Menu
WILLAPA BAY
October 21, 1854: "The following items of appropriations relating to Washington Territory, from the civil and diplomatic bill passed at the late session of Congress:
For a lighthouse on Cape Shoalwater, at the entrance to the bay of that name, twenty-five thousand dollars." (Pioneer and Democrat)
June 4, 1858: "The light house authorized at the entrance to Shoalwater Bay will be completed very soon, and it is expected that the facilities for keeping the buoys in proper position will be greatly increased thereafter through the vigilance of the keepers." (Pioneer and Democrat)
June 9, 1859: "Light Out.--The Shoalwater Bay lighthouse, in Washington Territory, is to be discontinued on and after the 1st of September next." (Weekly Oregon Statesman)
September 20, 1867: "Toaks Point Light-house is situated on the low point of land north of the mouth of Shoalwater Bay. It is exposed to the full force of the winds from almost every direction, and is a bleak and dreary place, being surrounded by drifting sands. There is no one living nearer than six or seven miles; so the lighthouse keepers must have a lonely time of it. This light is of the fourth order, and is called a 'fixed light varied by flash.' It has a 'hydraulic' lamp and consumes one and a half quarts of oil per night. The flash occurs precisely every two minutes and lasts about fifteen seconds; it is caused by a plane convex lens, which is made to revolve around the light by clock machinery. At a distance this light (during intervals between flashes) like a brilliant star, until just before the flash, when it is partially eclipsed; and one would think it was about to expire, when suddenly it glares up like the flash of the brightest meteor; then a partial eclipse follows for a moment, when the light is resumed. The lamp tower runs up through the keeper's house and is not more than thirty feet high. The house is built of brick and is large, substantial, convenient and well furnished. There are two keepers. The chief keeper, Mr. G.B. McEwan, receives $1,000, and his assistant, $750 per annum." (Morning Oregonian)
January 10, 1874: "A few nights since a duck flew into the light-house at Shoalwater Bay, about ten o'clock, crashing the glass and badly frightening the inmates who thought the day of judgement had come." (Tri-Weekly Astorian)
December 26, 1940: "The entire south wall of the 82-year-old Willapa lighthouse at North Cove collapsed this morning when undermined by a high tide and heavy surf.
Less than a week ago the light, one of the first built on this coast, was abandoned. The old oil-burning light and the costly French prisms in the station were removed and a temporary light set up about a quarter-mile inshore from the old building." (Centralia Daily Chronicle)
December 27, 1940: "Coast Guards at Aberdeen, Wash., abandoned the 82-year-old North Cove Lighthouse, at the north entrance to Willapa Bay. Part of the wall around the beacon collapsed and the fall of the 45-foot stone lighthouse was imminent." (Berkeley Daily Gazette)