Cape Flattery Lighthouse Transferred
By Sue Clark on Oct 20, 2009 in News 
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Makah Nation To Take Possession of Buildings
Crews from Coast Guard District 13 are in the process of cleaning up the buildings and grounds on Tatoosh Island, near Neah Bay, Washington, in preparation for transferring the decommissioned lighthouse over to the Makah tribe, which already owns the island. Using helicopters to reach the remote island, they’ve removed an unneeded generator and fuel tank. The tribe, which considers the island culturally important, also says it has no current plans to change the island’s usage, which is as an archaeological research site by permit only
Tatoosh Island, besides being a fishing camp for processing halibut and whale, was the site of gatherings for the Makah tribe from 1855 to 1934, as it was out of sight of the US Government Bureau of Indian Affairs, who restricted such gatherings. It is historically significant and is a treasure trove for archaeologists and environmentalists. It also is a birders delight, as it is a major stop for migrating birds and supports nesting populations of murres, gulls, puffins, and storm-petrels. Because of the environmentally sensitive nature of the island, only researchers with permits are allowed to visit.
Tribal Leaders Discussing Use of Buildings
Although there is no timeline for the transfer, the tribe is discussing how the buildings and lighthouse will be used. As always in these transfers, the Coast Guard will maintain acccess to the lighthouse for maintaining the optic. However, they will only need to visit once a year as the power has been changed from the aforementioned generator to solar power. Three thirty inch panels were installed last year when a new LED optic was placed on a thirty foot steel tower, which has replaced the original lighthouse beam. It’s visible for 14 miles.
Besides the lighthouse, the only building left on site is the lighthouse keeper’s residence, as all others have been demolished. And speaking of lighthouse keepers, the Lighthouse Friends site has some great stories about them, but I can’t resist telling here about the gunfight at the lighthouse:
One of the first principal keepers, Francis James, became enraged with an assistant keeper and threw hot coffee in his face. The men decide to settle the dispute with a gunfight. Outside the lighthouse, the men took three shots at each other before calling it a draw and shaking hands. An assistant keeper later confessed to having removed the bullets from the shells.
Be sure to read the rest of the tales of Cape Flattery. Like all lighthouse history, it’s fascinating.
Photo Credit: Lighthouse on Tatoosh Island by mariusstrom. Some rights reserved.
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3 Comment(s)
By CW4 Michael Jones on Jun 22, 2010 | Reply
I spent many a happy weekend working on Tatoosh Island as an Army Reserve helicopter pilot helping to automate and restore the lighthouse and island. We removed all the broken up concrete debris left from the 1960s Navy SEAL demolition work of the old Weather Station. We also removed tons of debris from the island including the old 200-foot tall radio tower, the 6, 12000 gallon cedar water tanks and the remains of the two lightkeepers duplexes. My last two missions were to place a temporary generator next to the old generator building and finally haul 2, 10 ton conex containers to the island. The containers held new windows, paint, kitchen, cement, wood and other restoration materials. The last load was a 10,000 gallon water trailer. It provided water for the restoration crew on Tatoosh. Over the 12 years we worked with the Coast Guard we delivered thousands of gallons of diesel fuel for the generators, crews and their equipment to mow the grass and do repairs on the facilities. During the first few years when the station was manned, we also delivered everything from mail, food to Christmas Trees for the two USCG families living there. Before the families left I had the good fortune to have access to the original Cape Flattery Lighthouse Log Books and was able to photograph many pages from the logs using very high quality Nikon copy equipment. Some of the entries are priceless, some humorous and all telling a fascinating 134-year history of one of the most beautiful places on earth. It was a sad day when the last station keepers left the island. We also spent many weekends and summers working with our heavy lift CH-47 helicopters doing restoration and supply missions to Destruction Island Light, Smith Island Light and PCB contaminated soil from Patos Island Lighthouse in the San Juan Islands. We also performed a spectacular cable laying mission using our big Chinook helicopters to pull 5 miles of power cable from shore to Destruction Island. My last mission there was to remove several old 12,000 gallon diesel fuel storage tanks, hauling them to Quiliute Air Station. These were extremely heavy loads and did not fly well under my aircraft. During the last tank removal the large manila rope used to secure the tank to our sling gear began to fray and by the time we got to the old air station, several strands of the line had severed. I’ve captured a few photos of our missions on my web site listed above and the Army Reserve unit web site also linked from my home page. We are looking for anybody from the US Coast Guard who worked with us to contact me. We would like to invite you to our 2011 reunion. Contact me through my email above.
Regards,
CW4 Michael Jones US Army Reserves Retired
By claudine rogers on Jul 7, 2010 | Reply
This is really remarkable. Let us hope that th tribe will
ake care of this lighthouse since this is not just an ordinary
lighthouse. Its been there since 1854!
By Jim Carroll on Oct 24, 2010 | Reply
I was Station at Cape Flattery Light house from Sept. 1964 to June 1966. Gosh wahat an experince it was. I don’t see many pictures of the Island from this time as most of mine are missing Wish I would of taken more. I do have a post card picture taken some time in the 40″s. I was there as they started closing down the weather station. Had some really good frinds from both the Coast Guard and Weather station. Have some real good memories of the time spent on Cape Flattery Light Station. Thank you for the site. Jim Carroll
UCSG EN3