Eldred Rock Light

Eldred Rock Light

Location	Lynn Canal, Alaska
Coordinates	58°58′18″N 135°13′16″W
Tower
Constructed	1905
Foundation	Masonry
Construction	Wood
Automated	1973
Height	56 ft (91 feet above sea level)
Shape	Octagonal
Power source	solar power
Heritage	National Register of Historic Places listed place
Light
First lit	1905
Lens	Fourth order Fresnel lens
Range	8 nm
Characteristic	Flashing white light every 6 seconds

The Eldred Rock Light is an historic octagonal lighthouse adjacent to Lynn Canal in Alaska. It is the last of the ten lighthouses constructed in Alaska between 1902 and 1906. It was also the last of 12 manned lighthouses that were started in Alaska. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Eldred Rock Lighthouse.

History

The Lighthouse Board approved plans for a lighthouse on Eldred Rock in 1905 and hoped that the design would be completed before November and the coming of harsh winter weather. However, due to weather, the lighthouse was not finished until June 1, 1906. A fourth-order Fresnel lens was placed in the lantern room, near the top of the fifty-six foot lighthouse, at a focal plane of ninety-one feet. This unique lens consisted of two bull's-eye panels — one about four feet in diameter and the opposing one a smaller, 14-inch panel. A sheet of red glass was placed between the light source and the larger prism, causing the revolving lens to produce alternating red and white flashes. The light was automated by the United States Coast Guard in 1973 and downgraded to a minor light.

In view of Skagway ! s commercial importance, the United States Board of Light-Houses established four manned lighthouses in Lynn Canal between the years 1902 and 1906. This was nearly half the number of light stations ever located in Southeast Alaska in the 1900s. Commissioned in 1906, Eldred Rock Light Station was the last lighthouse constructed in Lynn Canal; the second station in Alaska with light and fog-signal apparatus and keepers' quarters combined in a single structure; and the first lighthouse in Alaska constructed with concrete.

During 1902-1906, four manned lighthouses were set up in the Lynn Canal; this was the fourth. It was also the second lighthouse station in Alaska to have "light and fog-signal apparatus and keepers' quarters combined in a single structure; and the first lighthouse in Alaska constructed with concrete."

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

The original lens was moved to a museum in Haines, Alaska in 1978.

External links

• "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Alaska" (PDF). United States Coast Guard Historian's Office.
• Lighthouse Friends — Eldred Rock Lighthouse
• Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Alaska". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

USCG archive photo