1871-1900 Yaquina Head Lighthouse Letter books

Office of the Light House Inspector, Thirteenth District Portland, Oregon July 7th June 30th 1885

Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report of operations for the fiscal year ended June 30th 1885 In this district there are – Light-houses, and Lighted beacons ------------------------------ 39 Day of Unlighted beacons ------------------------------------------14 Fog signals operated by steam ------------------------------------4 Fog signals struck by machinery -----------------------------------2 Whistling –buoys in position ----------------------------------------2 Other buoys in position ----------------------------------------------127 Buoys, Duplicate, and spare ----------------------------------------106 Steamer, “Shubrick” Buoy tender and for supplies and Inspection – 1 Light-Houses The numbers preceding the names of the stations correspond with the List of Light Houses

therefore be necessary to land the supplies at Yaquina Bay to guard against any unnecessary risks, I have examined the channel and directed the Light-Keeper at that station to place range poles on certain points on shore to mark the channel in crossing the bar, hereafter I think the Tender will be able to enter that place without any difficulty where she can land supplies and replace the necessary buoys. Very Respectfully, Your obedient Servant JH Spotts Com. USW Inspector

Two fine tenders were commissioned and attached to the 13th Naval District during the war, the BASSWOOD, 1944, and the BLUEBELL, the following year. The Basswood was transferred after a year's general aide to navigation duty which involved servicing the isolated units and the LORAN project on Vancouver Island. In addition to these large tenders, the CO-65302-D was added and employed in buoy work and the maintenance of minor aids on the Upper Columbia River between The Dalles, Oregon and Pasco, Washington.

With the scarcity of Coast Guard Cutters in this district during the war, a vast amount of the assistance work fell upon the tenders. The increased size of the fishing fleet had the effect of causing more rescue operations, and in these, the tenders did an extraordinarily fine job.

(Photo inserted here)

Bringing a buoy in for overhaul aboard a tender

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to the 350 watt and 750 watt electric lamps of today; this limitation permitted slight variation in the range of the lighted beacons. The lenses increased and magnified the light as they revolved to produce a flashing effect.

Reminicenses of the Lighthouse men who tended these lights during the years when the Northwest was, for the most part, a mountainous wilderness, make interesting listening. Even after the invention of railroads, telephones and the automobile, trips to coastal Light Stations involved travel by boat, stage and horseback. Stage drivers informed passengers before the journey began, that there was no guarantee that the stage could complete the trip, in which event, the traveller made the remainder of his journey on foot. Seasonal rains, washouts, and the miserable conditions of the "roads" (deer trails, or Indian paths) made such stipulations a necessity. Today's brief trip from Bandon to Cape Blanco, Oregon, can be made either way in a fraction of an hour; earlier travellers spent three days; The uncertainty of transportation was illustrated in the following anecdote: An engineer of the Lighthouse Service was called to Destruction Island to repair the boilers. A buoy tender took the engineer to the Island and he requested that the tender return on Friday to pick him up. Friday came - and went; another Friday - no tender; a third Friday - and in the distance the curl of a tender's smoke was seen on the horizon (in those days the smoke trails of the various type ships identified them to the men whose idle hours were spent watching the horizon for the vessels that occasionally appeared there.) When the Master of the tender was admonished for his tardiness, he replied, "You said to come on Friday; isn't this Friday?". Time was of little import.

Life on the Light Stations until the middle thirties was a world of its own. Because of their locations there were no telephone facilities, and commercial electric power did not reach to the outposts. There were generally two keepers and their families assigned to each station and the competition for the most tidy and efficient station among the keepers was keen. A few of the isolated stations at Tillamook Rock, Destruction Island, Cape Flattery, etc. had four or five keepers, one on continuous liberty rotation. With the installation of radiobeacons at many of the stations, it became necessary to bring in commercial electric power or generate power at the station. With electricity available, the i.c.v. light was superceded, the fog signals mechanized, and the comforts of the keeper's dwellings increased. Telephone service or radio-telephone service soon followed as

Causes of radiobeacon failures were generally easily repairs, but it was the duration of these failures which the District Coast Guard Office worked incessantly to overcome. Monitor stations experienced great difficulty, at times, in notifying an offending station of its inoperation due to the frequent inability to make radio contact with the radiobeacon station which necessitated routing the message through other stations or agencies. Heavy storms in the area destroyed telephone communication and on occasion, visual signals had to be relayed to certain stations. Alarm units, as noted above, were not perfected, so frequently radiobeacon stations were unaware of their defective operation until notified by the Monitor Station. Had there been some means for notifying, under all conditions, the radiobeacon station of its faulty operation immediately after the failure was detected, the duration of faulty operation would have been greatly reduced.

Although the radiobeacons in this District were not operating at 100% efficiency, it was the opinion of the District Office that the beacons were operating on a par with beacons throughout the continental United States. This was determined by the reports from mariners and airmen who used beacons as navigational aids and was also due to the determination of the Aids to Navigation Officer to increase the efficiency of the beacons.

A radiobeacon buoy with a working range from 7 to 50 miles had been developed and was considered in the 13th Naval District the year before the war. Trials were made on batteries in some of the rough waters along the coast and on the Columbia River Bar. The batteries proved too fragile so dry packs were tested; these, too, developed defects. As the packs cost $40.00 a piece, much experimentation proved too costly. The District Coast Guard Officer saw the advantage of a perfected radiobeacon buoy in that a string of such buoys along the coast, 15 to 20 miles apart on the 30 fathom curve, would eliminate the necessity of the UMATILLA REEF LIGHTSHIP; the removal of the Lightship would counteract the use of tenders servicing the equipment (buoys had to be serviced every 4 months), as well as the cost. The Aids to Navigation Officer and the District Coast Guard Officer were both in favor of the establishment of a radiobeacon buoy at Grays Harbor Entrance where there had been considerable agitation for a Lightship; this station was within easy run for the CGC MANZANITA. Had the buoy proved applicable to conditions at Grays Harbor, buoys could have easily been installed at Duntze Rock, Yaquina Bay, Tillamook Rock, Umpqua, Coos Bay and Wherever tender equipment was available.

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