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


First Lighthouse Keeper, Nils Peter Adamson
and Assistant Keeper Scottie Currie,
Eldred Rock Lighthouse 1909.

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.

With the encouragement and support of Board Members Pam Randles and Michael Marks, the Eldred Rock Committee was reactived in 2010.  The Museum Board agreed to fund a few extra hours for Collections & Exhibits Coordinator Karen Meizner to reestablish contact with the Coast Guard, Alaska GEC, National Park Service, and General Services Administration and find out what can be done to lift the lighthouse out of its current state of uncertainty.  We hope to restart the process of moving Eldred Rock through the steps of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act within the next calendar year, and renew our application process.


Fresnel Lens on display at the Sheldon Museum

Eldred Rock Lighthouse has significant historical value to the State of Alaska and to the United States as a whole. This is the oldest remaining lighthouse in Alaska and the only survivor of a series of octagonal frame lighthouses built in the state between 1902 and 1906. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1975.  It is a landmark recognized by thousands of visitors to the Inside Passage and Lynn Canal every summer, beloved by residents traversing the Lynn Canal from Haines or Skagway to Juneau and back.

The Sheldon Museum has had an interest in Eldred Rock lighthouse since 1984, when we received the Fresnel Lens from the lighthouse on loan from the Coast Guard.  The lens has been on display in a beautiful case made by John Carlson since 1986.

With passage of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act (NHLPA) in 2000, a number of interested people from Haines began to pursue obtaining Eldred Rock Lighthouse under the act.  In 2002, the Sheldon Museum's Eldred Rock Lighthouse Committee visited the lighthouse to perform a condition assessment to determine necessary treatment options that would meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties; and consider possible revenue streams. They found a very solid well-built structure, in good shape for its age.

Through NHLPA, the Coast Guard turns its lighthouses over to the General Services Administration (GSA), which then posts it on a list, requesting letters of inquiry.  Eldred Rock appeared briefly on the GSA list of lighthouses to be transferred under NHLPA in 2004, but was quickly pulled off as the result of a claim made on Alaska lighthouses by the US Forest Service.   Passage of The Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2006 (PL109-241), sponsored by Congressman Young, provided for the transfer of underlying lands at Guard Island, Eldred Rock, Mary Island, and Cape Hinchinbrook Light Stations from the Forest Service to the Coast Guard.

Unfortunately, Eldred Rock was not addressed at that time, and, although the Coast Guard had already conducted mitigation on the site, new concerns were voiced by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) about high lead content in the soil.  Consequently, Eldred Rock Lighthouse was returned to Coast Guard jurisdiction pending further mitigation procedures.

At present, the Coast Guard is managing several large mitigation efforts that have a more immediate impact on population centers, and therefore are considered to be a higher priority.  Consequently, Eldred Rock fell to the bottom of the priority list.  In the autumn of 2010, District 17 once again requested funding for the Eldred Rock mitigation efforts and was turned down.

Our next steps are to try to convince the Alaska Congressional Delegation’s help in moving Eldred Rock to the top of the Coast Guard’s priority list and continue to work closely with Coast Guard District 17 and Alaska’s Department of Environmental Control (DEC) to help the Eldred Rock Lighthouse again be eligible for transfer under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act.

The  Marine Exchange of Alaska, headquartered in Juneau, are willing to partner with us to help find and provide funding, resources, workers and transportation for upgrade and maintenance of  the lighthouse for future generations.

If you are interested in joining the Eldred Rock Lighthouse Committee, please contact the Sheldon Museum.
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
Updated by Karen Meizner, 2010
(c) Sheldon Museum & Cultural Center, Inc. Box 269 Haines, AK 99827  1(907) 766-2366
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