Click image to enlarge
|
Columbia River - Willamette River Lighthouse, ca.1910.
Image scanned from notecard purchased in 2006.
In the private collection of Lyn Topinka.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Columbia River looking downstream from Kelley Point, with mouth of the Willamette River entering from left behind pilings.
Image taken September 13, 2003.
|
Columbia River Lighthouses ...
|
Four lighthouses have been located near the mouth of the Columbia River and two more were located inland. They are the
Cape Disappointment Lighthouse (1856), Point Adams Lighthouse (1875),
North Head Lighthouse (1898), and the Desdemona Sands Lighthouse (1902), and inland were the Warrior Rock Lighthouse (1888), at the lower mouth of the Willamette River, and the Willamette River Lighthouse (1895), at the upper mouth of the Willamette.
-
"... On a case-by-case basis Congress appropriated funds for design and construction of important facilities. These included lighthouses: Cape Arago (1866), Cape Blanco (1870), Yaquina Bay (1872), Cape Foulweather (1873), Point Adams (1875), Tillamook Rock (1881), Warrior Rock (1888) at the mouth of the Willamette River, Cape Meares (1890), Umpqua River, Heceta Head, Coquille River (all 1894), and Desdemona Sands (1905 [error ???, 1902, see below]). The goal was to create a system of stations with interlocking lights. On a clear night at sea, a mariner might expect to sight at any point a distinctive beacon on shore to pinpoint the location. Fog signals powered by steam engines blasted warnings from a number of the stations to tell captains to drop anchor or beat a retreat until the mists cleared. ..."
[Oregon State "BlueBook" website, 2006]
|
Willamette River Lighthouse, 1895 to 1935 ...
Between 1895 and the 1935 a lighthouse existed at the mouth of the Willamette River with the Columbia, near Kelley Point.
"A tinted photographic postcard. The legend in red at upper left reads
"Lighthouse at junction of the Columbia and the Willamette Rivers." The
lighthouse, which stands in the middle of the water, is a wooden structure
with a metal roof. The wooden pilings and beams supporting the living
quarters are built in a square, but the building itself is octagonal. On
the lowest level is a fenced deck surrounding the building; the level
above that features four tall gable windows, one looking to each of the
four directions. At the top is a fenced widow's walk. On the left side of
the building can be seen a lantern and a tall pole, perhaps a lightening
rod. On the shore beyond the lighthouse are trees. The lighthouse was
built near Kelly Point in 1895. In 1935 the lighthouse was electrified and
no longer needed keepers to light the lantern or ring the fog bell. It was
sold and moved during the 1940s and burned during the 1950s"
Source:
"Oregon Digital Archives", University of Oregon Libraries, 2018.
|
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Penny Postcard: Columbia River - Willamette River Lighthouse, ca.1910.
Penny Postcard, ca.1910, "Light House at the Junction of Columbia and Willamette Rivers.". Published by Portland Post Card Co., Portland, Oregon. In the private collection of Lyn Topinka.
|
Willamette River Lighthouse, 1899 ...
|
Name: Willamette River
Location: In the water, off the N. end of Nigger Tom Island, Oreg., east side of the Willamette River, at its junciton with the Columbia River
Latitude, north, Longitude, west: 45 39 (02), 122 45 (53)
Characteristic of light: Fixed red.
Order of light: Lens lantern.
Description of Station: White, one-and-one-half-story frame dwelling, with lead-colored trimmings and red roof, on a platform on piles.
When established: 1895.
Fog signal: Bell struck by machinery every 10 seconds.
Source:
"Lights and Fog Signals of the United States", 1899, Government Printing Office.
|
|
Willamette River Light, 1921 ...
|
Notice to Mariners.
"Oregon -- Columbia river: Willamette dike light established November 22, 1921; fixed red of 20-candlepower; 23 feet above water on pile structure at outer end of dike at east side of entrance to Willamette river."
Source:
"Morning Oregonian", November 30, 1921, Historic Oregon Newspapers Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, 2018.
|
|
Willamette River Light, 1935 ...
"In 1935 the lighthouse was electrified and
no longer needed keepers to light the lantern or ring the fog bell. It was
sold and moved during the 1940s and burned during the 1950s"
Source:
"Oregon Digital Archives", University of Oregon Libraries, 2018.
|
|
Willamette River Light, 1942 ...
"The Willamette River Light is located on the end of the dike at the eastern side of the entrance to the river at Kelly Point. The light is shown from a house painted with black and red horizontal bands, on a while pile structure, 24 feet above water. A fog signal is sounded on an electric bell; the signal is not sounded from June 1 to August 31."
Source:
From the 1942 "Coast Pilot".
|
|
Willamette River Light, 1951 ...
"The Willamette River Light is on the end of the dike at the eastern side of the entrance to the river at Kelley Point. The light is shown from a house painted with black and red horizontal bands on a white pile structure, 20 feet above water. A fog signal is sounded on an electric bell; the signam is not sounded from June 1 to August 31."
Source:
From the 1951 "Coast Pilot".
|
|
Willamette River Light, 1948 and 1959 ...
|
The 1948 U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Chart #6155, "Port of Portland", shows "Old Lighthouse" close to the tip of Kelley Point, and "Bell" further into the Columbia River off the shallows. The 1959 chart has the lighthouse gone, but the bell marking is still there.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Map detail, 1948, Willamette River Lighthouse.
NOAA Chart #6155, "Port of Portland", showing the location of the old Willamette River Lighthouse and the Willamette River Bell. Original Chart courtesy NOAA database, 2018.
|
|
"The Golden Age of Postcards" ...
|
|
The early 1900s was the "Golden Age of Postcards", with the "Penny Postcard" being a popular way to send greetings to family and friends.
Today the Penny Postcard has become a snapshot of history.
|
|
From the Journals of Lewis and Clark ...
|
|
Return to