Mary Island Lighthouse

Gone is the boathouse, the oil houses, the cart house, the lampposts, and the keeper’s dwellings. All that remains of the structures associated with Mary Island Lighthouse is the lighthouse itself, a concrete shell with a solar panel, battery pack, and a light mounted at its apex. Each year, the trees and undergrowth creep closer to the lighthouse.

Mary Island, located roughly twenty-five miles south of Ketchikan, was named for Admiral John A. Winslow’s daughter, who cruised past the island with her father in 1872.

In 1890, the Lighthouse Board requested funds for a lighthouse and fog signal on Mary Island as ship masters and vessel owners petitioned for a lighthouse and fog-signal at the point. After a study, a light-house and fog-signal could be established at a cost not exceeding $80,000.

The U.S. Government established a customs house on the island in 1891. With the island now inhabited, the Lighthouse Board proposed that one of the custom-house employees maintain a “small, inexpensive light” on Mary Island, reasoning that the light could be built and maintained for a year for just $800. Congress failed to act on the recommendation until the Klondike gold rush of 1897-98 created a dramatic spike in maritime traffic.

In 1899, $300,000 was requested for eleven light stations in Alaska, one of which was to be located on Mary Island. As sufficient funds were not received, requests for additional capital were made the following two years.
In May of 1902, contractors R.M. Henningsen and Thorvald Olsen off-loaded materials near the northeastern end of Mary Island. The point originally selected was Point Winslow but the station was moved about a mile southeast to Cross Point. Construction commenced on Alaska’s fourth lighthouse. The foundation was completed around the first of October, and work continued through the end of the following July. The light was lit for the first time on July 15, 1903.

The lighthouse consisted of an octagonal, one-story building with a smaller octagonal tower extending from its center to a height of nearly fifty feet. The black cylindrical lantern room atop the tower housed a that beamed forth a fixed white light at a focal plane of sixty-seven feet above the water.

On the eastern face of the lighthouse, towards Revillagigedo Channel, was a Daboll trumpet, which served as the station’s fog signal. A pair of galvanized-iron oil houses were placed east of the lighthouse and two one-and-a-half story frame dwellings were farther west. A boathouse and boat launch were also provided to facilitate access to the station. The customs house was relocated to Ketchikan in 1900.
The Mary Island Lighthouse was automated and personnel removed in 1969 in a brief yet formal ceremony on April 15, 1969. Care of the light was transferred to the Coast Guard. In 1970, the remaining dwelling was relocated from Mary Island to Ketchikan, where it is used as a private residence.