This lighthouse holds the title of northwesternmost light on the contiguous United States coast. It sits on Tatoosh Island at the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, located within the Makah Indian Reservation in Clallam County, Washington.
Construction began in 1854 based on a design by Ammi B. Young. By 1857, it was firing a first-order lens into the fog as Washington Territory's third lighthouse. To keep ships from hitting rocks, a fog signal building with a 12-inch steam whistle was built on the island in 1872.
The first-order lens was swapped for a fourth-order lens in 1932, then a modern optic in 1977. Finally, in 2008, the Coast Guard decommissioned the main light in favor of a 30-foot skeletal structure with a solar-powered beacon using six-year solar pack batteries.
The Makah tribe owns the island and the Coast Guard started cleaning up the site in 2009 to prepare for the transfer. However, a structural assessment by Cardinal Architecture and SSF found that the buildings require emergency repairs to prevent further collapse. There is currently no funding available for the USCG to undertake these repairs.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Kyle McLonely
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