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Tillamook Rock Light House...
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It seems as if every light house construction project had its foils and this one seemed to be a disaster just waiting to happen. With my questions at hand, we began to research and here's what we found.
Tillamook Rock Light House...The Truth behind the rock. "Terrible Tilly" was the unofficial name of Rock Light House. It received this name because of the thunderous Pacific storms that battered this little rock. It wasn't until 1878 that Congress finally appropriated funds for the construction of the light house. In 1879 the beginning of the construction began as well as the first loss of life. A surveyor drowned while attempting to reach the rock. To bring crews and supplies, a boat would cautiously move towards the jagged rock sides of the rock in hopes of not smashing the craft. At the right timing interval the crew would jump from the craft onto the slippery rock. In this case, the surveyor, slipped and slid into the frothy seas. After the drowning of one crewman, the construction supervisor improvised a new method of transporting materials. The crew secured a 300 foot cable at the top of the rock to the Corwin, a supply ship. Crew members and supplies were able to make the passage along the cable in a relative safe manner. As the ship rolled the cable slacked, causing the crew members to take a dunk from time to time; however, it was still safer than jumping from a boat to the slippery rocks. A few months later the crew built a lift that could easily off-load supplies from the ship. The ship would come along side the rocks, leaving ample space so as not to smash into the rocks, and the men above could hoist the supplies to safety. It took the crew 7-months to prepare the rock for the actual construction of Tillamook Rock Light House. Their time had been blasting away tons of rock to clear a surface for construction. 30-feet of rock was blasted away for the top of the rock. During the construction period, it became apparent that a light and fog horn was needed on the rock. Crew members used exploded blasting caps to warn off on-coming steamers. Tillamook Light House Comes Alive January 21, 1881 the light was turned on. 133-feet above the crashing sea the Fresnel Lens carried a beam of light out to sea, warning mariners of the dangers. The light house was 62 -feet high. There were not many amenities, a room for each of the 4 working keepers. There were 5 keepers in all; however, they did a rotation shift. One was on shore-leave while the other four were on duty. They had the comforts of a kitchen and enough supplies to last for 6 months. The force of the weather put a toll on the keepers. Storms with winds gusting at 100 miles per hour would flood the light house, break the lens and destroy anything that was not affixed to the rock. It was a grueling time for the keepers, one that required a lot of stamina to sustain the shear force of nature. Often the keepers did not receive supplies due to inclement weather conditions. Supply ships could not safely off-load provisions leaving the keepers with only what they had. On one occasion the keepers only had beans and flour to sustain them. In 1957 the Coast Guard had calculated that Rock Light House was the most expensive light house to maintain. The light house was closed and replaced with an ocean buoy. Tillamook Light House...SOLD!!! A couple of years later the light house was sold for a mere $5,600. In 1980 some Portland businessmen purchased the light house for $50,000. Tillamook Rock Light House now serves as a cemetery at sea. It's a Sea Columbarium. Perhaps you want to rest there in future years. If so, check back with us. We'll have a feature article regarding this final dwelling opportunity. Now, Tillamook Rock Light House is one of the private Light houses along the Oregon Coast. You can see it from Seaside, Cannon Beach and Ecola State Park. Enjoy, Craig Dahl Return to Northwest Travel Tips We're also the Senior Editors for Love Quotes For You, Abolish Back Pain, and Luxury Romantic Vacations; we've brought the Best of the worlds together, Love, Health & Travel.
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