Humboldt harbor .......... do ............. 15,000 00", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1852, p. 95 (Table A)" }, { "text": "The light and range at Humboldt harbor will be exhibited about the first of November.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1856, p. 603" }, { "text": "379 | HUMBOLDT | On the north side of the entrance to Humboldt harbor, Cal. It is 1/4 mile from the inlet, and about midway between the sea and bay shores. ... | F. | 12 | White. | 45 | 53 | [+ 4] | 1856 | ... | Brick tower rising from keeper's dwelling. Fog-bell, struck by machinery.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1858, p. 482-483" }, { "text": "The light-house at Humboldt was reported to be in a critical condition by reason of the action of heavy storms and high tides. The peninsula on which this light-house stands is about a half mile wide and but a few feet above the level of the sea, and composed of loose, drifting sand... It is doubtful, however, whether any work except one of a very expensive character can permanently secure the light-house.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1866, p. 225" }, { "text": "In this view of the case the board has under consideration the propriety of removing this light to a point about four miles south of the entrance to Humboldt bay, known as Table bluff. This point is salient, with a firm and permanent foundation for a light-house, and a light there would subserve the purposes of navigation better than where it is now placed; it is not so frequently enveloped in fog as the spit where the light now stands.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1867, p. 237" }, { "text": "452. Humboldt, coast of California. — An appropriation of $10,000 was made by Congress March 3, 1873, for a steam fog-signal at this station. The work was commenced in December of 1873, and was completed in March last... The signal went into operation on the 10th of May last.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1874, p. 683" } ], "notes": "Position PUBLISHED, not derived: \"Its geographical position, as determined by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, is: Latitude 40° 46′ 01″ north, Longitude 124° 13′ 14″ west\" (USC&GS Pacific Coast Pilot, 4th ed., 1889, p. 325). An earlier version of this map estimated the site by measuring north from the modern jettied entrance and landed about 1.4 km too far north; the 1889 \"entrance to the bay\" was not today's. The Board's 1858 printed light list gives a slightly different longitude (124° 12′ 21″ W). Also known as: Humboldt Bay Lighthouse, Humboldt Bay North Spit Lighthouse.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/humboldt-harbor-light-1856.jpg", "credit": "Photographer unknown; sourced by the uploader from the U.S. Lighthouse Society archive · 1920", "alt": "Humboldt Harbor Light (1856)" }, "symbol": "lhhouse" }, { "id": "cape-mendocino-light-station", "name": "Cape Mendocino Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-expansion", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 40.4401316, -124.4095 ], "coord_precision": "place", "date": { "iso": "1868", "display": "First exhibited 1 December 1868", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1868, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "north-coast", "summary": "Lit on 1 December 1868, Cape Mendocino's prefabricated cast-iron tower stood 422 feet above the Pacific on the state's westernmost cape, its first-order flash marking the great turn of the coast. Automated in 1951 and abandoned by the 1970s, the little tower was dismantled in 1998 and rebuilt at Shelter Cove, while its lens has sat in Ferndale since 1948.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "First exhibited 1 December 1868 (Coast Pilot 1889: \"The Light was first exhibited December 1, 1868\"; USCG concurs: 'activated on December 1, 1868')." ], [ "Structures", "1868 prefabricated 16-sided cast-iron pyramidal tower, 43 ft, one of the highest lights in the U.S. at 422 ft above the sea; the MPS groups its iron-plate prefabrication with Point Reyes. Automated 1951; abandoned 1970s; tower dismantled and re-erected 1998 at Mal Coombs Park, Shelter Cove (USCG)." ], [ "Optic", "First-order Fresnel, revolving (Coast Pilot 1889; USCG). Lens moved 1948 to a replica tower at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds, Ferndale (USCG)." ], [ "Why built", "Cape Mendocino is the westernmost turning point of the California coast and its most prominent seamark for coastwise traffic; a first-order coastal light of the post-Civil War expansion (MPS context; Coast Pilot describes it as the abrupt termination of a mountainous ridge)." ], [ "Automated", "1951 (USCG)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Station abandoned in the 1970s (USCG table: 'Deactivated: 1970s'); a minor light on the site continued later per tertiary sources (Wikipedia infobox gives 2013), not verified." ], [ "Fate", "Tower preserved at Shelter Cove (Cape Mendocino Lighthouse Preservation Society, per USCG); lens at Ferndale fairgrounds." ], [ "NRHP", "Not listed (not in NRIS dataset)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "USGS GNIS DomesticNames_CA, feature 254709 'Cape Mendocino' (Cape) - coordinate is for the cape; the tower stood on its seaward face 422 ft above the sea (USCG). Tower relocated 1998 to Mal Coombs Park, Shelter Cove." ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] USC&GS, Pacific Coast Pilot, 4th ed. 1889, Cape Mendocino section", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/cihm_15816" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback), Cape Mendocino entry", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] USGS GNIS DomesticNames_CA, feature 254709", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://prd-tnm.s3.amazonaws.com/StagedProducts/GeographicNames/DomesticNames/DomesticNames_CA_Text.zip" }, { "citation": "[P] Bookwalter, Light Stations of California MPS (1989)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/64500058_text" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1867" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "At Cape Mendocino the necessary examinations were made to select a proper site for the light-house authorized by Congress, and upon approval of the plans and estimates the work was commenced... On the 8th of September, during a fog, the steam tender Shubrick, whilst on her way from San Francisco with materials for the structure, went ashore about thirty miles below Cape Mendocino, and will probably prove a total loss.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1867, p. 238" }, { "text": "In November everything was ready for the exhibition of the light, and after proper notice it was shown for the first time on the night of December 1, 1868, and this important and very difficult work was considered as completed.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1869, p. 480" }, { "text": "401. Cape Mendocino, sea-coast of California. — The brick dwelling-house at this station was so badly injured by an earthquake on March 2, that it was deemed necessary to pull it down, and erect in its stead a double house of wood.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1871, p. 540" }, { "text": "438. Cape Mendocino, sea-coast of California. — There is a settlement of the ground, caused by an earthquake, in the ravine to the north of the tower, the limits of which are well defined by a continuous crack in the earth. The south line of this crack passes through one end of the cement retaining-wall and within 15 feet of the tower... A suit, Buhne vs. Chism, to eject the light-house keepers at this station — a suit involving the title to the site — was decided on the 10th of October in favor of the United States.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1873, p. 670" } ], "notes": "Exact original tower coordinate not located in a published record (GNIS structure records were purged from the federal dataset); cape coordinate given with 'place' precision. Post-1951 aid history on the cape needs USCG Light Lists of the 1970s-2010s. Also known as: Cape Mendocino Lighthouse.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/cape-mendocino-light-station.jpg", "credit": "National Archives Photography; U.S. Lighthouse Society Lighthouse Research Catalog (node 8318) · 1912", "alt": "Cape Mendocino Light Station" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "punta-gorda-light-station", "name": "Punta Gorda Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-buildout", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 40.24394, -124.34464 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1912", "display": "15 January 1912", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1912, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "north-coast", "summary": "The 'Alcatraz of lighthouses' on the Lost Coast was built after the Columbia disaster of 1907 capped a dozen years of wrecks below Cape Mendocino; its fog sirens sounded from June 1911 and the fourth-order light first shone on 15 January 1912. Nearly roadless its whole working life, the station was extinguished on 15 February 1951, and only the small concrete lighthouse and oil house survived the BLM's burn of the abandoned quarters.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "15 January 1912: 'The fog-signal... went into operation on June 22, 1911; and a half a year later, on January 15, 1912, the station's light shown for the first time' (NRHP nomination 76000483)." ], [ "Structures", "Built 1910-11: reinforced-concrete light building (a squat two-story block), concrete oil house, wooden fog-signal building, three two-story frame keepers' dwellings, shops and barn strung along the beach bench (nomination). Light extinguished 15 February 1951; BLM burned all buildings except the lighthouse and oil house after 1960s squatting (nomination; USCG)." ], [ "Optic", "Fourth-order lens with incandescent oil-vapor lamp, focal plane 75 ft, visible 14 miles; electric lamp only from the 1940s (nomination). USCG table calls it a 'fourth order, bulls eye 1912.' Whereabouts of the lens unknown (USCG)." ], [ "Why built", "Ten ships sank or stranded near Punta Gorda 1895-1907, ending with the Columbia, which collided with a lumber schooner on 12 July 1907 with 77 lives lost; 'this disaster was undoubtedly the impetus,' and Congress appropriated $60,000 in 1908 (nomination). The steamer St. Paul's 1905 boiler still lay a few hundred feet from the construction site." ], [ "Automated", "Unknown/none - USCG marks automation 'UNK'; the station was simply discontinued." ], [ "Deactivated", "15 February 1951 (nomination; USCG gives 1951)." ], [ "Fate", "Lighthouse and oil house stand on the remote Lost Coast; transferred to BLM 16 January 1963 (nomination). The 2016 USCG page instead says California Dept. of Parks and Recreation - conflict unresolved (the site is commonly described as BLM King Range NCA)." ], [ "NRHP", "Listed 1976-09-01, ref 76000483 (NRIS dataset serial; ArcGIS layer lacks it)." ], [ "Keeper", "One of the loneliest posts in the district: supplies came by boat until 1915 and afterward by horse and wagon from Petrolia, ten and a half miles away, with creeks cutting the route off for seven months a year (nomination). After closure, squatters occupied the quarters until BLM evicted them and burned every building but the concrete pair (USCG)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "NRHP nomination 76000483, UTM zone 10 / 385630 E / 4455700 N (NAD27), converted; GNIS cape feature 231095 (40.2612,-124.3628) is the headland ~2 km north" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] NRHP nomination, Punta Gorda Light Station, ref 76000483 (listed 1976)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/76000483_text" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback), Punta Gorda entry", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] USGS GNIS DomesticNames_CA, feature 231095 (Punta Gorda cape)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://prd-tnm.s3.amazonaws.com/StagedProducts/GeographicNames/DomesticNames/DomesticNames_CA_Text.zip" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "—. Punta Gorda, between Shelter Cove and Cape Mendocino, seacoast of California.—The following recommendation, which was made in the Board's last two annual reports, is renewed: Between Shelter Cove and Punta Gorda there are several dangerous sunken rocks off the shore that add to the hazards of navigation. In ordinary dark nights the overhanging mountains keep the shore line in dark shadow and confuse the best navigator as to his distance from shore, so that it is impossible to make out this high rounding point, either from the south or from the north. Moreover, from reports made to the Coast and Geodetic Survey, it appears that little is known as to the currents of this part of the coast. The conclusion is reached, therefore, that the interests of commerce and navigation require that a light and fog signal be established at or near Punta Gorda, Cal. It is estimated that the work will cost $40,000.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1891, p. p. 160 (image-verified)" }, { "text": "The British steamer Bawnmore struck on a rock at Punta Gorda during a fog and sunk. She is now being pumped out and will be saved. This could not have happened had there been a fog signal at this point.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1893, p. p. 166 (image-verified)" }, { "text": "Punta Gorda light and fog-signal station, California 40, 000. 00", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1893, p. p. 34 (estimates table; OCR only)" }, { "text": "Punta Gorda, Cal.—The act approved May 27, 1908, appropriated $60,000 for a light and fog-signal station at or near Four-Mile Creek, near Punta Gorda. During the latter part of June, 1910, the contractor commenced work on the construction of the buildings, which embrace a light tower, a fog-signal building, and three keepers' dwellings and barn. At the close of the fiscal year 1910 the sum of $5,832.47 had been expended and obligated under the appropriation for preliminary examination, survey, purchase of site, purchase of lens and accessories, and incidental expenses. Of the amount stated, $2,810.10 had been expended. The contractor has made excavations and placed the forms for the foundations for the fog-signal building and carpenter and blacksmith shop. The excavation for two dwellings was completed. January 1, 1911, is the date on which the light will probably be ready for operation.", "cite": "Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, FY1910 (Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, 1910; 'Report of the Operations of the Light-House Board', Twelfth District, uncompleted works), p. 515" }, { "text": "Punta Gorda, just south of Four-Mile Creek near Punta Gorda, seacoast of California.—The recommendation made in the Board's last five annual reports that an appropriation of $60,000 be made to establish a light and fog-signal at or near Punta Gorda, California, is renewed.", "cite": "Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, FY1907 (Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, 1907; Report of the Light-House Board, Twelfth District), p. 602" } ], "notes": "Strongly documented via the 1976 nomination. Current land steward conflicting between nomination-era BLM record and the USCG page's CDPR claim; resolve against BLM King Range records. Also known as: Punta Gorda Lighthouse.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/punta-gorda-light-station.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office; U.S. Lighthouse Society Lighthouse Research Catalog (node 93749) · undated", "alt": "Punta Gorda Light Station" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "point-cabrillo-light-station", "name": "Point Cabrillo Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-buildout", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 39.34858, -123.82606 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1909", "display": "10 June 1909", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1909, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "north-coast", "summary": "Point Cabrillo, first lit on 10 June 1909, is a wooden light-and-fog-signal building of the Lighthouse Service's late frame idiom, built for the redwood doghole trade out of Mendocino and Fort Bragg. Its original third-order lens survived automation in 1973, and the station complex, nearly complete, is now a California state historic park.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "10 June 1909: \"Its first beam of light shown on June 10, 1909\" (NRHP nomination 91001092; USCG concurs on 1909)." ], [ "Structures", "1909 octagonal wooden tower integral with its fog-signal building, plus keepers' dwellings; 'with the exception of a small barn all original buildings stand unaltered' (USCG). Air diaphone supertyfone installed 1935." ], [ "Optic", "Third-order Fresnel, 1909, still in the tower at listing ('architecturally intact including its original 3rd order Fresnel lens,' nomination)." ], [ "Why built", "Filled the dark gap on the Mendocino lumber coast between Point Arena and Cape Mendocino, serving the doghole-schooner redwood trade; land acquired for the station in 1906 (nomination; MPS context counts ~100 doghole ports in Sonoma-Mendocino-Humboldt)." ], [ "Automated", "1973 (USCG)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never; active (Light List 2025, Fl W 10s, emergency light provision)." ], [ "Fate", "Standing and restored as Point Cabrillo Light Station State Historic Park (California DPR; USCG page notes nature-preserve restoration)." ], [ "NRHP", "Listed 1991-09-03, ref 91001092, Light Stations of California MPS (NRIS)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 450 (39-20-54.905N 123-49-33.828W)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] NRHP nomination, Point Cabrillo Light Station, ref 91001092 (listed 1991)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/91001092_text" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 450", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "Point Cabrillo, California.—This station, on Point Cabrillo, consisting of a light and fog-signal building, three keeper's dwellings, barn, pump house, water-supply system, carpenter and blacksmith shops, was completed on June 10, 1909, at a cost of $50,000. The light is of the third order, flashing white every 10 seconds, 84 feet above the water, and should be visible 14 1/2 miles in clear weather. The fog signal is a 6-inch compressed-air siren.", "cite": "Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, FY1909 (Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, 1909; Light-House Board, 'Works of construction completed'), p. 630" }, { "text": "68. Point Cabrillo, about 4 miles north of Mendocino city, seacoast of California.—The act approved on June 30, 1906, authorized a contract for the construction of a light and fog-signal, at a cost not to exceed $50,000, and appropriated $25,000 therefor. The site for the light-station was selected, surveyed, and measures are being taken to obtain title to this site.", "cite": "Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, FY1907 (Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, 1907; Report of the Light-House Board, Twelfth District), p. 602" } ], "notes": "One boilerplate line in the nomination reads 'since its establishment in 1875' - an editing error in the MPS template; the document's own narrative (1906 acquisition, 1909 first light) governs. Also known as: Point Cabrillo Lighthouse.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/point-cabrillo-light-station.jpg", "credit": "National Archives (RG 26, negative 26-LG-65-55); U.S. Lighthouse Society Lighthouse Research Catalog (node 91518) · undated (station established 1909)", "alt": "Point Cabrillo Light Station" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "point-arena-light-station", "name": "Point Arena Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-expansion", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 38.95476, -123.74062 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1870", "display": "First tower first exhibited 1 May 1870", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1870, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "north-coast", "summary": "Point Arena's first-order light of 1 May 1870 stood only 36 years before the 1906 San Andreas rupture, whose trace passes just offshore, shattered the brick tower. Its 1908 replacement, a slim reinforced-concrete shaft raised by a San Francisco chimney firm, was the first reinforced-concrete lighthouse in California, per its National Register nomination. Automated in 1977, it is now run by a local nonprofit.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "First tower first exhibited 1 May 1870 (Coast Pilot 1889: first-order light 'first exhibited May 1, 1870'); replacement tower lit 1908 (NRHP nomination 90002189 significant dates 1870/1908; USCG)." ], [ "Structures", "1870 brick conical tower, 100 ft (Coast Pilot); wrecked by the 18 April 1906 earthquake and torn down; replaced 1908 by the first reinforced-concrete lighthouse tower in the nation, built by a San Francisco chimney contractor, with 1908 auxiliary buildings (MPS context; nomination)." ], [ "Optic", "First-order Fresnel 1870; first-order rotating Fresnel in the 1908 tower (USCG). Lens since removed from the tower for ground display on loan from the Coast Guard (USCG)." ], [ "Why built", "Marked the prominent Point Arena headland and its dangerous outlying reef for the coastwise lumber and passenger trade north of San Francisco (Coast Pilot 1889 landfall description; MPS context)." ], [ "Automated", "1977, when the crew was removed (USCG)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never; active (Light List 2025, Fl W 15s)." ], [ "Fate", "Standing; transferred to the nonprofit Point Arena Lighthouse Keepers, Inc. (USCG); museum and vacation rentals (NPS inventory)." ], [ "NRHP", "Listed 1991-07-16, ref 90002189, under the Point Arena MPS (NRIS)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 420 (38-57-17.139N 123-44-26.214W)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] NRHP nomination, Point Arena Light Station, ref 90002189 (listed 1991)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/90002189_text" }, { "citation": "[P] USC&GS Pacific Coast Pilot, 4th ed. 1889, Point Arena Light-House section", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/cihm_15816" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 420", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1867" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "At Point Arena and Point Reyes examinations have been made with a view to determine the proper sites for light-houses authorized by Congress, and no time will be lost in securing the establishment of proper lights at the earliest practicable day.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1867, p. 238" }, { "text": "The exact site selected for the tower is three hundred and seventy feet from the extremity of the point, and that for the dwelling is fifty feet in rear of the tower. On July 30, last, the workmen with all the necessary tools, together with a quantity of cement and lime, reached the Point. ... A contract has been made for furnishing five hundred thousand bricks to be made on the ground. The first kiln was burnt in the spring of this year, but upon inspection were found not to be up to the prescribed standard, and were therefore rejected.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1869, p. 479-480" }, { "text": "366. Point Arena, sea-coast of California. — The works at this station were commenced September 30, 1869, and completed the following April. The light was exhibited for the first time, May 1, 1870. The apparatus is of the first order, fixed in a tower 100 feet high from base, and the height of the light above the mean level of the sea 150 feet.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1870, p. 394" }, { "text": "415. Point Arena, sea-coast of California. — Since the last annual report a steam fog-whistle has been constructed, and was put in operation November 25, 1871.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1872, p. 547" }, { "text": "883. Point Arena, near northwest extremity of Point Arena, California.—The windmill pump, supplying the station with water, entirely gave out. A new one was purchased and erected in its place.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1893, p. p. 166 (image-verified)" } ], "notes": "1908 relight day not located; 'first reinforced-concrete lighthouse in the nation' is the MPS's claim, quoted with attribution. Also known as: Point Arena Lighthouse.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/point-arena-light-station.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office; U.S. Lighthouse Society Lighthouse Research Catalog (node 91020) · undated in the record; shows the 1870 station, destroyed by the 1906 earthquake, so pre-1906", "alt": "Point Arena Light Station" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "point-reyes-light-station", "name": "Point Reyes Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-expansion", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 37.99561, -123.02317 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1870", "display": "First exhibited 1 December 1870", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1870, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "central-coast", "summary": "Set into the cliff-face 294 feet above the surf because fog smothers the 600-foot headland above, Point Reyes first showed its first-order flash on 1 December 1870. Its iron-plate tower and clockwork lens served through a century of gales before automation in 1975, and the station now anchors the maritime story of Point Reyes National Seashore.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "First exhibited 1 December 1870 (Coast Pilot 1889: first-order lens 'first exhibited December 1, 1870')." ], [ "Structures", "1870 sixteen-sided forged-iron-plate tower bolted to rock 294 ft above the sea, reached by 304 steps from the headland (USCG 1962 pamphlet quote); fog-signal building, engine room and later quarters above. A modern automated beacon took over in 1975; the historic tower is preserved." ], [ "Optic", "First-order rotating Fresnel, 1870 (Coast Pilot 1889; USCG table)." ], [ "Why built", "Point Reyes forms the seaward hazard of the Gulf of the Farallones on the approach to San Francisco, and is by official record the windiest and foggiest station on the Pacific coast (USCG pamphlet, 1962); a first-order headland light of the post-war program (MPS)." ], [ "Automated", "1975, when the Coast Guard installed automated equipment and retired the historic light (USCG table: automated/deactivated 1975)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Historic lens light retired 1975; the station remains an active aid via the adjacent automated beacon (Light List 2025, Fl W 5s, horn)." ], [ "Fate", "Transferred to the National Park Service; exhibit within Point Reyes National Seashore (USCG; NPS inventory)." ], [ "NRHP", "Listed 1991-09-03, ref 91001100, Light Stations of California MPS (NRIS)." ], [ "Keeper", "The Coast Guard's own 1962 description: \"Point Reyes is, by official records, the windiest and foggiest on the Pacific Coast... few years pass that do not see violent gales of 75 to 100 mph strike the area,\" with keepers descending 304 steps to the lantern (quoted on the USCG page)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 385 (37-59-44.205N 123-01-23.413W)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] USC&GS Pacific Coast Pilot, 4th ed. 1889, Point Reyes section", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/cihm_15816" }, { "citation": "[P] NRHP nomination, Point Reyes Light Station, ref 91001100 (listed 1991)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/91001100_text" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 385", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback), incl. March 1962 pamphlet text", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1855" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "A contract was entered into recently, for erecting the light-house at Punta de los Reyes; but the work was not commenced, in consequence of difficulty growing out of a claim to the land selected as the site for the light-house.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1855, p. 269" }, { "text": "The exorbitant price for a spot valueless for any other purpose, which has been demanded by the owners of the rancho on which the point is situated, has been for several years the sole obstacle in the way of establishing a light-house there.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1868, p. 388" }, { "text": "Inasmuch as the cost of condemnation would have been nearly if not quite as great, and the delay very considerable, the Board accepted this offer, and a deed has been made, which was approved by the Attorney General of the United States, the deed recorded, and the purchase-money paid; so that after negotiating for fifteen years the United States is in possession of the requisite site at the Point, and landing privileges in Drake's Bay, and the last obstacle to an early beginning of the work removed.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1869, p. 479" }, { "text": "The work was completed in November, and the Light was exhibited for the first time on the night of December 1, 1870.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1871, p. 540" }, { "text": "414. Point Reyes, sea-coast of California. — An appropriation of $10,000 was made by Congress, approved June 10, 1872, for rebuilding and re-establishing the steam fog-signal station at this point, which was destroyed by fire April 28, 1872.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1872, p. 547" } ], "notes": "Lens maker (commonly given as Barbier & Fenestre) not verified in located sources; nomination OCR incomplete on the lens passage. Also known as: Punta de los Reyes Light, Point Reyes Lighthouse.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/point-reyes-light-station.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, historic light-station photograph collection (file PuntadeLosReyes002.jpg); 19th-century albumen print with mounted letterpress caption \"FIRST ORDER LIGHT-HOUSE AT PUNTA DE LOS REYES ... SEACOAST OF CALIFORNIA (U.S.)\"", "alt": "Point Reyes Light Station" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "farallon-islands-light-southeast-farallon", "name": "Farallon Islands Light (Southeast Farallon)", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-first", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 37.6992, -123.00184 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1855", "display": "1855 per USCG Historian's Office and NPS inventory", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1855, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "offshore", "summary": "The Farallones light, raised in 1855 on the granite peak of Southeast Farallon, was among the first cohort of Pacific lights and among the hardest built, with every brick packed uphill by hand. Its first-order lens covered the fog-bound outer approach to San Francisco for over a century; the tower, automated in 1972 and stripped of its lantern, still flashes over a national wildlife refuge.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "1855 per USCG Historian's Office and NPS inventory (\"Station Established: 1855 / First Lit: 1855\"); the tower was well advanced in October 1855 (Bache to the Board, Annual Report 1855, appendix 25) and the first-order lens was first exhibited on 1 January 1856 in the standard accounts. The first tower of 1853-54 had to be rebuilt before the lens fit." ], [ "Structures", "Brick-lined stone conical tower on the 360-ft summit of Southeast Farallon, built 1855 with brick carried up the rock 'in bundles of four and five on the backs of men' (USCG); lantern room later removed and replaced by an automatic beacon on the tower (USCG photo captions show the tower with and without lantern)." ], [ "Optic", "First-order Fresnel, 1855 (USCG table)." ], [ "Why built", "Guarded the deadly outer approach to Gold Rush San Francisco; the USCG narrative cites clippers such as the Golden City, detained five days off the Farallones in fog in 1852, as evidence of the need." ], [ "Automated", "1972 (USCG)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never; active (Light List 2025, Fl W 15s, white conical tower)." ], [ "Fate", "Active aid within the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge (NPS inventory); island research station." ], [ "NRHP", "The islands were listed as the 'Farallone Islands' district, ref 77000332, on 1977-03-08 (NRIS); the lighthouse is within that listing." ], [ "Keeper", "For years a station mule - at one point 'the oldest inhabitant' - carried supplies up the rock; commercial egg-gathering for the San Francisco market and sealing went on around the keepers until the federal government stopped both (USCG page)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 355 (37-41-57.105N 123-00-06.615W); the 1889 Coast Pilot gives 37 41 51 N, 123 00 07 W for islet summit" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback), Farallon entry", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] USC&GS Pacific Coast Pilot, 4th ed. 1889, Southeast Farallon section (position, description)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/cihm_15816" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 355", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[P] NRIS listed-properties dataset (2026-05-22): Farallone Islands, 77000332", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/upload/national-register-listed_20260522.xlsx" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1852" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "The distance of the Farrallones, nearly twenty-nine miles, forbids its being of any further use than as an off-shore sea-coast light, and of the greatest importance in that respect.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1852, p. 80" }, { "text": "The latest reports on the subject announce the completion of the light-house towers on Alcatraz island, and at Fort Point, Bay of San Francisco, Point Pinas, (Monterey,) and on the Farrallones island.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1853, p. 191" }, { "text": "372 | FARRALLON | On the largest or southeast Farrallon islet, 30 miles south 75° 12' west, true, from Fort or Battery point, San Francisco bay, Cal. ... | Revg. | 1 00 | 26 | Brick. | 29 | 360 | [+ 1] | 1855 | ... | Tower on the highest peak of the rock.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1858, p. 482-483" }, { "text": "442. Farallones, off entrance to San Francisco Bay. — The dwelling at this station is very much out of repair, and is much too small for the wants of a first-order station. It was built in 1855 out of rock quarried on the island, and is very damp.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1874, p. 681" } ], "notes": "1977 NRHP district nomination scan has no usable OCR; 1855 vs Jan 1, 1856 first-light discrepancy flagged - settle from the Lighthouse Board's 1856 report. Also known as: Farallon Island Light, South Farallon Lighthouse, NRHP: 'Farallone Islands'.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/farallon-islands-light-southeast-farallon.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, historic light-station photograph collection (file SouthFarallonIsland001.jpg); albumen print inscribed \"South Farallon Light House, Cal.\"", "alt": "Farallon Islands Light (Southeast Farallon)" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "point-montara-light-station", "name": "Point Montara Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-expansion", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 37.53648, -122.51929 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1875", "display": "Fog-signal station established February 1875", "confidence": "year" }, "active": { "first": 1875, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "central-coast", "summary": "Montara began in February 1875 as a fog-signal station answering the wrecks on the ledges south of San Francisco, and only grew a light by stages: a small beacon around 1900, a fourth-order lens on a wooden tower in 1912, and the present little cast-iron tower in 1928. Automated in 1970, the station now doubles as a hostel above its still-active light.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "Fog-signal station established February 1875 (USCG pamphlet); \"Point Montara served exclusively as a fog-signal station until 1900 when a small post beacon was added. In 1912 a 4th order Fresnel lens was put atop a wooden tower\" (NRHP nomination 91001094; the same document elsewhere says a beacon was added in 1902 - internal conflict noted). Present tower erected 1928." ], [ "Structures", "1875 fog-signal station; 1900 (or 1902) post light; 1912 wooden Fresnel tower, demolished 1928; 1928 conical cast-iron/steel tower that still stands (nomination; USCG \"Point Montara Light... 1928\")." ], [ "Optic", "Fourth-order Fresnel, 1912, transferred to the 1928 tower; later replaced by a modern airway-type beacon (nomination)." ], [ "Why built", "Wrecks on the fog-bound ledges south of the Golden Gate: the nomination cites a shore ledge wreck in 1868 and the ship Acuelo gutted below Mt. Montara in November 1872 as the impetus for the fog signal." ], [ "Automated", "1970 (USCG table)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never; active (Light List 2025, Fl W 5s)." ], [ "Fate", "Standing; station is a youth hostel licensed to California State Parks (USCG)." ], [ "NRHP", "Listed 1991-09-03, ref 91001094, Light Stations of California MPS (NRIS)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 335 (37-32-11.324N 122-31-09.447W)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] NRHP nomination, Point Montara Light Station, ref 91001094 (listed 1991)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/91001094_text" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 335", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback), incl. pre-1970 pamphlet quote", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" } ], "tags": [], "notes": "The widely reported prior service of the 1928 tower at Mayo's Beach, Massachusetts (Lighthouse Digest research, 2008) is a tertiary lead only - not verified here. 1900 vs 1902 beacon date conflicts within the nomination itself. Also known as: Point Montara Fog Signal and Light Station.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/point-montara-light-station.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, historic light-station photograph collection, \"POINT MONTARA LIGHTHOUSE\" (file pointmontara.JPG)", "alt": "Point Montara Light Station" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "pigeon-point-light-station", "name": "Pigeon Point Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-expansion", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 37.18175, -122.39396 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1872", "display": "1872", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1872, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "central-coast", "summary": "Pigeon Point's 115-foot brick tower of 1872, a New England profile transplanted to a low San Mateo terrace, carried a first-order lens marking the southern approach to San Francisco and memorializing the clipper Carrier Pigeon lost on the point. Automated in 1974, it stands within a state historic park.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "1872 (USCG table: established 1871, first lit 1872; NPS inventory '1872'; the 1889 Coast Pilot describes the first-order light in service). The customary day, 15 November 1872, is tertiary-level in this survey." ], [ "Structures", "1872 brick conical tower, 115 ft, of the 'Middle Atlantic' tall-tower type on a low coastal table (MPS context, which groups it with Piedras Blancas and dates the brick cohort 1870); attached workrooms; 1960 ranch-style quarters (USCG 1970 pamphlet)." ], [ "Optic", "First-order Fresnel (USCG narrative: 'equipped with a lens of the first order producing a light of 500,000 candlepower'; the table's '1892' lens date is unexplained and conflicts with the 1872 lighting)." ], [ "Why built", "The point took its name from the wreck of the clipper Carrier Pigeon there, and the light marked the southern approach to San Francisco Bay for coastwise traffic (USCG; Coast Pilot 1889 describes the whaling landing and loading chute alongside)." ], [ "Automated", "1974 (USCG table; a 1970 pamphlet already described it as 'approximately automated')." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never; active (Light List 2025, Fl W 10s)." ], [ "Fate", "Standing; state historic park with hostel (NPS inventory); tower long closed for structural restoration (tertiary; not verified)." ], [ "NRHP", "Listed 1977-03-08, ref 77000337 (NRIS)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 320 (37-10-54.281N 122-23-38.253W)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] USC&GS Pacific Coast Pilot, 4th ed. 1889, Pigeon Point section", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/cihm_15816" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 320", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] NRIS dataset: Pigeon Point Lighthouse, 77000337, listed 1977-03-08", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/upload/national-register-listed_20260522.xlsx" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1857" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "two lights have been recommended by interested parties in California, one to mark the seacoast at a point about halfway between Monterey and San Francisco bays, near Anna Nuevo, or Pigeon Point, at an estimated cost of $36,311", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1857, p. 234" }, { "text": "Pigeon Point, sea-coast of California. — An appropriation of $90,000 was made March 3, 1871, for the erection of a first-class Light-house and Fog-signal at this point. The structures are to consist of a masonry tower, which is to be one hundred feet high, from base to focal plane. The elevation of the Light above mean sea-level will be one hundred and fifty-eight feet. The keeper's dwelling is to be a double two-story house, built of wood. Work on the above structures was commenced on the 9th of June.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1871, p. 539" }, { "text": "A steam fog-whistle has been erected on this point, and has been in operation since September 10, 1871.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1872, p. 547" }, { "text": "429. Pigeon Point, sea-coast of California. — The work on the light-house at this station was resumed in July, 1872, and completed in October. It was illuminated for the first time on the 15th of November, 1872.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1873, p. 669" } ], "notes": "1977 nomination scan has no usable OCR - dates rest on USCG/NPS/Coast Pilot. Nov 15, 1872 day and the lens's reputed prior assignment to Cape Hatteras are unverified tertiary claims. Also known as: Pigeon Point Lighthouse.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/pigeon-point-light-station.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, historic light-station photograph collection, \"PIDGEON POINT LIGHTHOUSE\" [sic] (file pigeonpoint.JPG)", "alt": "Pigeon Point Light Station" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "a-o-nuevo-island-light-station", "name": "Año Nuevo Island Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-expansion", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 37.1085588, -122.3377509 ], "coord_precision": "place", "date": { "iso": "1872", "display": "Fog whistle 1872", "confidence": "year" }, "active": { "first": 1872, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "gone — site only", "region": "central-coast", "summary": "Año Nuevo was a fog station first and a lighthouse second: the government set a steam whistle on the islet in 1872 and added a five-story tower only in 1890. A buoy replaced the whole apparatus in 1948, and the island's keeper buildings have been decaying amid elephant seals and cormorants inside a state park ever since.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "Fog whistle 1872; light tower 1890: \"In 1872, the federal government installed a fog whistle on the island and added a five-story light tower in 1890\" (California State Parks, Año Nuevo SP brochure). The 1889 Coast Pilot confirms a steam fog-whistle, and no light, on the islet in 1889." ], [ "Structures", "1872 steam fog-signal station on the islet off Point Año Nuevo; keeper's house (1872-era, now a seabird roost per State Parks); five-story light tower added 1890; station replaced by an automatic buoy in 1948 and left in arrested decay (State Parks brochure)." ], [ "Optic", "Not verified in located sources (USCG's state page carries an empty data block for this station; photo captions distinguish the 1872 and 1890 structures)." ], [ "Why built", "Marked the fog-shrouded low islet and reefs between Santa Cruz and Pigeon Point on the coastwise route to San Francisco (Coast Pilot 1889 navigation directions repeatedly key on the Año Nuevo fog-whistle)." ], [ "Automated", "Station discontinued rather than automated: \"An automatic buoy replaced the light tower in 1948, eliminating the need for lighthouse staff\" (State Parks)." ], [ "Deactivated", "1948 (State Parks brochure). Today the Light List shows only Ano Nuevo Island Lighted Whistle Buoy 24 (LLNR 315)." ], [ "Fate", "Abandoned in place since 1948 within Año Nuevo State Park; buildings surrendered to seabirds and pinnipeds ('a state of arrested decay,' State Parks)." ], [ "NRHP", "Not listed as a light station (not in NRIS dataset under any light-related name)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "USGS GNIS DomesticNames_CA, feature 254568 'Año Nuevo Island'; the 1889 Coast Pilot prints a Coast Survey position for the fog-whistle (OCR partly illegible in the scan used)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[S] California State Parks, 'Año Nuevo State Park' brochure (web layout, 2022 remediated PDF)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/523/files/Ano%20Nuevo%20Final%20Web%20Layout031122_remediated.pdf" }, { "citation": "[P] USC&GS Pacific Coast Pilot, 4th ed. 1889 (fog-whistle described; position table)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/cihm_15816" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 315 (buoy)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[P] USGS GNIS DomesticNames_CA, feature 254568", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://prd-tnm.s3.amazonaws.com/StagedProducts/GeographicNames/DomesticNames/DomesticNames_CA_Text.zip" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1868" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "Point Ano Nuevo. — An appropriation has been made, also, for a first-order light at Point Ano Nuevo. The site selected is an island about a quarter of a mile distant from the main land, and has been reserved for light-house purposes by the President of the United States. Nevertheless, the owners of the rancho claim the title to the island to be vested in them.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1868, p. 388" }, { "text": "it is doubtful which of the two, the island at Point Ano Nuevo, or Pigeon Point, six miles distant, would best subserve the interests of navigation. But both points are upon the same rancho, (Punta del Año Nuevo,) and it was not possible to obtain a site at either upon such terms as the Board could agree to.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1869, p. 478" }, { "text": "408. Año Nuevo Island, sea-coast of California. — A steam fog-whistle and keeper's dwelling have been constructed on this island, and it has been in operation since the 29th of May of this year.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1872, p. 546" } ], "notes": "Light-tower lens order and the exact 1890 lighting date (commonly May 29, 1890) unverified - the Annual Report of the Lighthouse Board for 1890 is the target source. Island coordinate is the GNIS island feature, not a lighthouse point. Also known as: Point Año Nuevo Fog-Signal Station, Ano Nuevo Island Light.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/a-o-nuevo-island-light-station.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, historic light-station photograph collection, \"AÑO NUEVO ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE (1890)\" (file anonuevo2.JPG)", "alt": "Año Nuevo Island Light Station" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "santa-cruz-light-station", "name": "Santa Cruz Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-expansion", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 36.95148, -122.02677 ], "coord_precision": "place", "date": { "iso": "1869", "display": "Original wooden lighthouse dates from 1869", "confidence": "year" }, "active": { "first": 1869, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "gone — site only", "region": "central-coast", "summary": "Santa Cruz's little wooden harbor light of 1869-70 spent seven decades marking the wharves of Monterey Bay's north shore under just three keepers, most famously Laura Hecox. Discontinued in 1941 and razed in 1948, it was succeeded in spirit and function by the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse, a 1960s brick memorial that now carries the official Santa Cruz Light and a surfing museum.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "Original wooden lighthouse dates from 1869 (USCG: established/first lit 1869); the Coast Pilot 1889 records the fifth-order light 'first exhibited [month illegible] 1, 1870' - the two sources likely reflect completion (1869) versus first exhibition (1870)." ], [ "Structures", "1869 wooden dwelling with square tower at Point Santa Cruz; moved 300 ft inland 1878 due to erosion; light discontinued 1941; structure sold 1948 and razed in May 1948 (USCG). Brick Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse built near the site by the Abbott family after their son drowned surfing in 1965, using the lantern room from the Oakland Harbor Light; it carries today's Santa Cruz Light (USCG; Light List)." ], [ "Optic", "Fifth-order Fresnel, fixed red (Coast Pilot 1889); a fourth-order lens installed 1909 (USCG)." ], [ "Why built", "Served the narrow-gauge port and coastal trade of Santa Cruz on Monterey Bay (MPS context lists Santa Cruz among the narrow-gauge outlets; Coast Pilot's sailing directions key on the light for the wharves)." ], [ "Automated", "No - the original station was keeper-run to the end (last keeper Arthur Anderson until 1941, USCG)." ], [ "Deactivated", "1941 (USCG); the present Santa Cruz Light (Fl W 5s) is the memorial tower, home of the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum." ], [ "Fate", "Original razed May 1948; successor brick tower stands as museum and active aid." ], [ "NRHP", "Not listed (not in NRIS dataset)." ], [ "Keeper", "Laura Hecox succeeded her father A.A. Hecox as keeper in 1883 and served until her retirement in 1916 or 1917 (the Coast Guard's station page and its women-keepers list disagree) — a tenure of 33 or 34 years; only three keepers ran the light in its whole life (USCG). Her natural-history collection seeded the Santa Cruz city museum (tertiary; not verified)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 305 'Santa Cruz Light' (36-57-05.340N 122-01-36.360W) - the modern Mark Abbott Memorial tower near the original site; the 1869 lighthouse stood on the same point (moved 300 ft inland in 1878 for erosion, USCG)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback), Santa Cruz entry", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] USC&GS Pacific Coast Pilot, 4th ed. 1889, Santa Cruz section", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/cihm_15816" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 305", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1870" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "361. Santa Cruz, California, entrance to Santa Cruz Harbor. — This light-station was established during the last year.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1870, p. 394" }, { "text": "995. Santa Cruz, entrance to Santa Cruz Harbor, California.—This station was connected with the water supply of Santa Cruz City. Various repairs were made.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1896, p. p. 158 (OCR only)" } ], "notes": "1869 vs 1870 first-light discrepancy flagged; the Coast Pilot's month is illegible in the scan used. Mark Abbott tower completion year (commonly 1967) not verified. Also known as: Point Santa Cruz Light, successor: Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse.", "photo": { "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20161218161408id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/santacruz.JPG", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, historic light-station photograph collection, \"SANTA CRUZ LIGHTHOUSE\" (file santacruz.JPG)", "alt": "Santa Cruz Light Station" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "point-pinos-light-station", "name": "Point Pinos Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-first", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 36.63338, -121.93373 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1855", "display": "1855", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1855, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "central-coast", "summary": "Point Pinos, lit in 1855, is the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the Pacific coast of the United States, still showing its original French third-order lens from the original granite Cape Cod building. Its early keepers included two notable women, Charlotte Layton and Emily Fish. Automated in 1975, it now belongs to the City of Pacific Grove.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "1855 (USCG: established/first lit 1855; NRHP nomination 77000312: 'completed in 1855, shortly after Alcatraz Light'). The customary day, 1 February 1855, is tertiary-level in this survey. Oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the West Coast (USCG)." ], [ "Structures", "1855 granite Cape Cod dwelling with central conical brick tower - the original structure still in service; the third-order lens likewise original and operational (USCG; Coast Pilot 1889 describes the gray granite dwelling and round white tower)." ], [ "Optic", "Third-order Fresnel, purchased in France, in continuous use (\"Even the original lens is still operational,\" USCG; nomination concurs)." ], [ "Why built", "Marked the southern entrance of Monterey Bay for the port of Monterey, one of the first cohort of eight Pacific lighthouses of the 1850s (MPS context; Coast Pilot)." ], [ "Automated", "1975 (USCG)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never; active (Light List 2025, Oc W 4s)." ], [ "Fate", "Standing; light transferred to the City of Pacific Grove in 2006; museum (USCG)." ], [ "NRHP", "Listed 1977-07-14, ref 77000312 (NRIS)." ], [ "Keeper", "First keeper Charles Layton died in office; local citizens petitioned the Lighthouse Board to appoint his widow Charlotte Layton keeper, and another woman, Emily Fish, later held the post; Robert Louis Stevenson visited and wrote about the light (USCG page)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 290 (36-38-00.165N 121-56-01.432W)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] NRHP nomination, Point Pinos Lighthouse, ref 77000312 (listed 1977)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/77000312_text" }, { "citation": "[P] USC&GS Pacific Coast Pilot, 4th ed. 1889, Point Pinos Light-House section (with C&GS position)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/cihm_15816" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 290", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1853" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "The latest reports on the subject announce the completion of the light-house towers on Alcatraz island, and at Fort Point, Bay of San Francisco, Point Pinas, (Monterey,) and on the Farrallones island.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1853, p. 191" }, { "text": "At the close of the Mexican war, and the acquisition of California, the President gave orders through the General Land Office to the surveyor general of the Pacific coast to reserve, of the public domain on that coast, certain sites for light-houses and other public purposes, among which was the site for a light-house at Point Pinos. An appropriation was made and the light exhibited in 1854.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1870, p. 394" }, { "text": "370 | Point Pinos | On the point, south side of the entrance to the harbor of Monterey, Cal. ... | F. | 13 | Gray. | 35 | 91 | [+ 3] | 1854 | ... | Low brick tower rising from keeper's dwelling.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1858, p. 482-483" } ], "notes": "Feb 1, 1855 day-level date needs the Lighthouse Board record; year 1855 is multiply attested. Also known as: Point Pinos Lighthouse, Pacific Grove.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/point-pinos-light-station.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, historic light-station photograph collection (file PointPinos001.jpg); albumen print inscribed \"Point Pinos, Cal.\"", "alt": "Point Pinos Light Station" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "point-sur-light-station", "name": "Point Sur Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-expansion", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 36.30625, -121.90156 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1889", "display": "1889", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1889, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "central-coast", "summary": "Raised in 1889 from sandstone quarried on its own rock, Point Sur put a first-order light on the wild Big Sur coast after a decade of petitioning. Its complete hilltop station - tower, fog signal and dwellings - survived isolation, automation in 1972, and transfer to California State Parks, making it one of the most intact light stations in the state.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "1889 (USCG: \"The lighthouse was completed in 1889\"; NRHP nomination 91001097 dates the tower/fog-signal structure 1889; the 1889 Coast Pilot, in press as it was built, notes 'a first-order Light will be established... the light house is now being erected'). The customary day, 1 August 1889, is tertiary-level here." ], [ "Structures", "1889 sandstone tower and fog-signal building quarried on site, on the great rock ('Morro Rock') of Point Sur, with keepers' dwellings of 1889/1902 above; funded 1886 after 11 years of petitions (USCG)." ], [ "Optic", "First-order Fresnel (USCG; nomination)." ], [ "Why built", "'Point Sur has always been a navigational nightmare' (USCG); the isolated Big Sur coast between Pigeon Point/Pinos and Piedras Blancas lacked any light, and the Coast Pilot of 1889 stresses the need on this bold stretch." ], [ "Automated", "1972 (USCG)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never; active (Light List 2025, Fl W 15s)." ], [ "Fate", "Standing; transferred to California State Parks (Point Sur State Historic Park; USCG)." ], [ "NRHP", "Listed 1991-09-03, ref 91001097, Light Stations of California MPS (NRIS)." ], [ "Keeper", "Keepers received goods by lighthouse tender roughly every four months, the Monterey trail being 'long and treacherous' (USCG)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 280 (36-18-22.513N 121-54-05.621W)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] NRHP nomination, Point Sur Light Station, ref 91001097 (listed 1991)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/91001097_text" }, { "citation": "[P] USC&GS Pacific Coast Pilot, 4th ed. 1889 ('proposed light' and construction notices)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/cihm_15816" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 280", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "797. Point Sur, seacoast of California.—Great trouble was experienced in keeping the rain from driving through the porous stone of which the dwelling walls are built. To prevent this, the Sylvester process, consisting of alternate washes of alum and soap, was tried, but with only partial success.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1891, p. p. 158 (image-verified)" } ], "notes": "Aug 1, 1889 day not verified in located primary sources. Also known as: Point Sur Lightstation.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/point-sur-light-station.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, historic light-station photograph collection, \"POINT SUR LIGHTHOUSE\" (file Point_Sur_1.jpg)", "alt": "Point Sur Light Station" }, "symbol": "lhhouse" }, { "id": "piedras-blancas-light-station", "name": "Piedras Blancas Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-expansion", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 35.66563, -121.28434 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1875", "display": "1875", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1875, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "central-coast", "summary": "Piedras Blancas raised a tall first-order brick tower on the white guano rocks north of San Simeon in 1875, closing one of the longest unlit reaches of the coast. Earthquake damage cost it its lantern room, giving the tower its distinctive flat top, but its light never stopped; it was automated in 1975 and now anchors a protected coastal research station.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "1875 (NRHP nomination 91001095: \"The lighthouse itself dates from 1875,\" significant dates 1875/1906; USCG: station established 1872, tower first lit 1875). The customary day, 15 February 1875, is tertiary-level here; the NPS inventory's '(1879)' is an outlier against both the nomination and USCG and is treated as an error." ], [ "Structures", "1875 brick conical tower of the tall 'Middle Atlantic' type (MPS); lantern and upper tower removed after mid-20th-century earthquake damage, leaving the flat-topped tower in today's Light List description (\"White conical tower with a flat top\")." ], [ "Optic", "First-order Fresnel by Henry-Lepaute, 1875 (USCG table: \"FIRST ORDER (made by Henri Lapaute) 1875\"). The lens's later display in Cambria is a tertiary lead, not verified here." ], [ "Why built", "Covered the 94-mile dark gap of the south-central coast and the whaling and coastal anchorage at San Simeon (nomination context; the San Luis Obispo nomination measures the Arguello-Piedras Blancas gap)." ], [ "Automated", "1975 (USCG)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never; active (Light List 2025, Fl W 10s)." ], [ "Fate", "Standing (truncated); active aid and research station (NPS inventory 2003); managed since 2001 as BLM's Piedras Blancas Light Station Outstanding Natural Area (tertiary; not verified in located records)." ], [ "NRHP", "Listed 1991-09-03, ref 91001095, Light Stations of California MPS (NRIS)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 265 (35-39-56.250N 121-17-03.639W)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] NRHP nomination, Piedras Blancas Light Station, ref 91001095 (listed 1991)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/91001095_text" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 265", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1871" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "Piedras Blancas, sea-coast of California. — This point is about midway between Point Conception and Point Pinos Light-houses, distant one hundred and fifty miles from each other. But Point Pinos is only a harbor Light, and the coasting steamers take their departure from Piedras Blancas, and keep so far out that Point Pinos Light is not seen, and it may be considered that there is no sea-coast Light between Point Conception and Pigeon Point, which are nearly two hundred miles distant. An appropriation of $75,000 is submitted for the erection of a first-order Light and Fog-signal at Piedras Blancas.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1871, p. 538-539" }, { "text": "425. Piedras Blancas, sea-coast of California. — An appropriation, made June 10, 1872, of $75,000, is available for a first-order light and fog-signal at this point. A detailed survey during the early part of this year was made, and a map prepared of the locality; the height of which differing from previous information of the Board, necessitated a change in the design, which was published in the last annual report of the Board.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1873, p. 669" }, { "text": "438. Piedras Blancas, sea-coast of California. — The tower at this station was completed and the light put in operation on February 15th, 1875, the keepers being accommodated in the shanties built for use of the mechanics and laborers.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1875, p. 790" } ], "notes": "Lantern-removal date (commonly 1949) unverified. Lens maker per USCG's (misspelled) 'Henri Lapaute' = Henry-Lepaute of Paris. Also known as: Piedras Blancas Lighthouse, San Simeon.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/piedras-blancas-light-station.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, historic light-station photograph collection, \"PIEDRAS BLANCAS LIGHT TOWER WITH LANTERN ROOM\" (file piedrasblancasWith.JPG)", "alt": "Piedras Blancas Light Station" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "san-luis-obispo-light-station-port-harford", "name": "San Luis Obispo Light Station (Port Harford)", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-buildout", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 35.16023, -120.76051 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1890", "display": "Completed 30 June 1890", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1890, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "central-coast", "summary": "The Port Harford light of 30 June 1890 answered the Queen of the Pacific's 1888 sinking and the long dark gap of the south-central coast, planting a gingerbread Stick-style dwelling-tower on Point San Luis. It is the only one of its three identical 1890 sisters still standing, its fourth-order lens now in county museum hands and its buildings restored for visitors.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "Completed 30 June 1890: 'the station was not completed until June 30, 1890' (NRHP nomination 91001093); USCG dates establishment and first lighting 1890." ], [ "Structures", "1890 Stick-style (Victorian) dwelling with attached 40-ft square tower - the only survivor of the identical 1890 trio with Ballast Point and Table Bluff (MPS: \"Only San Luis Obispo remains today\"); fog-signal building with 10-inch steam whistle (USCG)." ], [ "Optic", "Fourth-order Fresnel (USCG); replaced by a modern beacon in 1969, lens moved 1976 to the San Luis Obispo County Historical Society (USCG)." ], [ "Why built", "Port Harford (Avila) was the coastal outlet of San Luis Obispo and 'one of the most active ports between San Francisco and San Diego,' with no light in the 94 miles between Point Arguello and Piedras Blancas; the sinking of the steamer Queen of the Pacific on 30 April 1888 clinched the appropriation (nomination)." ], [ "Automated", "1974 (USCG)." ], [ "Deactivated", "1975 as a staffed lighthouse; the site still shows a light (Light List 2025, Fl W 5s, lighted 24 hours)." ], [ "Fate", "Standing; restored by the Point San Luis Lighthouse Keepers as a museum (USCG; the Harbor District stewardship is a tertiary detail not verified)." ], [ "NRHP", "Listed 1991-09-03, ref 91001093, Light Stations of California MPS (NRIS)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 225 (35-09-36.840N 120-45-37.822W)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] NRHP nomination, San Luis Obispo Light Station, ref 91001093 (listed 1991)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/91001093_text" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 225", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "795. San Luis Obispo, near Port Harford, seacoast of California.—The pipe line to convey water from Pecho Creek to the station, commenced in the last fiscal year, was completed in August, and by it an ample supply of good water was obtained. During the winter the heavy rains brought down large quantities of earth and other débris, which clogged the dam and pipes.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1891, p. p. 157 (image-verified)" } ], "notes": "Solidly documented; whether June 30, 1890 was completion or first exhibition should be settled from the Lighthouse Board AR for FY1890. Also known as: Point San Luis Lighthouse, Port Harford Light.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/san-luis-obispo-light-station-port-harford.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, historic light-station photograph collection, \"SAN LUIS OBISPO 'PORT HARFORD' LIGHTHOUSE\" (file sanluisobispo.JPG)", "alt": "San Luis Obispo Light Station (Port Harford)" }, "symbol": "lhhouse" }, { "id": "point-arguello-light-station", "name": "Point Arguello Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-buildout", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 34.57707, -120.64726 ], "coord_precision": "place", "date": { "iso": "1901", "display": "1901", "confidence": "year" }, "active": { "first": 1901, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "building survives, moved", "region": "south-coast", "summary": "Point Arguello, where the Yankee Blade went down in 1854 and seven Navy destroyers piled up at Honda Point in 1923, got its light station only in 1901. The original lighthouse gave way in the 1930s to a rotating aerobeacon, and today a simple post light on the Vandenberg coast carries on the station's warning at the west door of the Santa Barbara Channel.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "1901: \"In 1901, the lighthouse service built a light station at Point Arguello\" (USCG Historian's Office). The Board's own list of new lights for 1901 (p. 11) records a fourth-order light established 22 February 1901." ], [ "Structures", "1901 lighthouse (original tower later removed); by 1968 the station showed a 36-inch rotating aerobeacon of 1,100,000 cp on a structure 124 ft above the water, with two-tone diaphone and radiobeacon (USCG 1968 description; photo captions distinguish 'the original Point Arguello light tower' and 'the Point Arguello skeleton tower'). Today a post light (Light List)." ], [ "Optic", "Original apparatus not verified in located sources (commonly given as a fourth-order Fresnel - tertiary only)." ], [ "Why built", "The 'Graveyard of the Pacific' at the west entrance of the Santa Barbara Channel: the Yankee Blade wrecked there 1 October 1854 with about 415 lives and a bullion cargo, and shipwrecks continued for half a century before the 1901 station (USCG narrative). The same rocks later claimed seven destroyers and 22 men in the Honda Point disaster of 8 September 1923 (USCG narrative gives September 9)." ], [ "Automated", "1966-era remote operation implied; explicit automation year not verified (USCG page's structured block is empty for Arguello)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never as a station site; the aid persists as a post light (Light List 2025, Fl W 15s). The 1901 tower itself is gone (replacement commonly dated 1934 - tertiary)." ], [ "Fate", "Original structures removed; site within Vandenberg Space Force Base; modern minor aid remains." ], [ "NRHP", "Not listed (not in NRIS dataset)." ], [ "Keeper", "The station doubled as a key synoptic weather reporting point for national weather maps, and its associated Coast Guard lifeboat station (est. 1934-38) served until 1958 (USCG)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 210 (34-34-37.452N 120-38-50.146W) - the modern post light at the station site; original 1901 tower location precision 'place'" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback), Point Arguello entry incl. 10 Feb 1968 description", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 210", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "Point Arguello light-station, seacoast of California.—A fourth-order light February 22, 1901.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1901, p. p. 11 (NEW LIGHTS) and pp. 200–201 (fog signal); p. 11 image-verified" }, { "text": "12. Point Arguello, about 12 miles northwest of Point Conception, seacoast of California.—The act approved March 3, 1899, appropriated $35,000 for establishing a light-house and fog-signal on this point. Since the passage of the act much time has been consumed in obtaining the right to take water from a spring on land adjoining the reservation and in securing rights of way to the county road. These matters being satisfactorily adjusted, bids for the construction of the station were opened on March 22, 1900, and the contract was let for $17,000. Actual construction work will probably be commenced early in July, 1900.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), FY1900 (Annual Report of the Light-House Board for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1900; Twelfth District), p. 176" }, { "text": "16. Point Arguello, California.—This 12-inch whistle, in duplicate, worked by a 13-horsepower oil engine and compressed air, was in operation some 540 hours and consumed about 1,150 gallons of mineral oil.", "cite": "Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, FY1905 (Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor: 1905; Report of the Light-House Board, 'Fog-signals operated by steam or oil engines'), p. 249-250" }, { "text": "15. Point Arguello, about 12 miles northwest of Point Conception, seacoast of California.—The construction of a 40,000-gallon concrete cistern was completed. The cistern is 24 feet internal diameter, with wall 1 foot thick. ... A rectangular sheet-steel oil tank of 1,800 gallons capacity was installed for supplying the oil engines operating the air-compressor plant for a fog-signal.", "cite": "Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, FY1907 (Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, 1907; Report of the Light-House Board, Twelfth District), p. 598" } ], "notes": "Weakest-documented station in this survey: first-lit day, original lens, 1934 rebuild and automation all need the Lighthouse Service annual reports and Light Lists of 1901-1940. USCG narrative internally dates Honda Point September 9; the accepted date is September 8, 1923. Also known as: Arguello Light.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/point-arguello-light-station.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, historic light-station photograph collection (file pointarguellooriginal.JPG)", "alt": "Point Arguello Light Station" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "point-conception-light-station", "name": "Point Conception Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-first", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 34.44863, -120.47072 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1856", "display": "First lighted 1 February 1856", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1856, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "south-coast", "summary": "One of the original eight Pacific lighthouses, Point Conception first showed its French first-order light on 1 February 1856 at the hinge of the California coast. The station moved partway down its bluff in 1881-82 to escape the high fog, and the 1882 tower still turns the 1856 lens - among the longest-serving optics in the country. It was automated in 1973 and remains active.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "First lighted 1 February 1856 (NRHP nomination 81000176 narrative: the PIERCE delivered lens and lamp and the light was exhibited 'February 1, 1856'); lower replacement tower first lit 1882 (USCG: established 1856, current tower 1881-82)." ], [ "Structures", "1856 tower and dwelling high on the bluff (razed; the nomination notes the original 1854-era lighthouse site presumably destroyed with 1960s razing of buildings); station relocated 1881 to a mesa 133 ft above the sea and the present tower lit 1882 after the Fort Tejon earthquake of 9 January 1857 had earlier damaged the first building (USCG narrative, which misdates the quake to 1867)." ], [ "Optic", "First-order Fresnel, 1856, still in use at the time of listing ('still utilizes its original lens,' nomination; USCG concurs \"FIRST ORDER, FRESNEL 1856\")." ], [ "Why built", "The 'Cape Horn of the Pacific' - the great turning point between the coastwise route and the Santa Barbara Channel, part of the first 1850s cohort; the lens and ironwork came around Cape Horn from France at a cost of $65,068 (USCG)." ], [ "Automated", "1973 (USCG)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never; active (Light List 2025, Fl W 30s)." ], [ "Fate", "Standing; active USCG aid on private ranch coast (access restricted)." ], [ "NRHP", "Listed 1981-02-25, ref 81000176 (NRIS)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 200 (34-26-55.063N 120-28-14.574W)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] NRHP nomination, Point Conception Light Station, ref 81000176 (listed 1981)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/81000176_text" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 200", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1855" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "Major Bache lost no time, after his arrival in California, in taking the necessary steps for remodelling the important light-houses at the Farallones, Point Conception, and Point Loma; all of which, it is expected, are lighted by this time.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1855, p. 269" }, { "text": "In the twelfth light-house district, embracing the entire Pacific coast, the light-houses at Point Loma, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Point Conception, Farralones, and Cape Hancock, have been completed and lighted.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1856, p. 603" }, { "text": "369 | POINT CONCEPTION | Near the pitch of Point Conception, Cal. ... | Revg. | 0 30 | 23 | White. | 35 | 250 | [+ 1] | 1855 | ... | Low brick tower rising from keeper's dwelling. Fog-bell, struck by machinery.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1858, p. 482-483" }, { "text": "405. Point Conception, sea-coast of California. — An appropriation was made March 3, 1871, for the establishment of a first-class steam fog-signal. A thorough examination and survey of the point were made with a view to ascertain the best location for the signal, and the supply of water. The structure has been completed, and the machinery placed in position.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1872, p. 546" }, { "text": "437. Point Conception, sea-coast of California. — The old dwelling at this station is in a bad condition, and the best plan is to pull it down, leaving the tower by itself... As the tower is in the center of the house, the latter having been built around it, when the walls of the house are removed the tower will be isolated and complete in itself. An appropriation of $12,000 is asked for the purpose of building the new dwellings.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1875, p. 790" } ], "notes": "USCG's '1867' Fort Tejon earthquake date is wrong (1857). Current steward (Dangermond Preserve surroundings) not addressed in located records. Also known as: Punta de la Limpia Concepcion Light.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/point-conception-light-station.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, historic light-station photograph collection, \"THE 1882 POINT CONCEPTION LIGHT TOWER\" (file pointconception1882.JPG)", "alt": "Point Conception Light Station" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "santa-barbara-light-station", "name": "Santa Barbara Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-first", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 34.39639, -119.72265 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1856", "display": "First exhibited 1 December 1856, as a red light, later changed to white", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1856, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "gone — site only", "region": "south-coast", "summary": "Santa Barbara's 1856 lighthouse was a classic first-generation dwelling-tower, best remembered for Julia Williams's forty-year vigil over its fixed light. The 1925 earthquake flattened the old building at dawn on 29 June; a plain automated tower has marked the Mesa site ever since.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "First exhibited 1 December 1856, as a red light, later changed to white (Coast Pilot 1889; USCG narrative concurs: 'established on December 1, 1856')." ], [ "Structures", "1856 dwelling with tower rising through its center, built by George D. Nagle of San Francisco for $8,000 (USCG); destroyed by the 29 June 1925 Santa Barbara earthquake at 6:45 a.m.; temporary frame tower, then the present small automated white tower (USCG; Light List)." ], [ "Optic", "Fourth-order lens, fixed red then fixed white (USCG; Coast Pilot 1889 gives the arc and 183-ft focal plane)." ], [ "Why built", "Harbor light for Santa Barbara's roadstead and channel trade, part of the first 1850s cohort of West Coast lights (USCG; MPS context)." ], [ "Automated", "Automated small tower after 1925 (exact year not verified; the replacement was an unwatched light)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never as an aid; the 1856 building was destroyed 29 June 1925 (USCG). Active today as LLNR 195, Fl W 10s." ], [ "Fate", "Original destroyed 1925; modern minor tower on the site." ], [ "NRHP", "Not listed (not in NRIS dataset)." ], [ "Keeper", "Julia F. Williams took over from her husband and was formally appointed 5 June 1865; she kept the light for more than 40 years, reportedly away only two nights, raising five children there, until a broken hip ended her service in 1905 at age 81 (USCG page)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 195 (34-23-47.004N 119-43-21.539W) - the modern tower at the station site on the Mesa" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] USC&GS Pacific Coast Pilot, 4th ed. 1889, Santa Barbara light section", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/cihm_15816" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback), Santa Barbara entry", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 195", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1856" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "In the twelfth light-house district, embracing the entire Pacific coast, the light-houses at Point Loma, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Point Conception, Farralones, and Cape Hancock, have been completed and lighted.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1856, p. 603" }, { "text": "no title has been obtained to any site on that coast from individuals or corporations, except at Santa Barbara, where the corporate authorities of the town deeded the necessary land to the United States. ... The Santa Barbara light-house has been finished, and the light exhibited, and also the light authorized at Crescent City.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1857, p. 255" }, { "text": "368 | Santa Barbara | On the point 2 miles south-westerly from Santa Barbara landing, Cal. ... | F. R. | 12 | Gray. | 34 | 180 | [+ 4] | 1856 | ... | RED light. Low brick tower rising from keeper's dwelling.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1858, p. 482-483" }, { "text": "At Santa Barbara some repairs are required to the cellar, and some slight renovation of plastering. The lens apparatus requires the addition of one or more panels, the present arc of illumination being limited to 180°, and vessels approaching outside of this angle cannot see the light.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1867, p. 237" } ], "notes": "Post-1925 rebuild chronology (temporary tower to present structure) not fully documented in located sources. Also known as: Santa Barbara Lighthouse.", "photo": { "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20161218161347id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/santabarbara.JPG", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, historic light-station photograph collection, \"SANTA BARBARA LIGHTHOUSE\" (file santabarbara.JPG)", "alt": "Santa Barbara Light Station" }, "symbol": "lhhouse" }, { "id": "point-hueneme-light-station", "name": "Point Hueneme Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-expansion", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 34.14517, -119.20998 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1874", "display": "First exhibited 1874", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1874, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "building survives, moved", "region": "south-coast", "summary": "Hueneme's fanciful 1874 Eastlake lighthouse, sister to Point Fermin's, marked the grain wharves at the east entrance of the Santa Barbara Channel. In 1941 it gave way to the crisp Art Moderne tower that still works the harbor entrance, one of the last true lighthouse structures built on the coast.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "First exhibited 1874 (Coast Pilot 1889: 'first exhibited in 1874,' fourth-order fixed red; USCG: established 1874). The customary day, 15 December 1874, is tertiary-level here. Present tower first lit 1941 (USCG)." ], [ "Structures", "1874 Stick/Eastlake dwelling-tower built from the same plans as Point Fermin and East Brother (MPS); replaced by the 1941 Art Moderne square concrete tower on a fog-signal building, of the same series as WWII-era Alaska towers (MPS dates the type 1942; USCG first lit 1941)." ], [ "Optic", "Fourth-order Fresnel (Coast Pilot 1889: fourth order, fixed red; USCG)." ], [ "Why built", "Port Hueneme was the seaward outlet of a prosperous Ventura County grain district, its wharf traffic warranting the 5th [sic - 4th] order light of 1874 at the east entrance of the Santa Barbara Channel (MPS context; Coast Pilot)." ], [ "Automated", "1972 per the USCG data table; the narrative says the station 'was automated in 1941' with the new tower - conflict noted." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never; active (Light List 2025, Fl (5)W 30s)." ], [ "Fate", "1874 building gone (sold/moved 1941 - tertiary, unverified); 1941 tower stands within the Port of Hueneme/Naval Base Ventura County." ], [ "NRHP", "Not listed (not in NRIS dataset)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 190 (34-08-42.624N 119-12-35.919W) - the 1941 tower at the harbor entrance; the 1874 lighthouse stood near the point ('place' precision for the original site)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] USC&GS Pacific Coast Pilot, 4th ed. 1889, Point Hueneme section", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/cihm_15816" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback), Point Hueneme entry", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 190", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[P] Bookwalter, Light Stations of California MPS (1989) - 1874 trio and 1941/42 concrete type", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/64500058_text" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1858" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "367 | POINT HUENEME | ...... | Authorized.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1858, p. 482-483" }, { "text": "Point Hueneme, sea-coast of California, east side of southern entrance to Santa Barbara Channel. — An appropriation of $10,000 is recommended for the erection of a first-class steam Fog-signal at this point, which is directly opposite Anacapa Island. With a first-order Light on the eastern end of Anacapa Island, and a steam Fog-signal on the western extremity of Point Hueneme, the southern approaches to Santa Barbara Channel will be well marked, and the navigation of the waters of that portion of California coast rendered less dangerous.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1871, p. 538" }, { "text": "Point Hueneme, Santa Barbara Channel, California. — An appropriation of $10,000, approved June 10, 1872, has been made for the establishment of a first-class fog-signal at this point.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1872, p. 546" }, { "text": "422. Point Hueneme, entrance to the Santa Barbara Channel, California. — As in the preceding case proceedings of condemnation of the site selected and surveyed are still progressing. An appropriation, made June 10, 1872, of $22,000, is available for constructing a light-house at this locality.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1873, p. 669" }, { "text": "435. Point Hueneme, sea-coast of California. — The light at this station was exhibited for the first time on the evening of December 15, 1874. Plenty of water for irrigation is had from the artesian well on the reservation. It is important that a steam fog-signal should be established here. The numerous passenger and other steamers, in going up and down the coast, pass inside Anacapa Island, and very near the coast, which here makes a considerable elbow. The land at this point is quite low, and is so for ten miles inland, so that it is difficult to see it if there is any fog.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1875, p. 789" } ], "notes": "Automation year conflicting (1941 narrative vs 1972 table). Fate of the 1874 building unverified. Also known as: Port Hueneme Light.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/point-hueneme-light-station.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, historic light-station photograph collection, \"THE 1874 POINT HUENEME LIGHT TOWER\" (file pointhuenemeOld.JPG)", "alt": "Point Hueneme Light Station" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "anacapa-island-light-station", "name": "Anacapa Island Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-buildout", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 34.01584, -119.35957 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1912", "display": "Unattended beacon 1912", "confidence": "year" }, "active": { "first": 1912, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "offshore", "summary": "Anacapa got a lonely automatic beacon in 1912 and a complete Mission-Revival light station only in 1932 - the last full residential light station built on the California coast, with red-tiled keepers' houses beside a concrete tower. Automated in 1968 and handed to the National Park Service in 2008, its third-order lens survives on the island it served.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "Unattended beacon 1912; present tower first lit 1932 (\"Prior to that an unattended light placed on the island in 1912 served as a guiding beacon,\" USCG; station established 1912, tower first lit 1932). The customary day for the 1932 light (March 25) is tertiary-level here." ], [ "Structures", "1912 automatic light (skeleton structure); 1932 full station on East Anacapa: 40-ft cylindrical concrete tower, fog-signal building, Spanish Colonial Revival keepers' residences and support buildings - the last major light station built on the California coast in that idiom (NRHP nomination 91001101 inventory of 1932 contributing buildings; MPS notes the 1920s Spanish Revival ensembles at Vicente and Anacapa)." ], [ "Optic", "Third-order Fresnel, 1932 (USCG; nomination confirms the original 3rd-order lens preserved)." ], [ "Why built", "Guides traffic through the Santa Barbara Channel past the island chain at its eastern gate; the 1912 beacon and 1932 station answered growing channel shipping (USCG narrative; MPS channel-traffic context)." ], [ "Automated", "December 1968 (USCG)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never; active (Light List 2025, Fl (2)W 60s)." ], [ "Fate", "Station transferred entire to the National Park Service in December 2008; active aid within Channel Islands National Park (USCG)." ], [ "NRHP", "Listed 1991-09-03, ref 91001101, Light Stations of California MPS; boundary increase 2020s ref 100010729 (NRIS)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 185 (34-00-57.028N 119-21-34.460W)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] NRHP nomination/additional documentation, Anacapa Island Light Station, ref 91001101 (listed 1991)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/91001101_text" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 185", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback), Anacapa entry", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "No. 2. Anacapa Island light-station, Cal.—For the establishment of a light and fog-signal station on Anacapa Island, Cal., $100,000. Anacapa Island is one of the most difficult points on the southern California coast to pass in bad weather, and it is important that a light and fog-signal be established. The act of June 17, 1910, authorized this station, but no appropriation has been made therefor.", "cite": "Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, FY1910 (Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, 1910; Light-House Board recommendations, Group No. 3), p. 559" }, { "text": "No. 56. Anacapa Island, Cal., Light Station.—For establishing a light and fog signal at or near Anacapa Island, Cal., $103,000. NOTE.—Practically all coastwise vessels and a large number of those bound for Panama use the Santa Barbara Channel, and this traffic will be greatly increased with the opening of the Panama Canal. The desirable course leads close to the eastern end of Anacapa Island, which is now marked by a small beacon light, not sufficiently powerful to be of service in hazy weather. The American Shipmaster's Association has presented a petition for a light and fog signal, indorsed by the San Francisco and Los Angeles chambers of commerce and important shipping interests on the Pacific coast. It is therefore recommended that a light of high candle power and a first-class fog signal be established at this point as soon as practicable.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses, FY1914 (Reports of the Department of Commerce, 1914; Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses, estimates), p. 561" }, { "text": "Santa Barbara channel islands, California.—Three islands of this group, San Clemente, Anacapa, and San Nicolas, are reserved for light-house purposes. San Clemente was leased for a period of five years from January 1, 1906, at $1,000 per annum. Anacapa was leased to the highest bidder for five years from April 1, 1907, at $31 a year. San Nicolas was leased to the highest bidder for five years commencing on April 15, 1907, at $362.60 a year.", "cite": "Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, FY1907 (Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, 1907; Report of the Light-House Board, Twelfth District), p. 598" } ], "notes": "1932 first-lit day and the 1912 beacon's structure type need Lighthouse Service records; otherwise well documented. Also known as: Anacapa Light.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/anacapa-island-light-station.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, historic light-station photograph collection, \"ANACAPA ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE\" (file anacapa.JPG)", "alt": "Anacapa Island Light Station" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "point-vicente-light-station", "name": "Point Vicente Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-modern", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 33.74196, -118.41064 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1926", "display": "1926", "confidence": "year" }, "active": { "first": 1926, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "south-coast", "summary": "Point Vicente's 1926 concrete tower, dressed in the Spanish Revival style of its decade, turned a Paris-made third-order lens 185 feet above the sea to funnel shipping toward the booming Los Angeles harbor. Manned for 45 years, it went to remote operation in 1971 and still flashes twice every twenty seconds over Palos Verdes.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "1926 - 'guiding sailing vessels to and from the Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbors since March 1926' (USCG narrative; USCG table and NRHP agree on 1926; the commonly cited 1 May 1926 day is tertiary-level here)." ], [ "Structures", "1926 cylindrical reinforced-concrete tower, 67 ft, on a 130-ft cliff, with Spanish Revival station buildings (USCG; MPS 1920s Spanish Revival grouping; NRHP nomination 80000808, 'Light, built in 1926')." ], [ "Optic", "Third-order rotating Fresnel made in Paris about 1910-1914 by Barbier, Bernard et Turenne (USCG narrative says c.1910; the nomination says the lens 'was made in Paris in 1914')." ], [ "Why built", "Marks the Palos Verdes headland on the approach to Los Angeles/Long Beach harbors for coastwise and harbor-bound traffic (USCG)." ], [ "Automated", "1971 by remote electronic monitoring (USCG narrative; the data table's 1973 conflicts - noted)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never; active (Light List 2025, Fl (2)W 20s)." ], [ "Fate", "Standing; USCG station with adjacent city interpretive center (tertiary detail)." ], [ "NRHP", "Listed 1980-10-31, ref 80000808 (NRIS)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 170 (33-44-31.072N 118-24-38.314W)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] NRHP nomination, Point Vicente Light, ref 80000808 (listed 1980)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/80000808_text" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 170", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" } ], "tags": [], "notes": "Lens manufacture year differs between USCG (c.1910) and nomination (1914); automation 1971 vs 1973 likewise conflicting within/between the USCG page - both flagged. Also known as: Point Vicente Lighthouse, Palos Verdes.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/point-vicente-light-station.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, historic light-station photograph collection, \"POINT VICENTE LIGHTHOUSE\" (file pointvicente.JPG)", "alt": "Point Vicente Light Station" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "point-fermin-light-station", "name": "Point Fermin Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-expansion", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 33.70534, -118.29366 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1874", "display": "1874", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1874, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "building survives, moved", "region": "south-coast", "summary": "Point Fermin's gingerbread redwood lighthouse of 1874, twin to Hueneme's and East Brother's, watched over San Pedro Bay as Los Angeles built its great harbor below. Blacked out days after Pearl Harbor and stripped of its lantern for a lookout shack, it regained a rebuilt lantern room in 1974 and presides over a city park, while a plain pile light does its old job.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "1874 (USCG: established/first lit 1874, 'built in 1874 with lumber from California redwoods'; the 1889 Coast Pilot shows the light in service). The customary day, 15 December 1874, is tertiary-level here." ], [ "Structures", "1874 Stick/Eastlake combination tower-residence, from the same plans as Point Hueneme (first) and East Brother (MPS); lantern room and gallery removed 1942 for a WWII lookout shack; new lantern room and gallery rebuilt 1974 (USCG)." ], [ "Optic", "Fourth-order Fresnel, 1874 (USCG)." ], [ "Why built", "Marked San Pedro Bay and the growing port of Los Angeles at Point Fermin's 100-ft bluff (Coast Pilot 1889; MPS harbor-growth context)." ], [ "Automated", "Not applicable - extinguished instead (USCG table: 'Automated? N/A')." ], [ "Deactivated", "Light extinguished 1941 and lantern removed (USCG narrative; table says deactivated 1942)." ], [ "Fate", "Standing in Point Fermin Park, San Pedro; long the park superintendent's residence, now restored with its 1974 lantern (USCG); a separate modern pile light serves mariners nearby (Light List 2025)." ], [ "NRHP", "Listed 1972-06-13, ref 72000234 (NRIS)." ], [ "Keeper", "Its first keepers were the sisters Mary and Ella Smith (commonly reported - tertiary, not verified in located sources)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "NPS NRHP GIS point for listing 72000234 (33.70534,-118.29366; the historic building at 805 Paseo Del Mar). The modern Point Fermin Light aid (LLNR 140, on pile) is at 33-42-17.310N 118-17-38.408W." ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] NRHP nomination, Point Fermin Lighthouse, ref 72000234 (listed 1972)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/72000234_text" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 140 (modern aid)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[P] USC&GS Pacific Coast Pilot, 4th ed. 1889, Point Fermin section", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/cihm_15816" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1858" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "366 | San Pedro | On Point Fermin | ...... | Authorized.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1858, p. 482-483" }, { "text": "Point Fermin, sea-coast of California, near entrance to San Pedro Harbor. — An appropriation of $25,000 is recommended to establish a fourth-order Light-house and a steam Fog-signal at this point to mark the approaches of San Pedro Harbor... The number of vessels navigating near the southern coast of California, between there and San Diego, and passing through the Santa Barbara Channel, has been greatly increased within the last two years. All Coast steamers stop at San Pedro, near Wilmington, the port of Los Angeles, and a Light-house and Fog-signal, as guides to the entrance of the harbor, are of great importance.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1871, p. 538" }, { "text": "432. Point Fermin, coast of California. — An appropriation of $20,000 was made June 10, 1872, for the purpose of erecting at this station a fourth-order light house. As it was found impossible to secure the proper site from the owners (several being minor heirs) by purchase, it was found expedient to secure the same by condemnation under the laws of this State. Suit was accordingly brought for that purpose, which terminated favorably to the United States on the 4th day of November, 1873. The plans for the structure having been prepared, on the 21st of February of this year the work was commenced.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1874, p. 679-680" }, { "text": "434. Point Fermin, sea-coast of California. — The light at this station was exhibited for the first time on the evening of December 15th, 1874. It is recommended that an appropriation of $300 be made for the purchase of additional land at this station.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1875, p. 789" } ], "notes": "First keepers (Smith sisters) and Dec 15, 1874 day are tertiary. 1941 vs 1942 extinguishing dates conflict within the USCG page. Also known as: Point Fermin Lighthouse, San Pedro.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/point-fermin-light-station.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, historic light-station photograph collection, \"POINT FERMIN LIGHTHOUSE\" (file pointfermin.JPG)", "alt": "Point Fermin Light Station" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "los-angeles-harbor-light-station-angels-gate", "name": "Los Angeles Harbor Light Station (Angels Gate)", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-buildout", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 33.70856, -118.25166 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1913", "display": "1913", "confidence": "year" }, "active": { "first": 1913, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "south-coast", "summary": "'Angels Gate' has stood at the end of the San Pedro breakwater since 1913, a Romanesque concrete cylinder that survived a five-day storm with nothing worse than a permanent lean. Its green flash and foghorns - Moaning Maggie, then Blatting Betty - defined the harbor entrance of Los Angeles; the keepers left on 1 February 1973 when the light was automated.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "1913 (USCG: established/first lit 1913; NRHP nomination 80000810: built 'in 1913 at a total cost of $35,971.49'; a temporary light had stood on the breakwater block since its 1910 completion, USCG). The customary day, 1 March 1913, is tertiary-level here." ], [ "Structures", "1913 cylindrical steel-and-concrete tower with black vertical stripes on a 40-ft concrete block at the end of the San Pedro breakwater - a one-off Beaux-Arts design ('the only lighthouse ever built to this design,' USCG); storm-settled with a permanent shoreward list." ], [ "Optic", "Fourth-order Fresnel, 1913 (USCG)." ], [ "Why built", "Purpose-built gateway light for the new Los Angeles breakwater and harbor project planned from 1907 (USCG narrative)." ], [ "Automated", "1 February 1973 ('the station was automated and the keepers departed,' USCG; the table says 1971 - conflict noted)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never; active (Light List 2025, Fl G 15s, continuous horn)." ], [ "Fate", "Standing; maintained from Coast Guard Base Terminal Island (USCG)." ], [ "NRHP", "Listed 1980-10-14, ref 80000810 (NRIS)." ], [ "Keeper", "One night a keeper was knocked to the floor when a blacked-out battleship struck the breakwater beside the tower; the incident was stamped confidential and buried in Navy files for years (USCG narrative). Locals mourned when 'Moaning Maggie,' the two-tone fog horn, was replaced in 1959 by the shriller 'Blatting Betty.'" ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 135 (33-42-30.810N 118-15-05.984W)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] NRHP nomination, Los Angeles Harbor Light Station, ref 80000810 (listed 1980)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/80000810_text" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 135", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "SAN PEDRO BREAKWATER LIGHT STATION, CAL. Purpose.—San Pedro Breakwater Light and Fog Signal Station was established to mark the outer end of the breakwater and to guide vessels into Los Angeles Harbor, Cal. This station went into commission March 1, 1913.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses, FY1913 (Reports of the Department of Commerce, 1913; Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses, descriptive section), p. 413" }, { "text": "San Pedro Breakwater, Cal.—The act of March 4, 1911, appropriated $36,000 for establishing a light and fog signal station on the San Pedro Breakwater, Cal. The lighthouse was completed during the year and placed in commission on March 1, 1913. It consists of a structural steel framework, the lower section containing fog-signal machinery, being built of metal plate. The upper section is built of cement plaster on metal lath and contains quarters for three keepers. The light apparatus is a fourth-order flashing bivalve lens with oil vapor lamp, of approximately 69,000 candlepower, shown at a height of 73 feet above the water. The fog signal is a first-class compressed-air siren; compressor and gas engine are direct connected, and the plant is in duplicate. The total cost to June 30, 1913, was $35,225.58.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses, FY1913 (Reports of the Department of Commerce, 1913; Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses, construction narrative), p. 372" }, { "text": "No. 7. San Pedro Breakwater light-station, Cal.—For establishing a light and fog-signal station on the San Pedro Breakwater, Cal., $36,000. San Pedro Breakwater has been completed and the harbor developed. It should be marked by a light and fog-signal. Numerous petitions have been received from maritime interests urging the same.", "cite": "Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, FY1910 (Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, 1910; Light-House Board recommendations, Group No. 2), p. 559" } ], "notes": "Automation 1971 vs Feb 1, 1973 conflicting within the USCG page; nomination cost figure differs slightly from USCG's 'just under $36,000' (consistent). Also known as: Angels Gate Light, San Pedro Breakwater Light.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/los-angeles-harbor-light-station-angels-gate.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, historic light-station photograph collection, \"LOS ANGELES HARBOR LIGHTHOUSE\" (file losangelesharbor.JPG)", "alt": "Los Angeles Harbor Light Station (Angels Gate)" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "ballast-point-light-station", "name": "Ballast Point Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-buildout", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 32.6864405, -117.2403137 ], "coord_precision": "place", "date": { "iso": "1890", "display": "1890", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1890, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "gone — site only", "region": "south-coast", "summary": "Ballast Point's 1890 Stick-style lighthouse guarded the inner entrance of San Diego Bay from the spit where Cabrillo had anchored in 1542. Its green-shaded fifth-order lens was the Pacific coast's last fixed classical light; when the failing tower came down around 1960 the optic went to Cabrillo National Monument and a utilitarian light took over the point.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "1890: \"In 1890, Ballast Point Lighthouse was constructed\" (USCG Historian's Office, article by PhM1 Harmon Lougher). The customary day, 1 August 1890, is tertiary-level here." ], [ "Structures", "1890 pair of dwellings and a white square tower integral with the keeper's quarters, of the Stick-style 1890 trio with San Luis Obispo and Table Bluff (MPS); dwellings torn down and the unstable brick-founded tower demolished around 1960, the light moving to the fog-signal building roof on 5 August of that year (USCG narrative, written contemporaneously)." ], [ "Optic", "Fifth-order fixed Fresnel with a green shade, focal height 34 ft; it was 'the last lighthouse displaying a fixed light on the Pacific Coast,' and the lantern and lens went to Cabrillo National Monument (USCG narrative)." ], [ "Why built", "Harbor entrance light inside Point Loma for San Diego Bay, on the historic anchorage where Cabrillo landed in 1542 and whalers later tried out blubber (USCG narrative)." ], [ "Automated", "Station kept resident personnel into the 1960s; automation of the successor aid not separately dated in located sources." ], [ "Deactivated", "Historic lighthouse demolished c. 1960; the point remains lit by a minor aid (Light List 2025, Ballast Point Light B, Fl W 4s)." ], [ "Fate", "Demolished c. 1960; site within Naval Base Point Loma; lens preserved at Cabrillo National Monument (USCG)." ], [ "NRHP", "Not listed (not in NRIS dataset)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "USGS GNIS DomesticNames_CA, feature 238941 'Ballast Point' (Cape, San Diego County); the modern Ballast Point Light B (LLNR 1570) is at 32-41-10.800N 117-13-58.027W" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback), Ballast Point article by Harmon Lougher, PhM1", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] Bookwalter, Light Stations of California MPS (1989) - 1890 Stick-style trio", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/64500058_text" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 1570 (modern aid)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[P] USGS GNIS DomesticNames_CA, feature 238941", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://prd-tnm.s3.amazonaws.com/StagedProducts/GeographicNames/DomesticNames/DomesticNames_CA_Text.zip" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "786. Ballast Point, entrance to San Diego Bay, California.—This station was completed by the end of the last fiscal year, but was not put in operation until August 5, 1890, on which date a fixed white light of the fifth order was exhibited. There is also a fog bell which will be struck by machinery every ten seconds during thick and foggy weather. Plank walks leading to the various buildings were laid.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1891, p. p. 156 (image-verified)" }, { "text": "Ballast Point, entrance to San Diego Bay, California.—A bell struck by machinery, August 1, 1890.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1891, p. in the 'new fog signals' list between the p. 9 and p. 12 running heads; the intervening page numbers are not legible in the OCR and I did not pull this leaf's image" } ], "notes": "Demolition year (c. 1960) inferred from internal evidence of the undated Lougher article ('the new light has been shown from its new location since 5 August'); confirm from D11 records. Aug 1, 1890 lighting day unverified. Also known as: Ballast Point Lighthouse, San Diego Bay.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/ballast-point-light-station.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, historic light-station photograph collection, \"BALLAST POINT LIGHTHOUSE\" (file ballastpoint.JPG)", "alt": "Ballast Point Light Station" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "old-point-loma-lighthouse", "name": "Old Point Loma Lighthouse", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-first", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 32.67204, -117.24116 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1855", "display": "15 November 1855", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1855, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "building survives, moved", "region": "south-coast", "summary": "The 1855 Old Point Loma light crowned its headland so high that fog regularly blotted it out, an elegant failure of the first Pacific cohort. Extinguished on 23 March 1891 in favor of the new tower at the point's tip, it was saved by its inclusion in Cabrillo National Monument and a 1930s restoration, and is now among the most-visited lighthouses in the country.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "15 November 1855: \"Point Loma Lighthouse was put into service on November 15, 1855\" (NPS Cabrillo NM webpage; USCG concurs: \"First lighted November 15, 1855\")." ], [ "Structures", "Structure completed 1854 (architect Ammi B. Young, Treasury Dept.; contractors Gibbons & Kelly, Baltimore); sandstone/brick Cape Cod dwelling with central tower at 422-462 ft elevation - at the time the highest light in the U.S.; restored by the NPS 1933-35 (USCG; NPS; nomination notes 3rd-order lens installed November 1855)." ], [ "Optic", "Third-order fixed Fresnel from Sautter & Co., Paris, $3,810 - the lens originally intended for Humboldt Harbor (USCG page)." ], [ "Why built", "First lighthouse of Southern California, in the initial 1850s Pacific cohort, marking San Diego Bay; sited too high, 'too often, its light was obscured by fog and low clouds' (NPS Cabrillo)." ], [ "Automated", "Never; replaced." ], [ "Deactivated", "23 March 1891, when the lens was removed and the new lower station took over (USCG; NPS: \"A new Point Loma Light Station was established at a lower elevation in March 1891\")." ], [ "Fate", "Preserved centerpiece of Cabrillo National Monument (proclaimed 1913); restored 1933-35; displays a third-order lens (NPS; USCG)." ], [ "NRHP", "Listed 1974-06-27, ref 74000350 (NRIS)." ], [ "Keeper", "Robert Israel kept the old light for 18 years and personally lit the new station's kerosene lamp on 23 March 1891, serving one more year there (NPS Cabrillo NM page)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "NPS NRHP GIS point for listing 74000350 (Old Point Loma Lighthouse, Cabrillo National Monument)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[S] NPS, Cabrillo National Monument, 'The Lighthouses of Cabrillo National Monument' webpage", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.nps.gov/cabr/learn/historyculture/the-lighthouses-of-cabrillo-national-monument.htm" }, { "citation": "[P] NRHP nomination, Old Point Loma Lighthouse, ref 74000350 (listed 1974)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/74000350_text" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback), Old Point Loma entry", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1855" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "Major Bache lost no time, after his arrival in California, in taking the necessary steps for remodelling the important light-houses at the Farallones, Point Conception, and Point Loma; all of which, it is expected, are lighted by this time.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1855, p. 269" }, { "text": "In the twelfth light-house district, embracing the entire Pacific coast, the light-houses at Point Loma, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Point Conception, Farralones, and Cape Hancock, have been completed and lighted.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1856, p. 603" }, { "text": "365 | POINT LOMA | On the west side of the entrance to San Diego bay, Cal. ... | F. | 25 | Dark . | 35 | 457 | [+ 3] | 1855 | ... | Low brick tower rising from keeper's dwelling. Mag. variation 12° 26' east.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1858, p. 482-483" } ], "notes": "Elevation stated variously 422 ft and 462 ft on the same USCG page; NPS materials use 422 ft. Well documented otherwise. Also known as: Point Loma Light (Old), Cabrillo National Monument lighthouse.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/old-point-loma-lighthouse.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, historic light-station photograph collection, \"POINT LOMA LIGHTHOUSE\" (file pointlomaOld.JPG)", "alt": "Old Point Loma Lighthouse" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "new-point-loma-lighthouse-point-loma-light", "name": "New Point Loma Lighthouse (Point Loma Light)", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-buildout", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 32.66507, -117.24267 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1891", "display": "23 March 1891", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1891, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "south-coast", "summary": "The skeletal 1891 tower at the foot of Point Loma corrected its predecessor's fatal elevation, flashing red and white over the harbor entrance until 1912 and plain white ever since. Automated in 1973 and stripped of its classical lens in 2001, the black-and-white ironwork remains San Diego's working sea light.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "23 March 1891: \"The new Point Loma Light Station, established on March 23, 1891,\" with keeper Robert Israel lighting the kerosene lamp (NPS Cabrillo NM page; USCG concurs on 1891)." ], [ "Structures", "1891 iron/steel skeleton tower with central stair cylinder at the low tip of Point Loma, 88 ft above the water, with fog-signal building at its base and keepers' dwellings (USCG; MPS cites it among prefabricated-metal innovations)." ], [ "Optic", "Third-order Fresnel, 1891, showing alternating red and white via ruby glass screens until 1912, then a single white flash every 15 seconds; historic lens removed 2001 and displayed at the monument's Assistant Keepers Quarters (NPS; USCG)." ], [ "Why built", "Replaced the fog-plagued 1855 hilltop light with a sea-level light at the harbor entrance (NPS Cabrillo)." ], [ "Automated", "1973 (USCG table)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never; active (Light List 2025, Fl W 15s, \"Black house on white square pyramidal skeleton tower\")." ], [ "Fate", "Standing; active USCG aid beside Cabrillo National Monument; not individually NRHP-listed." ], [ "NRHP", "Not found in the NRIS listed-properties dataset as an individual listing." ], [ "Keeper", "Robert Israel, the old light's last keeper, lit the new lamp on opening night, 23 March 1891 (NPS)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "US Coast Guard Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 5 (32-39-54.258N 117-14-33.601W)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[S] NPS, Cabrillo National Monument, 'The Lighthouses of Cabrillo National Monument' webpage", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.nps.gov/cabr/learn/historyculture/the-lighthouses-of-cabrillo-national-monument.htm" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 5", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page (2016, Wayback), Point Loma (New) entry", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "785. Point Loma, entrance to San Diego Bay, California.—This new station was completed by the end of the last fiscal year, except the iron tower and the lens. The tower was received at the site on July 16, and was erected during August. The lens furnished was found to be too large for the space provided for it, therefore it was necessary to procure another, which reached the station in January, 1891, and was put in place during February. On March 23, the light was exhibited for the first time. It is of the third order, flashing red and white alternately, with twenty seconds' interval between the flashes. An electrical call-bell system was put up connecting the tower with both dwellings.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1891, p. p. 156 (image-verified against the scanned leaf)" } ], "notes": "Absence from NRHP is per the NRIS dataset search; it may be a contributing resource to other designations - verify with SHPO if needed. Also known as: Point Loma Light (New), Pelican Point light (rare).", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/new-point-loma-lighthouse-point-loma-light.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, historic light-station photograph collection, \"THE NEW POINT LOMA LIGHTHOUSE (B&W)\" (file pointlomaNew.JPG)", "alt": "New Point Loma Lighthouse (Point Loma Light)" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "san-francisco-lightship-station", "name": "San Francisco Lightship Station", "type": "lightship station", "layer": "era-buildout", "radius": 8, "coords": [ 37.74993, -122.69278 ], "coord_precision": "area", "date": { "iso": "1898", "display": "Station established 1898 with LV-70, purpose-built at Portland, Oregon", "confidence": "year" }, "active": { "first": 1898, "last": null }, "station_type": "lightship station", "status": "gone — site only", "region": "offshore", "summary": "From 1898 the San Francisco lightship rode outside the bar where Alcatraz and Fort Point ranged in line, showing masthead electric lanterns to funnel traffic into the Golden Gate's main ship channel. Five vessels held the station over 73 years - LV-70, LV-83, WLV-612 and LV-100 among them - until a lighted horn buoy replaced the last ship in 1971.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "Station established 1898 with LV-70, purpose-built at Portland, Oregon (Wolff & Zwicker Iron Works) under an $80,000 appropriation 'for lightship for San Francisco harbor' (USCG Historian's Office lightship pages)." ], [ "Structures", "Lightships assigned: LV-70 (1898-1930), LV-83/WAL-508 (1930-1942), station vacant during WWII, LV-83 (1945-1951), WLV-612 (1951-1969), LV-100/WAL-523 (1969-1971) (USCG Lightship Station Index)." ], [ "Optic", "LV-70 showed a cluster of three 100-candlepower electric lens lanterns at each masthead - an early electrically lit lightship - with 12-inch steam chime whistle and hand-operated 1,000-lb bell; oil lamps substituted 1900-1904 during generator troubles (USCG LV-70 page)." ], [ "Why built", "'The station marked the approaches to the main ship channel into San Francisco' outside the bar (USCG Lightship Station Index)." ], [ "Automated", "Not applicable; replaced by a large automated buoy." ], [ "Deactivated", "1971; 'the station was replaced by the San Francisco lighted horn (LNB) buoy \"SF\"' (USCG)." ], [ "Fate", "Station discontinued 1971; today's SF Approach Lighted Whistle Buoy occupies the approach role. LV-70 itself was an experimental wireless-telegraph platform in August 1899 (USCG LV-70 page)." ], [ "NRHP", "Not applicable (station); no listed vessel from this station survives under its SF identity." ], [ "Keeper", "In August 1899 LV-70 hosted a 17-day experiment in wireless telegraphy - among the earliest marine radio trials on the Pacific coast (USCG LV-70 page)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "Position of the successor aid, San Francisco Approach Lighted Whistle Buoy SF, Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 360 (37-44-59.761N 122-41-33.995W). Historic station: '8.6 miles and 244 degrees from the Point Bonita Light,' originally '3 1/4 miles outside the bar in 109 feet, with Alcatraz and Fort Point lighthouses in range' (USCG Lightship Station Index)." ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, Lightship Station Index (Wayback capture, 2011)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20110609114149/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblightships/Lightship_Station_Index.asp" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, LV-70 vessel page (Wayback, 2012)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20120417182733/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblightships/LV70.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 360", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "—. San Francisco Harbor light-vessel, off San Francisco Bar, California.—By the act approved June 11, 1896, $40,000 was appropriated, and a contract was authorized not to exceed $80,000, for constructing, equipping, and outfitting complete for service a first-class steam light-vessel with steam fog-signal for this station. The proper measures are being taken for its construction. It is estimated that $40,000, in addition to the amount already appropriated, will be needed to finish this vessel. Recommendation is made that this amount be appropriated therefor.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1896, p. p. 160 (image-verified)" }, { "text": "1004. San Francisco Harbor light-vessel No. 70, off San Francisco Bar, California.—This vessel is being built at Portland, Oregon. An appropriation of $40,000 was made by the act approved June 4, 1897, for her completion. Contract was made after due advertisement on January 23, 1897, with the lowest bidder to deliver the vessel in November, 1897.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1897, p. p. 175 (OCR only)" }, { "text": "20. San Francisco light-vessel No. 70, California.—This composite steam light-vessel, built in 1897–98, of about 400 tons burden, was placed on her station April 7, 1898, in 18¼ fathoms of water, about 3½ miles outside the bar off the entrance to San Francisco Harbor. She carries a steam fog-signal and shows electric lights.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1899, p. p. 180 (image-verified)" }, { "text": "San Francisco light-vessel, entrance to San Francisco Harbor, California.—Light-vessel No. 70 withdrawn for repairs and station marked by a first-class can buoy September 20; light-house tender Madrono moored on station, characteristics of lights and fog signal changed September 28; light-vessel No. 70 replaced on station, characteristics of lights and fog signal restored, and Madrono withdrawn October 8, 1899.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1900, p. pp. 21 and 180–181 (OCR only)" } ], "notes": "Station positions given as bearings/distances by USCG; the coordinate supplied is the modern successor buoy, precision 'area.' Assignments 1951-1971 (WLV-612, LV-100) from the station index. Also known as: Lightship San Francisco, San Francisco Bar lightship (LV-70 station).", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/san-francisco-lightship-station.jpg", "credit": "Lightship LV-70, lettered SAN FRANCISCO, off San Francisco, 4 August 1911. Photographer unknown. San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, SAFR 21374 (San Francisco Maritime Museum collection), via NPGallery accession 1f5eebc7-3e83-4b40-8de9-05aa5559fdfc; Wikimedia Commons · 1911-08-04", "alt": "San Francisco Lightship Station" }, "symbol": "lightship" }, { "id": "blunts-reef-lightship-station", "name": "Blunts Reef Lightship Station", "type": "lightship station", "layer": "era-buildout", "radius": 8, "coords": [ 40.44696, -124.4991 ], "coord_precision": "area", "date": { "iso": "1905", "display": "Station established 1905", "confidence": "year" }, "active": { "first": 1905, "last": null }, "station_type": "lightship station", "status": "standing", "region": "offshore", "summary": "The Blunts Reef lightship tossed off Cape Mendocino from 1905, holding coastwise traffic clear of the reef that the cape's high light could not adequately cover in fog. LV-83's rescue of 155 souls from the steamer Bear in 1916 made it famous; buoys replaced the ships in 1971, and one veteran of the station, WLV-605 RELIEF, survives on the National Register at Oakland.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "Station established 1905 (USCG Lightship Station Index: 'Blunts Reef, 1905-1971'); Light-Vessel No. 83 took station off Blunts Reef on 28 June 1905, per the Twelfth District report for that fiscal year." ], [ "Structures", "Lightships assigned: LV-83/WAL-508 (1905-1930), LV-100/WAL-523 (1930-1942), buoy during WWII, LV-100 (1945-1959), WLV-605 (1960-1969), WLV-612 (1969-1971) (USCG Station Index)." ], [ "Optic", "Lightship illuminating apparatus per vessel; LV-83 (built 1904, Camden NJ) was a steam screw, steel-hulled ship with masthead lights (USCG LV-83 page)." ], [ "Why built", "Guarded Blunts Reef, the outlying rocks off Cape Mendocino inside which coastwise traffic hugged the shore in fog; the 1889 Coast Pilot's directions run 'outside Blunt's Reef, on the range of the south rock of the reef and Cape Mendocino Light.'" ], [ "Automated", "Not applicable; replaced by a large automated buoy." ], [ "Deactivated", "1971; 'replaced by the Blunts Reef Lighted Horn Buoy \"B\"' (USCG). Today the reef carries Lighted Bell Buoy 40 (Light List 2025)." ], [ "Fate", "Station discontinued 1971. WLV-605, which held the station 1960-69, survives as the museum lightship RELIEF at Oakland, NRHP ref 89002462, listed 1989-12-20 (NRIS)." ], [ "NRHP", "Station not listable; associated vessel WLV-605 RELIEF listed 1989 (NRIS 89002462)." ], [ "Keeper", "On 15 June 1916, between 1:45 and 3:30 a.m., LV-83's crew took aboard 155 people - the passengers and crew of the stranded steamer Bear - in one of the great lightship rescues (USCG LV-83 page). The same ship was dragged off station by storms in November-December 1906." ], [ "Coordinate source", "Position of Blunts Reef Lighted Bell Buoy 40, Light List Vol. VI 2025, LLNR 485 (40-26-49.048N 124-29-56.772W), which marks the reef; the lightship station lay 'about 1.9 miles and 239 degrees from Blunts Reef and 4.55 miles and 266 degrees from Cape Mendocino Light' (USCG Lightship Station Index)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, Lightship Station Index (Wayback, 2011)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20110609114149/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblightships/Lightship_Station_Index.asp" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, LV-83 vessel page (Wayback, 2012)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20120417065931/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblightships/LV83.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI, 2025, LLNR 485", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[P] NRIS dataset: Lightship WAL-605, RELIEF, 89002462, listed 1989-12-20", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/upload/national-register-listed_20260522.xlsx" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "58. Blunts Reef light-vessel, No. 83, off Cape Mendocino, California.—This steel steam self-propelling light-vessel, of about 621 tons displacement, for which appropriation was made by the act approved on March 3, 1903, arrived in San Francisco in company with relief light-vessel No. 76 on June 4, 1905, at 1 a. m., after a successful voyage of 110 days from New York, of which time she was under steam 82 1/2 days. This vessel was docked, when her bottom was painted. After receiving coal, fresh water, and supplies she was again fitted for sea, and on June 28 took station off Blunts Reef in accordance with the published notice to mariners.", "cite": "Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, FY1905 (Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor: 1905; Report of the Light-House Board, Twelfth District), p. 249" }, { "text": "58. Blunts Reef light-vessel, No. 83, off Cape Mendocino, seacoast of California.—The act approved on March 3, 1903, appropriated $90,000 for constructing, equipping, and outfitting, complete for service, a first-class steam light-vessel, with steam fog-signal, to be situated off this cape. ... She is now being built by contract, under which she is to be delivered by December 17, 1904. She will be sent to the Pacific coast as soon as practicable after she is finished.", "cite": "Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, FY1904 (Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, 1904; Report of the Light-House Board, Twelfth District), p. 281" } ], "notes": "1905 (station index) vs 1906 (LV-83 page) establishment discrepancy flagged; settle from the Lighthouse Board AR for 1905-06. Also known as: Blunt's Reef lightship, off Cape Mendocino.", "symbol": "lightship" }, { "id": "alcatraz-island-light", "name": "Alcatraz Island Light", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-first", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 37.82623, -122.42214 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1854", "display": "June 1, 1854", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1854, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "gone — site only", "region": "sf-bay", "summary": "Alcatraz carried what the standard accounts call the Pacific coast's first lighthouse: a Gibbons & Kelly contract dwelling finished in 1853 that finally showed its third-order light on June 1, 1854, once the lens arrived. After the 1906 earthquake cracked the old building and the new cell house crowded it, the Lighthouse Service transferred the light on December 1, 1909 to the present 84-foot octagonal concrete tower, a move documented in the printed Notice to Mariners of December 2, 1909. Automated in 1963 during the island's federal-prison era, the tower still operates inside Golden Gate NRA.", "facts": [ [ "Source grade for the date", "exact day from lighthousefriends.com (citing Lighthouse Board annual reports; primary report not directly examined); 'first on the West Coast' corroborated by NPS (nps.gov/alca history page: 'first lighthouse on the West Coast') and by a primary federal source, Annual Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses FY1915, which exhibits 'the first lens used on the Pacific coast at Alcatraz, Cal., in 1854.' Fort Point's 1853 building was structurally finished earlier but was demolished unlit, and the next lights (Point Pinos Feb. 1855, Fort Point Mar. 1855) followed Alcatraz - lighthousefriends' Fort Point page calls Fort Point 'the third lighthouse to be activated on the west coast,' consistent with Alcatraz first." ], [ "First lit", "June 1, 1854 — the first lighthouse lighted on the US Pacific coast. Grade: exact day from lighthousefriends.com (citing Lighthouse Board annual reports; primary report not directly examined); 'first on the West Coast' corroborated by NPS (nps.gov/alca history page: 'first lighthouse on the West Coast') and by a primary federal source, Annual Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses FY1915, which exhibits 'the first lens used on the Pacific coast at Alcatraz, Cal., in 1854.' Fort Point's 1853 building was structurally finished earlier but was demolished unlit, and the next lights (Point Pinos Feb. 1855, Fort Point Mar. 1855) followed Alcatraz - lighthousefriends' Fort Point page calls Fort Point 'the third lighthouse to be activated on the west coast,' consistent with Alcatraz first." ], [ "Structures", "1) 1852-54: Cape Cod-style dwelling with central tower, one of the Gibbons & Kelly contract lighthouses; completed by July 1853, lit June 1, 1854 (fixed 3rd-order lens). 2) 1909: 84-ft gray octagonal pyramidal reinforced-concrete tower with attached keepers' dwelling, built after 1906 earthquake damage and cell-house construction; light moved to the new tower December 1, 1909 (primary: Notice to Mariners, 12th District, Dec. 2, 1909, printed in San Francisco Call, Dec. 3, 1909, p. 15: 'on December 1, 1909, the light at this station was moved to and established in the new tower')." ], [ "Optic", "Original: fixed third-order Fresnel, 1854 (USCG Historian). 1902: revolving two-panel fourth-order Fresnel, white flash every 15s (lighthousefriends). Modern: rotating aerobeacon, Fl W 5s (Light List 2025)." ], [ "Why built", "To mark the harbor entrance anchorage inside the Golden Gate for the Gold Rush shipping boom; among the first eight Pacific coast lighthouses authorized by Congress 1850-52 (contract context: lighthousefriends citing LHB records; USCG Historian)." ], [ "Automated", "November 22, 1963 (lighthousefriends; USCG Historian gives 1963). Last civilian keeper Edward Schneider retired 1959 (lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never - continuously active; 1909 tower remains an active aid (Light List 2025, LLNR 4315)." ], [ "Fate", "1854 lighthouse damaged in the April 18, 1906 earthquake and demolished after the 1909 tower took over (USCG Historian; lighthousefriends). The 1909 tower stands; island NRHP-listed June 23, 1976 (#76000209) and NHL January 17, 1986; NPS (Golden Gate NRA) manages the island, USCG maintains the light." ], [ "NRHP", "Contributing to Alcatraz Island, NRHP #76000209 (listed 1976-06-23); NHL designated 1986-01-17 (Wikipedia cross-check of NRIS; not independently pulled from NPGallery)." ], [ "Keeper", "Station log for April 18, 1906, quoted by lighthousefriends: '5:30 A.M. violent and continuous earthquake - San Francisco on fire - is this the end of the world?' First keeper Michael Cassin/Kassin at $1,100/yr (lighthousefriends, citing service records)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "USCG Light List Vol. VI (2025), LLNR 4315: 37-49-34.424N 122-25-19.710W (current 1909 tower)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] Notice to Mariners, Office of the US Lighthouse Inspector, 12th District, Dec. 2, 1909, printed in San Francisco Call, Dec. 3, 1909, p. 15 (light moved to new tower Dec. 1, 1909; gray octagonal concrete tower; 214 ft above water)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn85066387/1909-12-03/ed-1/?sp=15" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses, FY1915 (GPO, 1915) - 'the first lens used on the Pacific coast at Alcatraz, Cal., in 1854'", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_B2dYAAAAYAAJ" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List, Vol. VI, Pacific Coast (2025), LLNR 4315", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, Historic Light Station Information - California: Alcatraz Island Light (archived 2010)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2010/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[S] NPS, Alcatraz Island - History & Culture ('first lighthouse on the West Coast')", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.nps.gov/alca/learn/historyculture/index.htm" }, { "citation": "lighthousefriends.com, Alcatraz Island Lighthouse (cites LHB annual reports)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=74" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1852" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "There were no lights or other aids to navigation at that time in the harbors or bays on the Pacific coast of the United States.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1857, p. 229" }, { "text": "376 | Alcatraz | On the island in the harbor of San Francisco, Cal. ... | F. ... 14 | White. | 36 | 166 | [+ 3] | 1854 | ... | Fog-bell, struck by machinery. This light can be seen 12 miles outside of the Heads.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1858, p. 482-483" }, { "text": "Alcatraz island .......... do ............. 15,000 00", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1852, p. 95 (Table A)" }, { "text": "The latest reports on the subject announce the completion of the light-house towers on Alcatraz island, and at Fort Point, Bay of San Francisco, Point Pinas, (Monterey,) and on the Farrallones island.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1853, p. 191" }, { "text": "By the last account from San Francisco, it appears that the officer charged with setting up the illuminating apparatus has not been able to procure competent persons to perform that service at the Alcatraz light", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1853, p. 192" }, { "text": "Fog-bells are under construction for Point Conception, Fort Point, Alcatraz island, and mouth of the Columbia river.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1855, p. 268" }, { "text": "Fog-bells have been placed at Point Conception, Farralones, Fort Point, Alcatraz island, and Cape Hancock light-houses.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1856, p. 603" }, { "text": "At Alcatraz some needful but inexpensive renovations were made.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1867, p. 237" }, { "text": "370. Alcatras. — On examining this station quite extensive repairs were found necessary, and have been accordingly made, viz: The gallery floor and its iron fastening have been taken up; the brick-work of the tower, from where it passes through the roof of the keeper's dwelling, has been repointed; a coat of cement has been given to the coping of the tower; a new gallery floor has been laid; the boiler iron covering of the lower part of the lantern has been removed, straightened and refitted, the glass-work of the lantern reset, chimneys repointed and plastered; the tower has received a coat of mortar; a drain for the cellar has been constructed.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1868, p. 388" }, { "text": "29. Alcatraz Fog-Signal Station, San Francisco Bay, California.—This new fog-signal station, established on the northern end of the island, consists of a small frame structure for housing the clockwork striking apparatus, with a 3,000-pound fog bell mounted in front.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1901, p. pp. 197–198 (p. 197 image-verified)" } ], "notes": "The June 1, 1854 day rests on secondary works quoting the Lighthouse Board's 1854 annual report, which I could not open directly this session (Hathi/Google Books blocked); the 'first on the Pacific coast' claim is independently supported by the FY1915 Commissioner's report (primary) and NPS. USCG Historian's tower height (84 ft) vs lighthousefriends (90 ft) differ; Light List focal plane 214 ft above water per the 1909 notice. Also known as: Alcatraz Lighthouse, Alcatraces Island Light (period spelling). ⚠ The \"first on the Pacific coast\" claim belongs to the secondary literature, not to the Light-House Board. The Board's own printed Light List in its 1858 report (pp. 482-483, \"When built\") gives BOTH Alcatraz and Point Pinos as 1854 and does not rank them; what the Board does state (1857, p. 229) is that before it took charge in 1852 there were no aids of any kind on this coast.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/alcatraz-island-light.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office; U.S. Lighthouse Society Lighthouse Research Catalog (node 88739) · undated in the record; the 1854 tower shown was demolished in 1909, so the photograph predates 1909", "alt": "Alcatraz Island Light" }, "symbol": "lhhouse" }, { "id": "fort-point-light", "name": "Fort Point Light", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-first", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 37.81049, -122.47693 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1855", "display": "March 1855", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1855, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "sf-bay", "summary": "Fort Point ran through three lighthouses in eleven years: the 1853 contract tower was torn down unlit to make way for the brick fort, its 1855 wooden replacement was lit in March 1855 as the third light on the coast, and an iron nine-sided tower rose over the fort's stairwell in 1863-64 when the seawall forced another demolition. The Golden Gate Bridge finally made the station redundant, and the light was extinguished on September 1, 1934. The little iron tower survives on the fort, now a National Historic Site.", "facts": [ [ "Source grade for the date", "lighthousefriends (\"In March 1855, the light from a fifth-order Fresnel lens... was exhibited for the first time, making it the third lighthouse to be activated on the west coast\"); USCG Historian gives 'Date built 1853' for the never-lit first tower." ], [ "First lit", "March 1855 (second tower; commonly given as March 21, 1855 - day not independently verified). Grade: lighthousefriends (\"In March 1855, the light from a fifth-order Fresnel lens... was exhibited for the first time, making it the third lighthouse to be activated on the west coast\"); USCG Historian gives 'Date built 1853' for the never-lit first tower." ], [ "Structures", "1) 1852-53 Gibbons & Kelly tower, complete 1853 but demolished before its lens arrived to clear the site for Fort Winfield Scott (its intended third-order lens went to Point Pinos - lighthousefriends). 2) 1855: 36-ft wooden tower between fort and seawall, lit March 1855; demolished 1863 for seawall work (USCG Historian). 3) 1863-64: 27-ft nine-sided iron-plate tower on the fort's northwest stair tower, focal plane ~83-110 ft; USCG Historian dates the present tower 1864, lighthousefriends 1863." ], [ "Optic", "First tower: none installed. Second: fifth-order Fresnel (lighthousefriends). Third: fourth-order Fresnel (USCG Historian); lens changes 1878, 1903, 1912 (lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Why built", "To mark the south side of the Golden Gate itself for vessels running the narrows (USCG Historian; lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Automated", "Never automated - discontinued instead." ], [ "Deactivated", "September 1, 1934, because Golden Gate Bridge construction (and the bridge itself) obstructed and superseded the light (USCG Historian: 'Deactivated in 1934'; lighthousefriends: \"On September 1, 1934, Fort Point Lighthouse ceased operation\")." ], [ "Fate", "Iron tower still stands atop Fort Point, restored by NPS; within Fort Point National Historic Site (established 1970), NRHP #70000146 (USCG Historian)." ], [ "NRHP", "Part of Fort Point National Historic Site, NRHP #70000146, listed 1970 (per USCG Historian's entry; nomination not separately pulled)." ], [ "Keeper", "James Rankin, keeper 1878-1919 (~41 years), credited with saving 18 lives at the fort's treacherous waterfront; the USCG later named keeper-class buoy tender WLM-555 'James Rankin' for him (lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "GNIS feature 'Fort Point' (gaz_id 223701), USGS geonames service; the third tower stands on the fort's stair tower at this point" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, Historic Light Station Information - California: Fort Point Light (archived 2010)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2010/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "lighthousefriends.com, Fort Point Lighthouse", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=75" }, { "citation": "[P] GNIS gaz_id 223701 (Fort Point), USGS geonames MapServer", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://carto.nationalmap.gov/arcgis/rest/services/geonames/MapServer" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1852" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "The small light authorized to be placed on Battery point is to serve as a mere harbor or range light, while this is to mark from seaward the entrance to the bay.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1852, p. 80" }, { "text": "The light-house authorized and built on Battery Point, Bay of San Francisco, having been taken down to make room for the works of fortification authorized by law at that point, an appropriation, it is believed, should be made for erecting a light of greater power than the one originally authorized for Battery Point, or Point Lobos, the outer entrance of the bay, and an estimate is accordingly submitted in list B.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1853, p. 197" }, { "text": "375 | Fort Point | On the south side of the entrance to the harbor of San Francisco, Cal. ... | F. | 12 | White, | 36 | 52 | [+ 5] | 1855 | ... | Fog-bell, struck by machinery.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1858, p. 482-483" }, { "text": "The progress of the fortification works at Fort Point, entrance to San Francisco bay, having rendered the removal of the light-house and fog-signal at that point imperatively necessary, steps have been taken to remove the light to a position over the stairway of the fort, and the fog-signal to a point outside the work near the two-gun battery. The work is now in progress, and the new tower, together with suitable quarters for the keepers, will, it is hoped, soon be completed.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1863, p. 159" }, { "text": "At Fort Point, the fog-bell was taken from its original position on a framework in front of the fort and hung on an angle of the fort facing seaward. Slight repairs have been made to the dwelling.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1867, p. 237" }, { "text": "458. Fort Point, entrance to San Francisco Harbor, California. — A bridge has been built from the bluff near the keeper's dwelling to the fort on which the light and fog-bell are placed. Formerly the keepers were compelled to go from the dwelling down steep stairs and up through the fort in order to get to the tower or fog-signal, a very dangerous task during dark and stormy nights.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1876, p. 793" }, { "text": "The present Fort Point fog-signal, a bell struck by machinery, has long been complained of as inadequate, both in position and power. It is proposed to replace it with a second-class Daboll trumpet, blown by compressed air, and to place it on the top of the northwest bastion of Fort Winfield Scott, Fort Point, California, which will bring it directly over the present location of the bell. It is estimated that this can be done for not exceeding $7,000, and it is recommended that an appropriation of this amount be made therefor. The importance of this aid to navigation can not be urged too strongly. The bell can be heard only over a very limited area, frequently not at all until abreast of the fort. An efficient signal should be heard considerably to seaward to give warning of the approach to the vicinity of Fort Point Shoal. The recent disaster to the steamer Rio de Janeiro on this reef, involving a loss of over 100 lives, might not have occurred if an efficient signal had been in operation here.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1901, p. p. 196 (image-verified)" } ], "notes": "Iron tower's exact first-lit date (1863 vs 1864) unresolved between USCG Historian and lighthousefriends; March 21, 1855 day for tower two not verified in a primary. Keeper roster from USCG Historian page (Chesapeake Chapter USLHS research). Also known as: Fort Winfield Scott Light.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/fort-point-light.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office; U.S. Lighthouse Society Lighthouse Research Catalog (node 89887) · undated", "alt": "Fort Point Light" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "point-bonita-light", "name": "Point Bonita Light", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-first", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 37.81559, -122.52953 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1855", "display": "May 2, 1855", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1855, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "sf-bay", "summary": "Point Bonita's 1855 lighthouse was built too high: at 306 feet its second-order light sat above the fog it was meant to pierce, so in 1877 the Service tunneled through the headland and re-erected the lantern on the wave-cut outer point, where it was relit on February 1, 1877. The station pioneered west coast fog signaling with an army cannon fired from 1855. Automated in 1980 and last staffed in 1981, it remains an active light within Golden Gate NRA, reached by its 1954 suspension bridge.", "facts": [ [ "Source grade for the date", "lighthousefriends (first keeper Edward Colston lit it May 2, 1855; \"The new lighthouse went into operation on February 1, 1877\"), citing LHB reports; NPS confirms 'since 1855'; USCG Historian gives est. 1855 / current tower 1877." ], [ "First lit", "May 2, 1855 (original upper site, 306 ft elevation); relocated light first shown February 1, 1877 at the outer, lower point. Grade: lighthousefriends (first keeper Edward Colston lit it May 2, 1855; \"The new lighthouse went into operation on February 1, 1877\"), citing LHB reports; NPS confirms 'since 1855'; USCG Historian gives est. 1855 / current tower 1877." ], [ "Structures", "1) 1855 brick tower at 306 ft, too often above the fog. 2) 1877: the lantern and second-order lens moved to the present low tower at the point's tip, reached through a 118-ft hand-cut tunnel (1876) and, since 1954, a suspension footbridge (USCG Historian; lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Optic", "Second-order Fresnel, 1855, transferred to the 1877 tower and still in place (USCG Historian: \"Original Lens: Second Order Fresnel, 1877\"; lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Why built", "To mark the north head of the Golden Gate approach, where fog and the bar concentrated wrecks; site of the coast's first fog signal, an army 24-pounder cannon; the Lighthouse Service's own later account dates the first firing to August 1855, while the Board's 1874 fog-signal appendix says the notice took effect 8 August 1856 — the sources conflict (lighthousefriends; the FY1915 Commissioner's report exhibited 'the old cannon used from 1855 to 1857 at Point Bonita, Cal., being the first fog signal on the Pacific coast')." ], [ "Automated", "1980 (USCG Historian; Wikipedia); last head keeper left April 1981 (lighthousefriends) - the last staffed lighthouse on the California coast." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never - active aid, Oc W 4s (Light List 2025)." ], [ "Fate", "Standing; part of Golden Gate NRA, operated for visitation by NPS with USCG maintaining the light; suspension bridge closed for repairs as of 2024-26 (NPS page)." ], [ "NRHP", "NRHP #91001099, listed September 3, 1991 (Wikipedia citing NRIS; nomination not pulled)." ], [ "Keeper", "Fog-gun tender Sgt. Edward Maloney's 1855 plea, quoted from Lighthouse Board records by lighthousefriends: \"I cannot find any person here to relieve me not 5 minutes. I have been up 3 days and nights had only 2 hours rest.\"" ], [ "Coordinate source", "USCG Light List Vol. VI (2025), LLNR 4220: 37-48-56.132N 122-31-46.321W; matches NRHP/Wikipedia 37°48'56\"N 122°31'46\"W" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List, Vol. VI (2025), LLNR 4220", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses FY1915 (Point Bonita cannon = first Pacific coast fog signal, used 1855-1857)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_B2dYAAAAYAAJ" }, { "citation": "[P] The Fogs and Fog Signals of the Pacific Coast of the United States (pub. for the Light-House Board, 1888) - Bonita siren service table", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/fogsfogsignalsof00clarrich" }, { "citation": "[S] NPS, Point Bonita Lighthouse (GOGA)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.nps.gov/goga/pobo.htm" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page: Point Bonita (archived 2010)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2010/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "lighthousefriends.com, Point Bonita Lighthouse; Wikipedia, Point Bonita Light (NRHP #91001099)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=76" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1852" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "In California. — For a light-house to be placed on Point Boneta, San Francisco, $25,000.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1852, p. 80" }, { "text": "During the past year, the light-house at Point Bonita has been erected and the light exhibited.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1855, p. 268" }, { "text": "374 | POINT BONITA | On the point north side of the entrance to San Francisco bay, Cal. ... | F. | 24 | White. | 45 | 306 | [+ 2] | 1855 | ... | Low brick tower rising from keeper's dwelling. Fog-bell struck by machinery.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1858, p. 482-483" }, { "text": "Guns have been employed on the United States coast, first under the direction of General Bates, engineer of the twelfth district, at Point Bonita, San Francisco Bay, California. The gun at this station consisted of a 24-pounder, furnished by the War Department. The necessary arrangements being made, by the construction of a powder-house, and laying of a platform, and employment of a gunner, notice to mariners was given that after the 8th of August, 1856, a signal-gun would be fired every hour and half hour, night and day, during foggy or thick weather.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1874, p. 689 (Appendix on fog-signals, by Joseph Henry)" }, { "text": "411. Point Bonita, entrance to San Francisco Harbor, California. — An appropriation for the establishment of a first-class steam fog-signal at this point was made March 3, 1871. The structure was completed, the machinery placed in position, and the signal, a syren, was put in operation May 29, 1872.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1872, p. 547" }, { "text": "The light at Point Bonita is 306 feet above the sea. At this height the light is very frequently obscured by a light haze or fog, when at the steam fog-signal there is no fog or haze. Pilots, steamship captains, and others frequently report passing Point Bonita without seeing the light... A good light on this point is very necessary, it being at the entrance of San Francisco Bay and harbor, and an appropriation of $25,000 is asked for moving the present Point Bonita light house to this point.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1875, p. 791" } ], "notes": "May 2, 1855 day and Feb. 1, 1877 day are secondary/tertiary quoting LHB reports; NPS page gives fog-signal sequence cannon > bell > 1874 steam siren, while the 1888 LHB fog study tabulates the (relocated) Bonita siren at '12 years 0 months' as of July 1888 - siren chronology has minor source variance. Also known as: Point Bonito Light (19th-c. variant).", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/point-bonita-light.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office; U.S. Lighthouse Society Lighthouse Research Catalog (node 91429) · undated", "alt": "Point Bonita Light" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "lime-point-light-fog-signal-station", "name": "Lime Point Light (Fog Signal Station)", "type": "fog-signal station", "layer": "era-expansion", "radius": 5, "coords": [ 37.82545, -122.47829 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1883", "display": "Established as a steam fog-signal station September 10, 1883", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1883, "last": null }, "station_type": "fog-signal station", "status": "gone — site only", "region": "sf-bay", "summary": "Lime Point began in September 1883 as a pure fog-signal station, its twin steam whistles answering Fort Point across the narrowest reach of the Golden Gate. A modest lens-lantern hung on the signal building's gallery from November 1900 gave it a light, but it was always a keeper-run fog station first. De-staffed and automated in 1961, when its dwellings were razed, the brick signal house still carries an active light at the foot of the bridge's north tower.", "facts": [ [ "Source grade for the date", "lighthousefriends citing LHB reports; corroborated for 1883 by the primary 1888 LHB fog study, which tabulates Lime Point's signal at '4 years, 10 months' in operation as of July 1, 1888; USCG Historian: established 1883, tower first lit 1900." ], [ "First lit", "Established as a steam fog-signal station September 10, 1883 (no light); lens-lantern light added November 26, 1900. Grade: lighthousefriends citing LHB reports; corroborated for 1883 by the primary 1888 LHB fog study, which tabulates Lime Point's signal at '4 years, 10 months' in operation as of July 1, 1888; USCG Historian: established 1883, tower first lit 1900." ], [ "Structures", "One-story brick fog-signal building with twin 12-inch steam whistles at the water's edge under the bluff, plus a two-story keepers' duplex (1883); a small light was mounted on the fog-signal building's gallery in 1900 (lighthousefriends; USCG Historian describes the 'square brick tower... mounted on the wall of fog signal building')." ], [ "Optic", "Lens lantern, fixed white, from 1900 (lighthousefriends; USCG Historian - original lens field blank)." ], [ "Why built", "To mark the north pillar of the Golden Gate in fog; the Board preferred Lime Point because a ship fixing that position 'can lay a straight course either to the city or to the sea' (Board rationale as quoted by lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Automated", "July 1961 (lighthousefriends; USCG Historian gives 1961)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Station de-staffed 1961; a light remains active on a post at the site (Fl W 4s, Light List 2025) directly beneath the Golden Gate Bridge's north tower." ], [ "Fate", "Keeper dwellings and outbuildings demolished after 1961; the small brick fog-signal building survives at the water's edge (USCG Historian; lighthousefriends). In June 1960 the freighter India Bear struck the site's causeway area in fog (lighthousefriends)." ], [ "NRHP", "None found individually; within Golden Gate NRA lands (not verified as contributing)." ], [ "Keeper", "Keeper John McKenna died in 1902 after a fall onto the rocks; keeper Peter C. Nelson served ~28 years and was himself pulled from the bay by his assistant and Fort Baker soldiers in April 1913 (lighthousefriends, citing Sausalito News 1902 and San Francisco Call 1913)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "USCG Light List Vol. VI (2025), LLNR 4270: 37-49-31.622N 122-28-41.834W (modern light on post at the old station site); GNIS 227105 for the point: 37.82632, -122.47915" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] The Fogs and Fog Signals of the Pacific Coast (LHB, 1888) - Lime Point signal '4 yrs 10 mo' as of July 1888", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/fogsfogsignalsof00clarrich" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI (2025), LLNR 4270", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page: Lime Point Light (archived 2010)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2010/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "lighthousefriends.com, Lime Point Lighthouse (cites LHB annual reports, Sausalito News, SF Call)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=146" } ], "tags": [], "notes": "Exact 1883 and 1900 dates are tertiary-quoting-primary; 1883 season independently supported by the 1888 fog study's service table. Also known as: Lime Point Fog Signal Station.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/lime-point-light-fog-signal-station.jpg", "credit": "National Archives (RG 26, negative 26-LG-64-59); U.S. Lighthouse Society Lighthouse Research Catalog (node 90019) · undated (the record's sibling image is dated 1891)", "alt": "Lime Point Light (Fog Signal Station)" }, "symbol": "beacon" }, { "id": "mile-rocks-light", "name": "Mile Rocks Light", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-buildout", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 37.79283, -122.51039 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1906", "display": "February 15, 1906", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1906, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "building survives, moved", "region": "sf-bay", "summary": "The loss of the City of Rio de Janeiro in the fog off Fort Point in February 1901 pushed Congress to fund a lighthouse on Mile Rocks, a pair of wave-washed rocks a mile off Lands End. Crews working from a schooner bolted a steel-cased caisson to the larger rock and stacked a three-tier steel tower above it, lighting it on February 15, 1906. In 1965-66 the Coast Guard decapitated the tower for a helipad and automated the light, which still flashes from the surviving base.", "facts": [ [ "Source grade for the date", "lighthousefriends (citing LHB reports); USCG Historian: 'completed in 1906.'" ], [ "First lit", "February 15, 1906. Grade: lighthousefriends (citing LHB reports); USCG Historian: 'completed in 1906.'" ], [ "Structures", "Three-tiered steel tower ('the steel wedding cake') on a concrete-filled, steel-jacketed caisson base on the larger Mile Rock (rock only ~40x30 ft at high water); foundation work by contractor James A. McMahon's crews from September 1904 after an earlier crew quit on seeing the rock (lighthousefriends; USCG Historian: 1,500 tons of steel and concrete in the base)." ], [ "Optic", "Third-order Fresnel, 1906 (lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Why built", "Direct response to the wreck of the Pacific Mail steamer City of Rio de Janeiro on Fort Point Ledge, February 22, 1901, with 128 of ~210 aboard lost — usually described as the deadliest wreck in San Francisco Bay's history; Congress appropriated $100,000 on June 28, 1902 (lighthousefriends; USCG Historian recounts the Rio wreck, though its page misprints the wreck date as Feb. 2)." ], [ "Automated", "1965-66: upper two tiers removed, replaced by a helipad, light automated (lighthousefriends: work begun August 1965, $110,000; USCG Historian: \"In 1966, the tower was removed, and the light automated\")." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never - active, Fl W 5s on the cut-down orange-and-white caisson (Light List 2025)." ], [ "Fate", "Truncated base tier remains as an automated light/helipad; the removed tiers were scrapped. No NRHP listing found." ], [ "NRHP", "None found." ], [ "Keeper", "A wave-swept 'stag' station - keepers ascended by ladder and boom from a heaving boat; construction accounts note waves broke over the rock nearly every day of the year (USCG Historian)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "USCG Light List Vol. VI (2025), LLNR 4245: 37-47-34.171N 122-30-37.405W" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI (2025), LLNR 4245", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page: Mile Rocks Light (archived 2010)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2010/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "lighthousefriends.com, Mile Rocks Lighthouse", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=77" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "28. Mile Rocks, southern side of channel, entrance to San Francisco Bay, California.—Contracts were made for building the concrete and steel substructure and also for the steel superstructure of the station. Work under the first contract was commenced in August, 1904, when a working party landed on the rock and commenced preparing it, by cutting and blasting, to receive the foundations of the building. In September, 1904, a schooner fitted as quarters for the workmen and for the storage of materials was moored close to the rock, but during a heavy blow she dragged her moorings and barely escaped being wrecked. ... The work was difficult and hazardous during its early stages, and proceeded slowly on account of the exposed position of Mile Rocks, directly in the entrance to San Francisco Harbor, where it is subjected to all the violence of the sea. There was hardly a day during the year on which at some time the waves did not break over the rock. There were many days when no landing could be effected and many others when the party, after landing, was driven off with only a few hours of work accomplished. On several occasions it was necessary to call upon the neighboring life-saving crews to take the men off the rock. A full day of eight hours passed upon the rock was exceptional until after the substructure was completed in June, 1905. This consists of a monolith of concrete inclosed within steel plates resting on the rock at the level of mean high water. It is elliptical in plan, covering 704 square feet, and has a height of 34 feet; 1,006 barrels of cement, furnished by the Government, were used in the work.", "cite": "Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, FY1905 (Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor: 1905; Report of the Light-House Board, Twelfth District), p. 244-245" }, { "text": "28. Mile Rocks, southern side of channel, entrance to San Francisco Bay, California.—Plans and specifications were prepared and bids were asked. Those for the substructure were opened on May 19, and those for the superstructure on June 8, 1904, and the contracts were made for both.", "cite": "Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, FY1904 (Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, 1904; Report of the Light-House Board, Twelfth District), p. 277" }, { "text": "27. Mile Rocks, entrance to Golden Gate, San Francisco Bay, California.—Two derricks for receiving supplies on the east and west sides of the station were installed. A covered boat hoist was erected on the Presidio wharf for caring for the keepers' boat when they are ashore. The storage for oil for operating the oil engines was replaced with ten 144-gallon range boilers, various repairs were made.", "cite": "Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, FY1907 (Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, 1907; Report of the Light-House Board, Twelfth District), p. 601" } ], "notes": "First-lit day is tertiary-quoting-primary; no primary notice pulled this session. USCG page's 'Feb 2, 1901' wreck date is an error against the standard Feb. 22, 1901 (used by lighthousefriends and the historical literature). Also known as: Mile Rock Lighthouse.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/mile-rocks-light.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office · 1962", "alt": "Mile Rocks Light" }, "symbol": "lighthouse" }, { "id": "point-diablo-light", "name": "Point Diablo Light", "type": "minor light", "layer": "era-modern", "radius": 4, "coords": [ 37.82012, -122.49946 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1923", "display": "1923", "confidence": "year" }, "active": { "first": 1923, "last": null }, "station_type": "minor light", "status": "standing", "region": "sf-bay", "summary": "Point Diablo, the dark mid-point of the Golden Gate's northern shore, received a minor light and electric fog siren in 1923, installed in a small white signal house rather than a full station. It was an early experiment in remote operation: the keepers at Lime Point monitored it over wire and rowed or drove over weekly to service it. The automated light still shows an isophase white flash below the Marin headlands.", "facts": [ [ "Source grade for the date", "secondary only (lighthousefriends, drawing on Nelson & Nelson, Umbrella Guide to California Lighthouses 1993); no USCG Historian entry and no primary located this session." ], [ "First lit", "1923. Grade: secondary only (lighthousefriends, drawing on Nelson & Nelson, Umbrella Guide to California Lighthouses 1993); no USCG Historian entry and no primary located this session." ], [ "Structures", "Small white frame fog-signal house ('white square house' in the Light List) on the point midway between Point Bonita and Lime Point; never a staffed dwelling station - a minor light and siren wired to and monitored by the Lime Point (later Point Bonita) keepers by telephone/electric line, visited weekly (lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Optic", "Two lens lanterns originally; modern solar beacon, Iso W 6s (lighthousefriends; Light List 2025)." ], [ "Why built", "The Lighthouse Service called the point 'a dangerous menace to vessels entering San Francisco Bay in foggy weather' (Service characterization as quoted by lighthousefriends); it fills the dark sector between Bonita and Lime Point inside the north Gate shore." ], [ "Automated", "Semi-automatic from establishment (remotely monitored); fully automatic in the automation era (date not established)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never - active light and fog signal (Light List 2025, LLNR 4250)." ], [ "Fate", "Small structure stands on USCG/GGNRA land; closed to the public." ], [ "NRHP", "None found." ], [ "Coordinate source", "USCG Light List Vol. VI (2025), LLNR 4250: 37-49-12.438N 122-29-58.057W; GNIS 230851 (Point Diablo): 37.82049, -122.49999" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI (2025), LLNR 4250", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "lighthousefriends.com, Point Diablo Lighthouse (drawing on Nelson & Nelson 1993)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=342" }, { "citation": "[P] GNIS gaz_id 230851 (Point Diablo)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://carto.nationalmap.gov/arcgis/rest/services/geonames/MapServer" } ], "tags": [], "notes": "Establishment year 1923 rests on secondary sources only; the Bureau of Lighthouses FY1923 annual report would confirm and should be checked when accessible. Station never on the USCG Historian California page.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/point-diablo-light.jpg", "credit": "Frank Schulenburg / Wikimedia Commons · 2014-09-21 (modern view)", "alt": "Point Diablo Light" }, "symbol": "beacon" }, { "id": "yerba-buena-island-light-and-12th-district-lighthouse-depot", "name": "Yerba Buena Island Light (and 12th District Lighthouse Depot)", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-expansion", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 37.8073, -122.3622 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1875", "display": "October 1, 1875", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1875, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "sf-bay", "summary": "Lit on October 1, 1875, the small octagonal tower on Yerba Buena (then Goat) Island marked the crossroads of bay traffic, and shared its island with the 12th Lighthouse District's depot, moved there in 1873, from which tenders supplied every light and buoy on this coast. Its borrowed fifth-order Sautter lens gave way to a fourth-order in 1912; keepers left at automation in 1958. Light and dwelling survive inside the Coast Guard base beneath the Bay Bridge.", "facts": [ [ "Source grade for the date", "tertiary quoting primary. The FY1915 Commissioner's report (primary) lists the station as 'Goat Island, Cal.'" ], [ "First lit", "October 1, 1875 (\"The light and fog signal were placed in operation on October 1, 1875\" - lighthousefriends, citing LHB annual reports; first keeper H.D. Tuttle). Grade: tertiary quoting primary. The FY1915 Commissioner's report (primary) lists the station as 'Goat Island, Cal.'" ], [ "Structures", "Octagonal wooden tower (1874-75) with separate Victorian keeper's dwelling on the island's southeast slope; fog bell then 10-inch steam whistle (1875), type 'C' diaphone from 1934. Adjacent: the 12th Lighthouse District depot, established 1873 on the island's southeast side (relocated from Mare Island per lighthousefriends), which serviced the district's tenders, buoys, and later lightships." ], [ "Optic", "Fifth-order L. Sautter & Co. Fresnel (transferred from the discontinued Yaquina Bay light); upgraded to fourth-order in 1912 (lighthousefriends). Modern: Oc W 4s (Light List 2025)." ], [ "Why built", "Mid-bay traffic mark for ferries and shipping working between the city, Oakland, and the upper bay; co-located with the district's supply depot (lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Automated", "1958, personnel withdrawn (lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never - active aid (Light List 2025, LLNR 4595)." ], [ "Fate", "Tower and dwelling stand on the Coast Guard's Yerba Buena Island reservation; the Victorian dwelling has served as the quarters of the district/area USCG admiral (lighthousefriends). The depot site became USCG Base Yerba Buena; the 1971 East Brother NRHP nomination notes bay aids were to be run from a console on Yerba Buena." ], [ "NRHP", "Listed 3 September 1991, reference 91001096, under the Light Stations of California multiple-property submission (as Yerba Buena Island Lighthouse; also Goat Island Lighthouse)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "USCG Light List Vol. VI (2025), LLNR 4595: 37-48-26.287N 122-21-43.932W" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI (2025), LLNR 4595", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses FY1915 - station listed as 'Goat Island, Cal.'", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_B2dYAAAAYAAJ" }, { "citation": "lighthousefriends.com, Yerba Buena Lighthouse (cites LHB annual reports)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=71" }, { "citation": "[P] NRHP nomination, East Brother Island Light Station (1971) - notes planned central control of bay aids from Yerba Buena Island", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/71000138_text" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1874" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "446. Yerba Buena, San Francisco Bay, California. — The fog-bell recently in use at Point Conception light-station, California, has been put in position here, and is operated by a Stevens clock apparatus. Congress at its last session made an appropriation of $10,000 for the establishment of a light-house and fog-signal on the southeastern extremity of this island; an examination for the purpose of selecting a proper site for the light-house has been made.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1874, p. 682" }, { "text": "448. Yerba Buena Island, San Francisco Harbor, California. — The keeper's dwelling and tower have been completed, excepting the putting up of the lantern and illuminating apparatus. When the apparatus is received it will be immediately put in place on the tower. The lens formerly in use at Yaquina light-station, Oregon, will be used at this station, and the light can be exhibited on or about the 15th of September. Congress, at its last session, appropriated $5,000 for establishing a steam fog-signal at this station. The work was commenced in June, and is nearly completed. The signal will be put in operation on the 1st of October.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1875, p. 791" }, { "text": "Yerba Buena | On southeastern extremity of Yerba Buena Island, San Francisco Bay, California. | October 1, 1875.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1876, p. 749" }, { "text": "460. Yerba Buena Island, San Francisco Bay, California. — The steam fog-signal mentioned in the last annual report as being nearly completed was put in operation October 1, 1875.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1876, p. 794" } ], "notes": "Depot's 1873 establishment and 'relocated from Mare Island' rest on lighthousefriends; the depot deserves confirmation in LHB reports (a documented depot existed at YBI into the 20th c. - the 1971 NRHP text corroborates its console/ops role). The USCG Historian California page has no YBI entry. Also known as: Goat Island Light (official listing name while the island was 'Goat Island,' to 1931).", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/yerba-buena-island-light-and-12th-district-lighthouse-depot.jpg", "credit": "National Archives (RG 26, negative 26-LG-67-45); U.S. Lighthouse Society Lighthouse Research Catalog (node 94980) · undated", "alt": "Yerba Buena Island Light (and 12th District Lighthouse Depot)" }, "symbol": "lhhouse" }, { "id": "oakland-harbor-light", "name": "Oakland Harbor Light", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-buildout", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 37.7955, -122.332 ], "coord_precision": "area", "date": { "iso": "1890", "display": "First lighthouse activated January 27, 1890", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1890, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "building survives, moved", "region": "sf-bay", "summary": "Oakland's harbor entrance got its first lighthouse in January 1890, a wooden pile-borne dwelling whose foundations teredo worms ruined within a decade; a sturdier successor on steel cylinders took over on July 11, 1903. Deactivated in 1966, the second lighthouse lost its lantern to Santa Cruz's surfing-museum lighthouse and was floated up the estuary, reopening in 1984 as Quinn's Lighthouse Restaurant in Embarcadero Cove.", "facts": [ [ "Source grade for the date", "lighthousefriends citing LHB annual reports and a Secretary of the Treasury letter; USCG Historian's entry (est. 1903) covers only the second building." ], [ "First lit", "First lighthouse activated January 27, 1890 (construction begun September 1889, accepted November 30, 1889); second lighthouse commenced operation July 11, 1903. Grade: lighthousefriends citing LHB annual reports and a Secretary of the Treasury letter; USCG Historian's entry (est. 1903) covers only the second building." ], [ "Structures", "1) 1890: wooden dwelling/tower on piles at the Oakland harbor entrance training walls (fifth-order lens); its pile foundation was condemned by 1902 ('its wooden pile foundation has deteriorated to such an extent as to render it liable to collapse at any time' - Treasury letter quoted by lighthousefriends). 2) 1903: larger square wooden dwelling with light, on concrete-filled steel cylinders ($19,000 appropriated June 28, 1902)." ], [ "Optic", "Fifth-order Fresnel (both structures; USCG Historian and lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Why built", "To guide the night ferries and coastal traffic into the jettied Oakland harbor entrance (local press eulogy of the first light, quoted by lighthousefriends: \"For many years this has been the guide of the night ferries\")." ], [ "Automated", "Replaced by an automatic beacon at deactivation in 1966 (Wikipedia; lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Deactivated", "1966 (Wikipedia; lighthousefriends; USCG Historian's '1966' - its 'relocated 1951' statement conflicts with the other sources and appears erroneous)." ], [ "Fate", "Lantern room removed to the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse, Santa Cruz; the 1903 building was barged ~6 miles to Embarcadero Cove and opened in 1984 as Quinn's Lighthouse Restaurant, which still occupies it (lighthousefriends; Wikipedia)." ], [ "NRHP", "None found." ], [ "Coordinate source", "No allowed published position located for the original harbor-entrance sites; the relocated 1903 building stands in Embarcadero Cove, Oakland (Wikipedia infobox 37.781335, -122.243817 - tertiary, offered as lead only)" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page: Oakland Harbor Light (archived 2010)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2010/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "lighthousefriends.com, Oakland Harbor Lighthouse (cites LHB reports, Lighthouse Service Bulletin, Shanks 1990, Nelsons 1993)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=72" }, { "citation": "Wikipedia, Oakland Harbor Light (deactivated 1966; Quinn's 1984)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_Harbor_Light" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "872, 873. Oakland Harbor, entrance to Oakland Harbor, California.—The Board decided to dispense with the inner red light, situated just outside the north training wall, about three fourths of a mile to the eastward of the outer white light, and to establish instead a red light on the southern side of the entrance, in the prolongation of the south jetty, about 240 feet outside its outer end. The beacon consists of 4 piles standing in 13 feet of water at low tide, surmounted by a square structure about 7 feet wide by 7 feet high.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1893, p. pp. 164–165 (OCR only)" }, { "text": "Oakland Harbor South Jetty, San Francisco Bay, California.—A lens-lantern light, September 15, 1893.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1894, p. p. 6, under 'NEW LIGHTS' (OCR only)" }, { "text": "889. Oakland Harbor, entrance to Oakland Harbor, California.—The stability of the piles supporting this structure was increased and further oscillation was prevented by filling the space under the building with 2,000 tons of stone. This was quarried on Goat Island and was transported to the station in schooners.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1894, p. p. 186 (OCR only)" } ], "notes": "Position NOT ESTABLISHED. No published latitude and longitude for either the 1890 or the 1903 structure was found; the 1889 Coast Pilot predates the station and the 1943 edition gives none. What the record does say is that the station stood on eleven piles off the end of the northern training wall, the two walls spaced 750 feet apart and running some two miles into the bay. This pin marks that approach, and should be read as an area with an uncertainty of about 1.5 km; an earlier version of this map cited a modern channel buoy as its anchor, which does not in fact produce this position. The 1903 building survives, moved about six miles to Embarcadero Cove. Also known as: Quinn's Lighthouse (relocated 1903 building).", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/oakland-harbor-light.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office · undated", "alt": "Oakland Harbor Light" }, "symbol": "lhhouse" }, { "id": "southampton-shoal-light", "name": "Southampton Shoal Light", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-buildout", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 37.88194, -122.40025 ], "coord_precision": "place", "date": { "iso": "1905", "display": "Late December 1905", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1905, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "building survives, moved", "region": "sf-bay", "summary": "Southampton Shoal received a cottage-style lighthouse on iron cylinders in December 1905, guarding the shoal on the run from the central bay toward San Pablo Bay. The 1906 earthquake racked its legs; braces and rock held it for another half-century of keepers until Point Blunt assumed its fog signal in 1960. In 1966 the wooden dwelling was barged to Tinsley Island in the delta as a yacht-club outstation, and an automated tower on the old site still marks the shoal.", "facts": [ [ "Source grade for the date", "tertiary quoting the period notice; USCG Historian: established/first lit 1905." ], [ "First lit", "Late December 1905 (the establishment notice quoted by lighthousefriends: 'a fixed white lens lantern light... will be established in the structure recently completed at this station,' with operation from about December 28, 1905). Grade: tertiary quoting the period notice; USCG Historian: established/first lit 1905." ], [ "Structures", "Two-story square wooden dwelling with pyramidal roof, dormers, and cylindrical lantern on a platform carried by eleven iron/concrete foundation cylinders driven into the shoal ($30,000 appropriated March 3, 1903; contract March 1905). The April 1906 earthquake tilted the cylinders up to eleven degrees, requiring cross-bracing and rock fill (lighthousefriends, citing LHB reports)." ], [ "Optic", "Fifth-order Fresnel; the lens is displayed at the Angel Island State Park interpretive center (USCG Historian; lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Why built", "To mark Southampton Shoal east of Angel Island on the fairway from San Francisco Bay toward San Pablo Bay and the Carquinez grain ports (USCG Historian; lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Automated", "Manning discontinued 1960, when Point Blunt's new watch room took over remote operation of the fog signal (USCG press release text on the Historian's Point Blunt entry)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Staffed station closed 1960; superstructure removed July 1966, replaced by the present automated tower (Iso R 6s, Light List 2025)." ], [ "Fate", "The two upper stories were craned off in July 1966 and barged up the San Joaquin to Tinsley Island, where the St. Francis Yacht Club maintains the building as a club station (lighthousefriends; USCG Historian says 'moved to Tinsley Island... part of the Saint Francis Yacht Club')." ], [ "NRHP", "None found." ], [ "Keeper", "The 1906 earthquake reached even this water station, tilting its legs eastward - reported through the Lighthouse Board's engineering correspondence (as summarized by lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "USCG Light List Vol. VI (2025), LLNR 5480 (modern cylindrical tower marking the shoal at/near the station site): 37-52-54.993N 122-24-00.892W; GNIS 235128 (Southampton Shoal): 37.89076, -122.40693" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI (2025), LLNR 5480", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page: Southampton Shoals Light (archived 2010)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2010/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "lighthousefriends.com, Southampton Shoal Lighthouse (cites LHB reports, The Keeper's Log Summer 1991)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=101" }, { "citation": "[P] GNIS gaz_id 235128 (Southampton Shoal)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://carto.nationalmap.gov/arcgis/rest/services/geonames/MapServer" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "The Board is of opinion that the interests of commerce and navigation demand the establishment of a fog bell and lens-lantern light on the southeast end of this shoal. It is proposed to build a frame dwelling for the keeper on iron piles, with gallery and bell house, the signal to be a 3,000-pound bell struck by a Stevens apparatus, the lens lantern to be exhibited from the corner of the gallery. It is estimated that the entire structure can be built for a sum not exceeding $30,000, and the Board recommends that an appropriation of this amount be made therefor.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1901, p. p. 197 (image-verified)" }, { "text": "46. Southampton Shoal, San Francisco Bay, California.—The act approved on March 3, 1903, appropriated $30,000 for establishing a light and fog-signal to mark the south end of the shoal. Plans and specifications were prepared.", "cite": "Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, FY1904 (Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, 1904; Report of the Light-House Board, Twelfth District), p. 279" }, { "text": "46. Southampton Shoal, San Francisco Bay, California.—The act approved on March 3, 1903, appropriated $30,000 for a light and fog-signal to mark the southern end of this shoal. A contract was made in March, 1905, to build a light-house consisting of a substructure of iron cylinders filled with concrete, carrying a platform of steel beams and concrete arches upon which will rest the frame dwelling, surmounted by a light tower. The eleven supporting cylinders are in place and the steel frame of the platform is in position.", "cite": "Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, FY1905 (Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor: 1905; Report of the Light-House Board, Twelfth District), p. 245" }, { "text": "No. 1. Fort Point fog-signal, Cal.—For the substitution of a first-class fog-signal to replace the present Daboll trumpet at the Fort Point light-station, Cal., $11,000. The present fog-signal at Fort Point, which is inadequate for this important station, is to be installed to replace the present bell fog-signal at Southampton Shoal light-station.", "cite": "Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, FY1910 (Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, 1910; Light-House Board recommendations, Group No. 3), p. 559" } ], "notes": "Exact first-lit day (Dec. 28, 1905) is from the period notice as reproduced by a tertiary source; the shoal-marking modern tower's position is published, but the 1905 structure's exact footprint versus the modern tower has not been separately verified. Also known as: Southampton Shoals Light (USCG spelling).", "photo": { "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20161218161354id_/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/southamptonshoals.JPG", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office · undated; Commons mirror of the same file states 'uncertain, but before 1960'", "alt": "Southampton Shoal Light" }, "symbol": "lhhouse" }, { "id": "east-brother-island-light-station", "name": "East Brother Island Light Station", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-expansion", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 37.96321, -122.43352 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1874", "display": "March 1, 1874; fog signal in operation May 1, 1874", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1874, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "standing", "region": "sf-bay", "summary": "Built in 1873-74 on a dynamited islet off Point San Pablo, East Brother lighted the strait between San Francisco and San Pablo Bays from March 1, 1874, its steam whistle following that May. The Victorian tower-dwelling, cistern, and fog-signal building survived earthquake, automation in 1969, and a demolition plan, becoming one of the first West Coast light stations rescued by NRHP listing. A nonprofit has operated it as an inn since 1980, with the light still flashing.", "facts": [ [ "Source grade for the date", "PRIMARY-adjacent - the NRHP nomination text (1971), drawing on the station file and LHB Annual Reports 1873-74: \"The light was exhibited for the first time on March 1st, and the fog signal was put in operation on May 1st of that year.\"" ], [ "First lit", "March 1, 1874; fog signal in operation May 1, 1874. Grade: PRIMARY-adjacent - the NRHP nomination text (1971), drawing on the station file and LHB Annual Reports 1873-74: \"The light was exhibited for the first time on March 1st, and the fog signal was put in operation on May 1st of that year.\"" ], [ "Structures", "Two-story Victorian ('Carpenter Gothic'/Stick style) combined tower-and-dwelling, fog-signal building, shop/storage building, wharf, water tank, and a blasted 30-ft-deep cistern, all on a leveled one-acre rock; built 1873-74 after Maj. George H. Elliott, Engineer Secretary of the Light-House Board, obtained the War Department's release of the easterly Brother island in February 1873 and Congress appropriated $30,000 (NRHP nomination). Design attributed to Lighthouse Board draftsman Paul J. Pelz (Wikipedia/Perry attribution; the nomination says only 'an East Coast lighthouse designer')." ], [ "Optic", "Fourth-order Fresnel; the original lens was cracked in the 1906 earthquake and replaced by a new Paris-made lens used until automation (NRHP nomination; USCG Historian: fourth order)." ], [ "Why built", "Mainland-site litigation being impracticable, the Board took the island to light San Pablo Strait - the narrow passage every vessel bound to Mare Island Navy Yard, Carquinez, and the river ports must thread (NRHP nomination). This IS the 'San Pablo Straits' station: no separate San Pablo Strait lighthouse ever existed." ], [ "Automated", "1969 (NRHP nomination-era text; USCG Historian: \"Automated: 1969, now FA 251\")." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never - active aid, Fl W 5s (Light List 2025)." ], [ "Fate", "Slated for demolition after automation, the station was saved by its 1971 NRHP listing and since 1980 has been run as a bed-and-breakfast inn by the nonprofit East Brother Light Station, Inc. (founded 1979) under USCG license; the light and (winter) fog horn remain active (Wikipedia; Light List 2025)." ], [ "NRHP", "NRHP #71000138, listed February 12, 1971 (nomination pulled from NPGallery; listing date via Wikipedia/NRIS)." ], [ "Keeper", "Keeper John Stenmark (1894-1914), a Swedish-born sailor rewarded with the post for rescues, raised four children on the one-acre rock; two were born on the island after he rowed to Point San Quentin for the doctor (NRHP nomination). Head-keeper list 1874-1940s preserved on the USCG Historian's page." ], [ "Coordinate source", "USCG Light List Vol. VI (2025), LLNR 5865: 37-57-47.543N 122-26-00.657W; NRHP nomination (1971) center point 37°57'42\"N 122°26'01\"W" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] NRHP Inventory-Nomination, East Brother Island Light Station (#71000138), 1971, citing USCG 12th District station file and LHB Annual Reports 1873-1874", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/71000138_text" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI (2025), LLNR 5865", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page: East Brother Island Light (archived 2010, incl. full keeper roster)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2010/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "Wikipedia, East Brother Island Light (NRHP ref/date; Pelz; inn operation); Frank Perry, 'East Brother: History of an Island Light Station' (steward-published history, lead)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Brother_Island_Light" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1873" } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "434. East Brother Island, San Pablo Bay, California, opposite Point San Pablo. — In consequence of the apparent increasing litigation to gain possession of a site on the main-land for light-house purposes, an examination was made of the East Brother Island to ascertain if it would be a suitable locality. A special report was made by the district officers in regard to its advantages, and the selection was approved by the Board. Proposals were invited for building a light-house and a fog-signal building; for making the necessary excavations, and executing the grading; also, for building a retaining-wall. The lowest bid was accepted, and the work was commenced near the end of July.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1873, p. 669" }, { "text": "447. East Brother Island light-station, off Point San Pablo, and the straits separating San Francisco and San Pablo Bays. — An appropriation of $30,000 was made by Congress March 3, 1873, \"for a light-house and steam fog-signal at Point San Pablo, California.\" In consequence of the litigation necessary to obtain a site on the mainland, it was determined to erect the light-house and fog-signal structures on East Brother Island, which is immediately opposite and about a quarter of a mile distant from Point San Pablo. A contract was made to blast off the top of the rock, build a sustaining-wall around the same, and erect the light-house and fog-signal. They were completed in February and the light was exhibited for the first time on the evening of 1st of March of this year. A subsequent contract was made for building the cistern, water-shed, wharf, tramway, and out-houses. This contract was completed in April and the steam fog-signal was put in operation on May 1st of this year.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1874, p. 682" }, { "text": "461. East Brother Island, in straits connecting San Francisco and San Pablo Bays, California. — Considerable repairs and renovations have been made to the light-house and fog-signal structures and machinery during the past year. The wharf has been strengthened by driving six piles, and thoroughly binding them together with 12-inch by 12 inch timbers, and iron straps and bolts. A truss bridge from the wharf to the bluff of the island, and a new boat-house, have also been built. The wharf is now 3 feet higher, and is so strengthened as to withstand any ordinary storm.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1876, p. 794" } ], "notes": "Strongest-documented station in the bay: nomination text, Light List, USCG Historian, and steward records all align. Pelz attribution is secondary. Also known as: East Brother Light, the San Pablo Strait light (functional designation).", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/east-brother-island-light-station.jpg", "credit": "National Archives (RG 26, negative 26-LG-64-14b); U.S. Lighthouse Society Lighthouse Research Catalog (node 89633) · undated (station established 1874)", "alt": "East Brother Island Light Station" }, "symbol": "lhhouse" }, { "id": "mare-island-light", "name": "Mare Island Light", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-expansion", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 38.07194, -122.25444 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1873", "display": "September 1, 1873 (lighthouse completed July 15, 1873)", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1873, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "gone — site only", "region": "delta-estuary", "summary": "Lighted on September 1, 1873 at the southeastern tip of the Navy Yard island, Mare Island Light was East Brother's near-twin, a Victorian tower-dwelling with a fourth-order fixed white light and a fog bell moved up from Point Bonita. It is remembered for Kate McDougal, appointed in December 1881 months after her husband, the district's lighthouse inspector, drowned at Cape Mendocino, and keeper here for some 35 years until the light's discontinuation on July 1, 1917, by which time the new Carquinez Strait Light half a mile off had taken its work. The Navy razed the empty buildings in the 1930s; only the site remains, on the former shipyard.", "facts": [ [ "Source grade for the date", "tertiary quoting primary - lighthousefriends quotes the LHB Annual Report 1873 (\"The light-house of this station was completed by the 15th of July, although it was not quite ready for lighting at that date\") and gives the September 1, 1873 in-operation date; USCG Historian: 'Date Built: 1873.' Congress appropriated $20,000 on June 10, 1872 (lighthousefriends). LHB 1873 report not directly opened this session." ], [ "First lit", "September 1, 1873 (lighthouse completed July 15, 1873). Grade: tertiary quoting primary - lighthousefriends quotes the LHB Annual Report 1873 (\"The light-house of this station was completed by the 15th of July, although it was not quite ready for lighting at that date\") and gives the September 1, 1873 in-operation date; USCG Historian: 'Date Built: 1873.' Congress appropriated $20,000 on June 10, 1872 (lighthousefriends). LHB 1873 report not directly opened this session." ], [ "Structures", "Combined square tower and two-story wood dwelling (a near-sister of East Brother's Victorian design - USCG Historian: 'very similar to San Francisco's East Brother Lighthouse'; Wikipedia attributes the design to Paul J. Pelz), with fog bell (a bell relocated from Cape Mendocino; moved to the wharf end 1893), 15,000-gal water tank (1877), landing wharf (1892); bell striker automated 1916 (USCG Historian; lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Optic", "Fourth-order Fresnel, fixed white (USCG Historian; lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Why built", "To light the deep-water approach past the Navy Yard: every vessel entering Mare Island Strait for the yard, or Carquinez Strait for Benicia, Port Costa, and the river trade, rounded this point. Its replacement logic ran the same way - the taller 1910 Carquinez Strait Light 9/16 mile away made it redundant (1910 notice; USCG Historian)." ], [ "Automated", "Fog bell machinery automated 1916; the light itself was discontinued rather than automated (USCG Historian)." ], [ "Deactivated", "July 1, 1917 (lighthousefriends; USCG Historian: 'Deactivated in 1917'). Superseded by Carquinez Strait Light (est. Jan. 15, 1910)." ], [ "Fate", "Buildings stood into the interwar Navy era and were razed in the 1930s (USCG Historian; lighthousefriends). The site lies on the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard; Wikipedia notes a Navy direction-finding station occupied it 1942-45, then a Navy radiobeacon. Nothing of the lighthouse survives above ground." ], [ "NRHP", "No individual listing; the site is within the Mare Island NHL district boundary context (shipyard NHL) - contributing status NOT verified this session." ], [ "Keeper", "Kate Caffrey McDougal kept this light for 35+ years (appointed December 1881; USCG Historian's women-keepers list: \"Appointed keeper in December 1881; 1881-1916\"; lighthousefriends, from service records and census: served until her resignation May 22, 1917, weeks before the light was discontinued; died 1932, age 90). Her husband, Cmdr. Charles J. McDougal USN, 12th District lighthouse inspector, drowned on the morning of March 28, 1881 when his boat capsized landing at Cape Mendocino Light from the tender Manzanita - PRIMARY: Sacramento Daily Record-Union, March 29, 1881, p.1 (\"Captain McDougall, Lighthouse Inspector, with two others, was drowned off Mendocino light while attempting to go ashore from the steamer Ma[n]zanita... this morning\"). The Lighthouse Board then gave the widow the bay's gentlest station, a few miles from the Navy Yard where the couple had been posted. Daughter Elizabeth M. McDougal (b. Washington DC 1870, 'daughter of Charles J. and Kate Caffrey McDougal') later worked in the 5th District office 1893-98 (USCG women-keepers list). CAUTION: the USLHS 'In Memoriam' roster instead records \"Charles J. McDougal, District Inspector, Punta Gorda CA, March 5, 1909, Drowned\" - irreconcilable with the 1881 contemporary press; either a roster error or a same-named son. Flagged, unresolved. Also note the first keeper, 1873-1881, was a woman, Theresa C. Watson (lighthousefriends keeper list) - meaning every head keeper from 1873 to May 1917 was a woman; a man, Angus Murray, tended the light only through its last weeks before discontinuance." ], [ "Coordinate source", "No published position in allowed sources located (station razed; not in modern Light List/GNIS as a light). Site: the southeastern tip of Mare Island commanding the entrances to Carquinez and Mare Island Straits - USCG Historian: \"North shore of San Pablo Bay at the entrance to Carquinez Strait\"; the 1910 Carquinez notice places Carquinez Strait Light ~9/16 mile at 106°30' true FROM Mare Island lighthouse. GNIS island record 228080 (Mare Island). lighthousefriends map point 38.0769, -122.2527 is tertiary, lead only." ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] Sacramento Daily Record-Union, 1881-03-29, p.1, 'Three Men Drowned' (Charles J. McDougal, Lighthouse Inspector, drowned off Cape Mendocino light, March 28, 1881, from tender Manzanita)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn82014381/1881-03-29/ed-1/?sp=1" }, { "citation": "[P] Notice to Mariners printed in San Francisco Call, 1910-01-19, p.15 (Carquinez Strait Light established Jan. 15, 1910, bearing/distance FROM Mare Island lighthouse - fixes the two stations' relation while both stood)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn85066387/1910-01-19/ed-1/?sp=15" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page: Mare Island Light (archived 2010) - structure, bell, 'Kate McDougal (1881-1916)', deactivated 1917, razed 1930s, 4 photo files incl. c.1879 print", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2010/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, 'Breaking the Barrier: Women Lighthouse Keepers' (archived 2008) - Kate C. McDougal, Mare Island, appointed Dec. 1881, 1881-1916; Elizabeth M. McDougal entry; list keyed to Clifford & Clifford, Women Who Kept the Lights", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20080920034758/http://www.uscg.mil/history/uscghist/Women_Keepers.asp" }, { "citation": "lighthousefriends.com, Mare Island Lighthouse (quotes LHB Annual Report 1873; appropriation June 10, 1872; first lit Sept. 1, 1873; keepers Watson 1873-81, McDougal 1881-1917, resignation May 22, 1917; 1910 census)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=1789" }, { "citation": "[S] USLHS In Memoriam roster (conflicting McDougal entry: Punta Gorda, March 5, 1909) - flagged against the 1881 primary", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://uslhs.org/memoriam" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/SecTreasAnnReport1857" } ], "tags": [ "mare-island" ], "quotes": [ { "text": "and the other on the southern end of Mare island, to aid vessels passing through the straits of Carquines and San Pablo bay, and mainly to serve as a guide to the navy yard at Benicia — estimated cost, $9,989.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1857, p. 234" }, { "text": "Straits of Carquinez, California, between the Bay of San Pablo and Suisun Bay. — An appropriation was made for the erection of a light-house on Mare Island; but as that location was not suited to the wants of navigation, the money was turned into the treasury, and a re-appropriation is submitted on the estimates for this point as the proper one.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1870, p. 394" }, { "text": "Mare Island, entrance to the straits of Carquines, California. — An appropriation of $10,000 is recommended for the erection of a fifth-order Light at this point, to mark the approaches to Carquines Straits. The erection of a Light-house at this point has been strongly urged for many years.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1871, p. 539" }, { "text": "Entrance to the Straits of Karquines, California. — An appropriation of $20,000, approved June 10, 1872, was made for the erection of a light-house and fog-signal to mark the entrance to the Straits of Karquines. A site on the southern shore, opposite Mare Island, having been recommended by the local officers and others, surveys were made there, but none suitable was found, and the engineer of the district has been ordered to locate the light on the southern end of Mare Island.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1872, p. 547" }, { "text": "435. Mare Island, entrance to Straits of Karquines. — The light-house of this station was completed by the 15th of July, although it was not quite ready for lighting at that date. An attempt was made to obtain water by digging a well, but without success. The point south of the dwelling was cut down and graded, a retaining-wall, built of rock to above high-water mark, forming a plateau for fog-signal. Inclines have been constructed from this plateau and from the plane of the dwelling to the boat-landing; windlasses, provided with turn-table and car, were set up on each. The erection of the necessary building for the fog-bell, and the sinking of a well for the weight of the machinery, still remains to be done.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1873, p. 669" }, { "text": "Mare Island | Extreme eastern end of Mare Island, at entrance from San Pablo Bay to the Straits of Karquines, California | September 1, 1873.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1874, p. 618" }, { "text": "448. Mare Island, Strait of Karquines, California. — The fog-bell and machinery formerly in use at Point Bonita light-station has been removed to this station, where a suitable house has been built for it.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1874, p. 682" }, { "text": "450. Mare Island, Straits of Karquines, California. — Repairs have been made at this station, consisting of a strong stone sea-wall to protect the fog-bell tower. The foundation of this tower needs strengthening; this work will be done as soon as practicable.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1875, p. 791" }, { "text": "Yerba Buena Island, Harbor of San Francisco, California. — A selection of a site for a buoy depot, to serve instead of the present inconvenient depot at Mare Island, has been made on the eastern side of the island of Yerba Buena.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, 1872, p. 548" }, { "text": "The act of July 1, 1918, making appropriations for the naval service for the fiscal year 1919, transferred to the Navy Department the unused Mare Island Light Station, Cal. This station was discontinued July 1, 1917, and is not further required for lighthouse purposes.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses, FY1918 (Reports of the Department of Commerce, 1918; Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses), p. 567" }, { "text": "LIGHTS DISCONTINUED DURING THE FISCAL YEAR 1917. [158 lights, including float lights.] ... 18th ... Mare Island, Cal.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses, FY1917 (Reports of the Department of Commerce, 1917; Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses, table 'Lights discontinued during the fiscal year 1917'), p. 690" }, { "text": "42. Mare Island, entrance to Carquinez Strait, San Pablo Bay, California.—Repairs to the lens at this station were made. A fog-bell striking apparatus was installed, replacing an old one.", "cite": "Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, FY1907 (Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, 1907; Report of the Light-House Board, Twelfth District), p. 601" } ], "notes": "Position PUBLISHED, not derived: the Coast and Geodetic Survey fixed this light at latitude 38° 04′ 19″ north, longitude 122° 15′ 16″ west (USC&GS Pacific Coast Pilot, 4th ed., 1889, p. 240). That volume also settles where the station stood, describing it in its words: \"a Light-house has been established on the extreme southeastern part of Mare Island\"; which reconciles the Light-House Board's own inconsistency between the \"southern end\" it ordered in 1872 and the \"extreme eastern end\" its 1874 list printed. An earlier version of this map estimated the position and placed it about 300 m away; the published fix supersedes that estimate. Also known as: Mare Island Lighthouse. ⚠ Corrected here from the Board itself: the fog bell was not new and did not come from Cape Mendocino. The Annual Report for 1874 (p. 682) states: \"The fog-bell and machinery formerly in use at Point Bonita light-station has been removed to this station, where a suitable house has been built for it.\"", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/mare-island-light.jpg", "credit": "National Archives (RG 26 Lighthouse Service photographs, negative 26-LG-64a-68); copy served by the U.S. Lighthouse Society Lighthouse Research Catalog · undated (station established 1873; razed 1917)", "alt": "Mare Island Light" }, "symbol": "lhhouse" }, { "id": "carquinez-strait-light", "name": "Carquinez Strait Light", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-buildout", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 38.06964, -122.24454 ], "coord_precision": "area", "date": { "iso": "1910", "display": "January 15, 1910", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1910, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "building survives, moved", "region": "delta-estuary", "summary": "Established January 15, 1910 on piles at the mouth of Mare Island Strait, the Carquinez Strait Light packed tower, fog signal, and a 28-room dwelling into one enormous wooden building at the end of a long dike - the inland gatepost for river-bound shipping, replacing the little Mare Island light half a mile away. The Coast Guard abandoned the building for automatic aids in 1951, and in 1955 the whole structure was barged to Glen Cove, where it still stands, de-towered, as a marina office. The station function itself was automated in 1963.", "facts": [ [ "Source grade for the date", "PRIMARY - period Notice to Mariners, 12th District, printed in the San Francisco Call, Jan. 19, 1910, p.15: \"Carquinez strait light station was established January 15, 1910, in the structure recently erected...\"; light fixed red, fourth order, 56 ft above water, visible 13 miles, cream-colored square tower rising from a 2.5-story dwelling and fog-signal building on piles in 8 ft of water." ], [ "First lit", "January 15, 1910. Grade: PRIMARY - period Notice to Mariners, 12th District, printed in the San Francisco Call, Jan. 19, 1910, p.15: \"Carquinez strait light station was established January 15, 1910, in the structure recently erected...\"; light fixed red, fourth order, 56 ft above water, visible 13 miles, cream-colored square tower rising from a 2.5-story dwelling and fog-signal building on piles in 8 ft of water." ], [ "Structures", "A single huge combined structure: 28-room 2.5-story dwelling with attached three-story tower and fog-signal wing, on piles at the end of a long pier/dike (~150 tons; $50,000 appropriated March 4, 1907; built Aug. 1908-late 1909) (1910 notice; USCG 1966 press release text on the Historian's page; lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Optic", "Fourth-order Fresnel, fixed red (1910 notice: 'fixed red, of the [fourth] order'; USCG Historian: Fourth Order Fresnel). The station also served as a test platform for vertical 'mushroom' trumpet fog signals (USCG Historian)." ], [ "Why built", "The Lighthouse Board pressed Congress for a major light between San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento River to serve traffic into Carquinez and Mare Island Straits; it superseded the 1873 Mare Island light across the channel (USCG Historian; 1910 notice geometry)." ], [ "Automated", "June 3, 1963 - light and fog signal automated when USCG personnel left the replacement bluff-top station (USCG 1966 press release on Historian's page)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Lighthouse building abandoned as an aid in 1951, when an automatic beacon and fog signal were set on the pier and new family quarters were built on the bluff above (USCG press release; the Historian's summary card says 'Deactivated 1951')." ], [ "Fate", "On August 6, 1955 the 150-ton building was jacked onto a barge and towed two miles to Elliott Cove (Glen Cove), Vallejo; tower removed; the dwelling survives as the Glen Cove Marina office and event space (USCG 1966 press release: 'taken off its pilings and put aboard a barge... towed two miles to its new location at Elliott Cove'; lighthousefriends adds the 1955 purchase by contractor Robert Hubert and current marina use)." ], [ "NRHP", "None found." ], [ "Coordinate source", "Original station site: published 1910 description only - 'on the northerly side of the entrance to Carquinez strait and the easterly side of the entrance to Napa creek, just inside of the long wooden dike, about 9/16 mile 106°30' true from Mare Island lighthouse' (Notice to Mariners, Jan. 1910); modern minor aids mark the vicinity (Light List 2025 Carquinez Strait lights). Relocated building at Glen Cove Marina, Vallejo (lighthousefriends map point 38.0678, -122.2137 - tertiary lead)." ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] Notice to Mariners, 12th District, printed in San Francisco Call, 1910-01-19, p.15 (establishment Jan. 15, 1910, full description and bearings)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn85066387/1910-01-19/ed-1/?sp=15" }, { "citation": "[P] US Coast Pilot, Pacific Coast (1943) - 'Carquinez Strait Light is shown from a cream-colored tower on dwelling located on the jetty on the eastern side of the entrance to Mare Island Strait'", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/unitedstatescoast00usco" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page: Carquinez Strait Light (archived 2010), incl. December 1966 USCG press release (1951 abandonment, Aug. 6, 1955 barge move to Elliott Cove, June 3, 1963 automation)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2010/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "lighthousefriends.com, Carquinez Strait Lighthouse (appropriation March 4, 1907; keepers Czarnecke, Kaneen; Glen Cove Marina present use)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=69" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null } ], "tags": [ "mare-island" ], "quotes": [ { "text": "Carquinez Strait light-station, California.—The act approved March 4, 1907, appropriated $50,000 for the establishment of a light and fog-signal station at Carquinez Strait, between San Pablo Bay and Suisun Bay, authorized by the act approved February 26, 1907. The actual work of construction was commenced August 4, 1908. The station was established January 15, 1910. A fourth-order fixed red light and two gasoline-engine compressed-air plants operating 6-inch first-class compressed-air sirens were installed. The superstructure consists of a frame tower for the light, a frame dwelling with quarters for three keepers, a frame fog-signal house, a frame boathouse, a galvanized-iron oil house, and distillate house. A water pipe connects with the Vallejo city mains. Total cost of constructing station, $48,296.17.", "cite": "Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, FY1910 (Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, 1910; 'Report of the Operations of the Light-House Board'), p. 508" }, { "text": "Carquinez Strait, California.—Authorized by the act of February 26, 1907, at a cost not to exceed $50,000; appropriation, act of March 4, 1907, $50,000. During the year the contractor commenced work on the landing and approach, the station substructure on piles, and on the superstructure, the latter consisting of a light and fog-signal building, boathouse, and three sets of keepers' quarters. At the close of the year he had practically completed the station substructure and the landing and approach. The superstructure is about 65 per cent completed. As soon as the contract is completed, which will probably be in July of the coming year, the fourth-order lens, lantern, fog-signal machinery, and 6-inch standard sirens, which are all on hand, will be installed, and the station should be ready for operation about October 1, 1909.", "cite": "Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, FY1909 (Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, 1909; Light-House Board, 'Uncompleted works of construction'), p. 635" }, { "text": "44. Carquinez Strait, between San Pablo and Suisun Bay, California.—The act approved on March 4, 1907, appropriated $50,000 for establishing a light and fog-signal at Carquinez Strait station. Plans were made and the work will be commenced soon.", "cite": "Report of the Light-House Board, printed in the Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, FY1907 (Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, 1907; Report of the Light-House Board, Twelfth District), p. 601" } ], "notes": "Position DERIVED from the Notice to Mariners of January 1910, which placed the new station \"about 9/16 mile 106 degrees 30 minutes true from Mare Island lighthouse\"; that bearing and distance are applied here to the published Coast and Geodetic Survey position of the Mare Island light. Expect ±400 m, with a further ±140 m because the notice does not say whether its miles are statute or nautical. The building itself survives, moved: barged to Glen Cove in 1955, where it serves as a marina office. Also known as: Carquinez Straits Lighthouse, Glen Cove lighthouse (relocated building).", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/carquinez-strait-light.jpg", "credit": "National Archives (RG 26, negative 26-LG-63a-70); U.S. Lighthouse Society Lighthouse Research Catalog (node 89549) · 1910 (the print is inscribed 'ph'd 23 Febr. '10')", "alt": "Carquinez Strait Light" }, "symbol": "lhhouse" }, { "id": "roe-island-light", "name": "Roe Island Light", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-buildout", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 38.07242, -122.0347 ], "coord_precision": "place", "date": { "iso": "1891", "display": "February 16, 1891, first keeper Richard A. Weiss", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1891, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "gone — site only", "region": "delta-estuary", "summary": "The only staffed light station east of Carquinez Strait, Roe Island Light went into service on February 16, 1891, a low cottage lantern on pilings marking the Suisun Bay channel to the upriver ports. It survived half a century of fog and grain traffic only to be wrecked from within the bay: the Port Chicago explosion of July 17, 1944 tore its bell house loose from 3,000 yards away. Discontinued in 1945 and sold, the buildings later burned; only channel range lights carry the name today.", "facts": [ [ "Source grade for the date", "tertiary quoting primary; USCG concurs on year." ], [ "First lit", "February 16, 1891, first keeper Richard A. Weiss (lighthousefriends: Weiss 'placed the station in operation on February 16, 1891'; USCG Historian: established/first lit 1891). Grade: tertiary quoting primary; USCG concurs on year." ], [ "Structures", "Square 1.5-story wooden dwelling on low pilings with veranda, dormers, and an octagonal roof lantern (light 41 ft above water, flashing white; fog bell, 1 stroke/10s, in a bell house on the T-pier), plus oil house, outbuildings, and a second dwelling added in the 1900s; land deeded by Dr. Washington M. Ryer; ironwork by M. A. Graham, buildings/wharf by California Bridge Co. (USCG Historian; lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Optic", "Fifth-order Fresnel, fixed white, 1891 — the Board's report for that year (p. 158) records a fixed white light exhibited when the station went into operation; the later flashing characteristic in the Coast Guard's records reflects a subsequent change, not the original apparatus." ], [ "Why built", "To mark the Suisun Bay channel where deep-water traffic bound for Benicia, Port Costa wheat wharves, and the rivers threaded the shoals - 33 miles inside the Golden Gate, five miles east of Benicia, opposite what became Port Chicago (USCG Historian)." ], [ "Automated", "Never; discontinued instead." ], [ "Deactivated", "1945, after the Port Chicago explosion of July 17, 1944 (two ammunition ships, E. A. Bryan and Quinault Victory, detonated ~3,000 yards away, killing over 300, knocking the station's bell house off its foundation and smashing windows - USCG Historian, quoting an 11 Aug. 1944 USCG report on the station's composition; keeper Erven A. Scott's damage account in lighthousefriends). Channel changes had already reduced its value (USCG Historian)." ], [ "Fate", "Sold: the city of Pittsburg bought it in November 1946 for $4,000; Boy Scout use to 1953; later privately held as a summer place until fire destroyed the buildings (lighthousefriends; USCG Historian: 'sold... used as a summer home until a fire completely destroyed it'). Fire date not established. Roe Island Channel range lights remain in the 2025 Light List." ], [ "NRHP", "None." ], [ "Keeper", "Keeper John M. Nilsson served ~21 years (1893-1914); last keeper Erven A. Scott rode out the Port Chicago blast in the station and reported furniture thrown about and every window gone (lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "GNIS gaz_id 231813 (Roe Island, Solano Co.) - island record; the lighthouse stood on the island's south point with a T-pier into Suisun Bay (USCG Historian). Precision reflects island-level record, not the exact structure." ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page: Roe Island Light (archived 2010), incl. quoted 11 Aug. 1944 USCG station report and 1924 station photos C88/C94", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2010/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "lighthousefriends.com, Roe Island Lighthouse (first lit Feb. 16, 1891; keepers Weiss, Nilsson, Scott; sale to Pittsburg 1946)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=1790" }, { "citation": "[P] US Coast Pilot, Pacific Coast (1943) - Roe Island Light 'northward of the channel opposite Bay Point'; GNIS 231813", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/unitedstatescoast00usco" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "814. Roe Island, Suisun Bay, California.—Contracts for the construction of this station were let to Mr. M. A. Graham for the ironwork, and to the California Bridge Company for the construction of the buildings and wharf. Both contractors completed their work in a satisfactory manner and within the specified time. A small building, to contain the fog-bell machinery, was built on the outer end of the wharf, and a bell was purchased and hung. On February 16, 1891, the station was put in operation, when a fixed white light was exhibited from the lantern placed on top of the dwelling. It is of the fifth order, illuminating the entire horizon. The fog signal is a bell, which is struck by machinery one blow every ten seconds. During May a small oil house, a platform for coal, etc., under the wharf, and steps leading to the ground, were built.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1891, p. p. 158 (image-verified)" }, { "text": "852. Roe Island, Suisun Bay, California.—A windmill and pump were placed on the outer end of the wharf and connection was made by pipe with the cistern to bring in a supply of fresh water. The lantern parapet was incased in redwood to prevent leakage. This island being subject to overflow at times of high water, a levee 3½ feet high by 8 feet at the base was built around the reservation. This levee was cracked in April by a severe earthquake, and it was repaired by the keeper.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1892, p. p. 184 (image-verified)" } ], "notes": "First-lit day tertiary-quoting-primary. The lighthousefriends page text apparently misdates the explosion July 15; July 17, 1944 (USCG Historian and the standard record) is used. Lens order unverified. Fire date unknown.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/roe-island-light.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office; U.S. Lighthouse Society Lighthouse Research Catalog (node 93789) · 1920", "alt": "Roe Island Light" }, "symbol": "lhhouse" }, { "id": "angel-island-light-station-point-knox", "name": "Angel Island Light Station (Point Knox)", "type": "light station", "layer": "era-expansion", "radius": 7, "coords": [ 37.85604, -122.44304 ], "coord_precision": "place", "date": { "iso": "1886", "display": "Fog bell in operation November 1, 1886", "confidence": "exact" }, "active": { "first": 1886, "last": null }, "station_type": "light station", "status": "gone — site only", "region": "sf-bay", "summary": "Angel Island's light station began as a fog-bell post at Point Knox in November 1886, a bell house and cottage bolted to the island's fog-blind western bluff, gaining a small fixed-red light in 1900. Keeper Juliet Fish Nichols made it famous in July 1906 when the striking machinery shattered in dense fog and she beat the bell by hand through the night and the next day. After 1915 its keepers also ran the island's Point Stuart and Point Blunt minor lights; the station closed October 31, 1960 and was burned in 1963, leaving the bell standing in the state park.", "facts": [ [ "Source grade for the date", "tertiary (lighthousefriends) quoting LHB annual reports and George Worthylake, 'Point Knox,' The Keeper's Log (Fall 1996); no primary directly examined this session." ], [ "First lit", "Fog bell in operation November 1, 1886 (appropriation $4,500, March 3, 1885; work begun September 1885); a lens-lantern showing fixed red was added in November 1900. Grade: tertiary (lighthousefriends) quoting LHB annual reports and George Worthylake, 'Point Knox,' The Keeper's Log (Fall 1996); no primary directly examined this session." ], [ "Structures", "Bell house and keeper's dwelling on a timber platform at the base of the bluff at Point Knox, reached by a long stairway; 3,000-lb bell struck by clockwork machinery; small lens-lantern light added 1900. From 1915 the station's keepers also tended the new Point Stuart and Point Blunt minor lights/sirens 1-2 miles away (lighthousefriends; USCG press release on Point Blunt entry: \"Point Blunt Light was originally maintained by personnel at Angel Island Light Station at Point Knox\")." ], [ "Optic", "Lens-lantern, fixed red, hung near the bell nightly from November 1900 (lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Why built", "To warn traffic in the fog-swept western angle of Angel Island, where the ebb sets vessels out of Raccoon Strait onto Point Knox shoal (Coast Pilot 1943 notes the shoal; lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Automated", "Station disestablished October 31, 1960, when the Coast Guard consolidated Angel Island operations at the new Point Blunt station (lighthousefriends; USCG press release: personnel moved 1960-61)." ], [ "Deactivated", "October 31, 1960 (as a staffed station); the Point Knox aid was replaced by a lighted gong buoy off the shoal (1988 Light List)." ], [ "Fate", "Abandoned structures deliberately burned in 1963; the great fog bell still stands in its frame on the point, within Angel Island State Park (lighthousefriends; the Southampton Shoal lens is displayed at the park's interpretive center - USCG Historian)." ], [ "NRHP", "No individual listing found (the island's NHL listing is the US Immigration Station)." ], [ "Keeper", "Juliet Fish Nichols, keeper 1902-1914 (USCG Historian's women-keepers list: \"Juliet Nichols, Angel Island, CA, 1902-1914\"), Shanghai-born (1859) widow of Cmdr. Henry Nichols USN (d. 1899 in the Philippines). Her station log for the July 1906 fog, as quoted in Worthylake's Keeper's Log article via lighthousefriends: \"July 4 - ...8:00 p.m. machinery went to pieces - great tension bar broke in two - dense fog... bell struck with a nail hammer, standing out on the platform until 4 p.m. [July 5].\" She hand-struck the 3,000-lb bell roughly 20 hours 35 minutes and received a special commendation (lighthousefriends/Worthylake)." ], [ "Coordinate source", "GNIS gaz_id 254857 (Point Knox, Marin Co.); the station platform clung to the bluff at/below the point. 1988 Light List: Point Knox Lighted Gong Buoy 2 at 37°50.2'N 122°26.7'W marks the shoal offshore." ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, 'Breaking the Barrier: Women Lighthouse Keepers' (archived 2008) - Juliet Nichols, Angel Island, 1902-1914", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20080920034758/http://www.uscg.mil/history/uscghist/Women_Keepers.asp" }, { "citation": "lighthousefriends.com, Point Knox Lighthouse (cites LHB annual reports; George Worthylake, 'Point Knox,' The Keeper's Log, Fall 1996; Shanks 1990; Nelsons 1993)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=337" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page: Point Blunt entry July 1970 press release (Point Knox station role and 1960-61 consolidation)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2010/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "[P] GNIS gaz_id 254857 (Point Knox); Light List, Pacific Coast (1988) - Point Knox Lighted Gong Buoy 2", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/lightlistpacific00unit" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "1008. Angel Island fog-signal station, San Francisco Bay, California.—A fence was built around the dwelling, and the yard in front was covered with concrete. A small frame storehouse was built at the base of the hill to replace one carried away by a landslide. Various repairs were made.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1897, p. p. 172 (image-verified)" }, { "text": "Angel Island light-station, San Francisco Bay, California.—A lens-lantern light November 26, 1900.", "cite": "Annual Report of the Light-House Board (GPO), 1901, p. p. 11, under the heading 'NEW LIGHTS' (image-verified)" } ], "notes": "1886/1900 dates and the Nichols log quote are tertiary reproductions of primary material (LHB reports; station log via Worthylake) - reliable chain but the primary itself unexamined; popular accounts differ on whether the marathon bell-striking began July 2 or July 4, 1906; the quoted log supports July 4-5. Nichols' death date not included (unverified). Also known as: Point Knox Light, Angel Island Fog-Bell Station.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/angel-island-light-station-point-knox.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office; U.S. Lighthouse Society Lighthouse Research Catalog · 1946", "alt": "Angel Island Light Station (Point Knox)" }, "symbol": "lhhouse" }, { "id": "point-stuart-light", "name": "Point Stuart Light", "type": "minor light", "layer": "era-buildout", "radius": 4, "coords": [ 37.86049, -122.44554 ], "coord_precision": "place", "date": { "iso": "1915", "display": "Fiscal year 1915 (July 1914-June 1915)", "confidence": "year" }, "active": { "first": 1915, "last": null }, "station_type": "minor light", "status": "gone — site only", "region": "sf-bay", "summary": "Point Stuart got its light and electric fog siren in fiscal 1915 as one of a pair of unwatched aids added to Angel Island and run by wire from the Point Knox keepers. A white frame signal house on the island's western nose, it marked the mouth of Raccoon Strait for seventy-odd years, latterly under the name Raccoon Strait Light, before being supplanted by a buoy. Its establishment is documented directly in the Commissioner of Lighthouses' FY1915 annual report.", "facts": [ [ "Source grade for the date", "PRIMARY - Annual Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses FY1915, p.8: \"Fog signals established: ... Point Blunt and Point Stuart, Angel Island, San Francisco Bay, Cal. (electric sirens)\", with both points also in the report's new-minor-lights tabulation; lighthousefriends (from the same reports) describes remote-controlled 500-watt lamps in lens lanterns." ], [ "First lit", "Fiscal year 1915 (July 1914-June 1915). Grade: PRIMARY - Annual Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses FY1915, p.8: \"Fog signals established: ... Point Blunt and Point Stuart, Angel Island, San Francisco Bay, Cal. (electric sirens)\", with both points also in the report's new-minor-lights tabulation; lighthousefriends (from the same reports) describes remote-controlled 500-watt lamps in lens lanterns." ], [ "Structures", "Unwatched minor light and electric siren in a small white frame house on the island's westerly point (Coast Pilot 1943: \"Point Stuart Light, shown from a white frame house, is 80 feet above water\"; fog signal an air diaphragm horn by then), operated remotely by the Point Knox keepers a mile away (lighthousefriends; USCG press release)." ], [ "Optic", "Lens lantern with electric incandescent lamp (lighthousefriends, from Lighthouse Service records)." ], [ "Why built", "To light the southern entrance of Raccoon Strait and the island's western turning point for northbound bay traffic (Coast Pilot 1943 context; part of the 1915 Angel Island minor-aids scheme)." ], [ "Automated", "Remote/automatic from establishment; tended from Point Knox to 1960, then Point Blunt (\"Raccoon Strait light and fog signals\" operated by Point Blunt personnel - USCG July 1970 press release)." ], [ "Deactivated", "The shore light survived (as 'Raccoon Strait Light') at least into the late 1980s (1988 Light List); by the 2025 Light List only Raccoon Strait Lighted Buoy 1 remains - formal discontinuation date not established." ], [ "Fate", "Frame structure gone; site within Angel Island State Park. No NRHP listing." ], [ "NRHP", "None." ], [ "Coordinate source", "GNIS gaz_id 235615 (Point Stuart, Marin Co.); 1988 Light List shows the successor 'Raccoon Strait Light' on the bluff edge at 37°51.7'N 122°26.7'W" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses, FY1915, p.8 (fog signals and minor lights established at Point Stuart and Point Blunt)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_B2dYAAAAYAAJ" }, { "citation": "[P] US Coast Pilot, Pacific Coast (1943) - Point Stuart Light description; Light List, Pacific Coast (1988)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/unitedstatescoast00usco" }, { "citation": "lighthousefriends.com, Point Knox Lighthouse page (1915 Angel Island minor lights detail)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=337" }, { "citation": "[P] GNIS gaz_id 235615 (Point Stuart)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://carto.nationalmap.gov/arcgis/rest/services/geonames/MapServer" }, { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Light-House Board · the passages quoted in this popup, cited per passage to report year and page", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null } ], "tags": [], "quotes": [ { "text": "Fog signals established: Gallups Island, Boston Harbor, Mass. (electric bell); Fort McHenry, Baltimore Harbor, Md. (electric bell); Volusia Bar, St. Johns River, Fla. (bell); Point Blunt and Point Stuart, Angel Island, San Francisco Bay, Cal. (electric sirens).", "cite": "Annual Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses, FY1915 (Annual Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses ... for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1915), p. 8" } ], "notes": "End date is the weakest element - bracketed between the 1988 Light List (present) and 2025 Light List (absent); a Notice to Mariners search would pin it. Also known as: Stuart Point Light (Coast Pilot 1943 usage), later Raccoon Strait Light (1988 Light List aid on the bluff).", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/point-stuart-light.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office; U.S. Lighthouse Society Lighthouse Research Catalog · 1946", "alt": "Point Stuart Light" }, "symbol": "beacon" }, { "id": "point-blunt-light", "name": "Point Blunt Light", "type": "minor light", "layer": "era-buildout", "radius": 4, "coords": [ 37.85322, -122.41921 ], "coord_precision": "exact", "date": { "iso": "1915", "display": "Minor light and electric fog siren established fiscal year 1915", "confidence": "year" }, "active": { "first": 1915, "last": null }, "station_type": "minor light", "status": "standing", "region": "sf-bay", "summary": "Point Blunt began in fiscal 1915 as the third of Angel Island's remotely run minor lights, but after WWII the Coast Guard reversed the automation tide here, building a full manned station between about 1957 and 1961 - the last lighthouse station built and staffed in California - whose watch room controlled its own light, Raccoon Strait's, and Southampton Shoal's. It was automated on June 28, 1976 and still shows a green flash over the anchorage approaches.", "facts": [ [ "First lit", "Minor light and electric fog siren established fiscal year 1915 (PRIMARY: Commissioner of Lighthouses FY1915 report, p.8, as for Point Stuart). Upgraded to a separately manned Coast Guard light station in the late 1950s: keeper roster begins c.1957, new watch room 1960, four quarters completed 1961 - 'the last manned lighthouse built in California' (lighthousefriends, citing Shanks 1990; USCG July 1970 press release)." ], [ "Structures", "1915: unwatched lens-lantern light and siren on the island's southeast point, tended from Point Knox. c.1957-61: modern station - flat-roofed signal building with lens lantern and horn, watch building commanding the whole central bay, four ranch-style dwellings; absorbed control of Southampton Shoal and Raccoon Strait aids when Angel Island (Point Knox) station closed (USCG press release; lighthousefriends)." ], [ "Optic", "Lens lantern (1915); modern optic Fl G 5s with horn (Light List 2025)." ], [ "Why built", "To mark the southeastern corner of Angel Island where the main channels toward the river ports converge; the 1915 aid completed the island's triangle of lights (FY1915 report; USCG press release: guidance into the lanes toward the Sacramento and San Joaquin)." ], [ "Automated", "June 28, 1976 - 'the light would be automated and resident personnel would no longer be in attendance' (lighthousefriends, quoting the automation notice; the last manned lighthouse BUILT in California, though Point Bonita kept its keepers five years longer)." ], [ "Deactivated", "Never - active aid (Light List 2025, LLNR 4335)." ], [ "Fate", "Station buildings remain in USCG hands on state-park island; closed to the public (lighthousefriends)." ], [ "NRHP", "None." ], [ "Coordinate source", "USCG Light List Vol. VI (2025), LLNR 4335: 37-51-11.584N 122-25-09.150W; GNIS 254635 (Point Blunt): 37.85299, -122.41971" ] ], "sources": [ { "citation": "[P] Annual Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses, FY1915, p.8", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_B2dYAAAAYAAJ" }, { "citation": "[P] USCG Light List Vol. VI (2025), LLNR 4335", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V6_2025.pdf" }, { "citation": "[S] USCG Historian's Office, California page: Point Blunt Light (archived 2010), incl. July 1970 press release", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/2010/http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHCA.asp" }, { "citation": "lighthousefriends.com, Point Blunt Lighthouse (Shanks 1990; automation June 28, 1976; keeper roster 1957-76)", "ca_record": null, "ia_leaf_url": null, "url": "https://lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=837" } ], "tags": [], "notes": "The '1956' founding year sometimes quoted for the manned station is not directly evidenced in my sources (roster from 1957; buildings 1960-61); USCG's own 1970 press release reaches back to the 1915 establishment. Treat 1956/57 with care.", "photo": { "url": "../assets/photos/lighthouses/point-blunt-light.jpg", "credit": "U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office; U.S. Lighthouse Society Lighthouse Research Catalog (node 91239) · 1946", "alt": "Point Blunt Light" }, "symbol": "beacon" } ], "symbol_min_zoom": 5, "symbol_key_title": "Reading the stations", "symbol_key": [ { "symbol": "lighthouse", "label": "Light tower", "color": "#6b6257" }, { "symbol": "lhhouse", "label": "Dwelling-style light · keeper's house carries the lantern", "color": "#6b6257" }, { "symbol": "lightship", "label": "Lightship station", "color": "#6b6257" }, { "symbol": "beacon", "label": "Minor light or fog signal", "color": "#6b6257" } ] }