Historical Vignettes
Eldred Rock Lighthouse

In the stormy waters of the Lynn Canal sits a small island surrounded by majestic, snow covered mountains.  The island is called Eldred Rock, and for over 100 years it has been the home of the Eldred Rock Lighthouse.

Eldred Rock is the oldest original Alaskan Lighthouse building.  The octagonal building is constructed of the same huge timbers brought to the island by the US Government in 1905.  The light was situated 91 feet above sea level and had a range of more than 15 miles.  The fog signal was a first order, compressed air siren.  In addition to the lighthouse and quarters, there is a boathouse, tramways and other small outbuildings used for storage and maintenance.

First lit on June 1, 1906 and one of the remotest lighthouses in North America, the Eldred Rock Lighthouse was built after some disastrous shipwrecks in the vicinity, especially during the 1898 Gold Rush, when the Lynn Canal was full of steamships bringing miners to Skagway for their climb over Chilkoot Pass.

Perhaps the most spectacular wreck of the time was during February of 1898, when the steamship Clara Nevada went down adjacent to the rock under suspicious circumstances.  As many as 75 lives and 850 bounds of gold were lost.  There were four survivors, and the gold has never been discovered or the mystery of the disaster solved.  This helped bring about the support in Washington D.C. to have navigational aides in Alaska.

The Clara Nevada


Fresnel Lens

The lighthouse keepers were supplied by ships and launches from Haines that brought food, movies, mail, fuel and fresh water.  Due to severe storms, keepers in the past were sometimes unable to leave the building, and in the 1930s a keeper died on the rock.  For ten days they could not even call for help.

Eldred Rock is home to diverse wildlife.  Otters and many seabirds, including oystercatchers, make their regular home there.  Whales are a common sight in the vicinity, and seals and endangered Stellar sea lions congregate there.

The original lens was a third order Fresnel lens (2100 candle power), made in Paris, France.  It was first rotated by pulleys and lighted by kerosene.  We at the Sheldon Museum & Cultural Center now proudly display it in our collection.


The Latest on the Lighthouse
Eldred Rock Lighthouse was decommissioned in 1973 and has been operated remotely since then.  In recent years, the Coast Guard has only maintained the beacon, and the building has fallen into disrepair.

The Eldred Rock Lighthouse Committee, under the auspices of the Sheldon Museum & Cultural Center, is working to gain the lease of Eldred Rock from the Coast Guard in hopes of renovating the lighthouse and it's outbuildings.  Perhaps someday, the lighthouse will be restored to it's former glory, and open to the public.

In September 2005, the major delay in conveying Eldred Rock was a land issue with the U. S. Forest Service. This issue has been resolved, wording agreed upon among agencies, and now, only legislation must be passed to legalize the agreement. We are also working through the Haines Borough lobbyist to possibly have it conveyed legislatively.

Thanks to Dave Seris, U. S. Coast Guard in Juneau, maintenance was completed on the lighthouse in August 2005. He worked diligently to find funding to send a five-person work crew to repaint building exteriors, repair and/or replace doors and windows, fix a roof leak and other minor repairs.

As of May 2009, there have been no further developments.

The Sheldon Museum and the Eldred Rock Lighthouse Committee
CANNOT give permission to visit the island or the lighthouse. 
There is no dock to land on the island and no facilities.

For further information on Maritime History please view the following links:
Maritime History • Tlingit Subsistence Fishing

Blythe Carter, 2003
(c) Sheldon Museum & Cultural Center, Inc. Box 269 Haines, AK 99827  1(907) 766-2366
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Box 269, Haines, AK
99827 - Phone: (907) 766-2366
museumdirector@aptalaska.net