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THE ALKI POINT LIGHTHOUSE
by Lisa Mighetto Seattle is a city best viewed from the water. The downtown skyline, dominated by the Space Needle on one side and the snowy majesty of Mt. Rainier on the other, never fails to impress. Mariners look for another iconic landmark, the Alki Point Lighthouse, which has greeted vessels at Elliott Bay’s southern entrance for more than a century. Over the years I have explored this beacon from my sailboat, kayak, and dinghy. Day and night, it is a welcome sight on the water — one that signals “home” to me. Unlike the coastal lights that sit on isolated bluffs, towering above crashing surf (such as North Head; see 48° North’s November 2021 issue) the Alki Point beacon seems accessible and visibly connected to nearby communities. Alki Point, which extends into Puget Sound from West Seattle, marks a convergence of Indigenous cultures, settler colonial history, maritime commerce, and residential development. This is the traditional land of the Duwamish — Seattle’s first people — and it is near the place where the Denny party landed in 1851, launching an era of colonization that expanded along the shores of Elliott Bay throughout the 19th century. Puget Sound served as a water highway for the new city, which became a major supply point for the Yukon and Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush (1897-1898). Seattle’s sheltered, deepwater harbor and its central location in the Salish Sea made it ideal for marine transportation. During the 1910s, the steamers of the mosquito fleet made regular calls, connecting the city’s passengers and freight with other local ports. LIGHT STATION FEATURES Improved navigational aids were crucial during this period of growth, replacing earlier lights that appear crude by today’s standards. At Alki Point during the late 19th century, for example, a lantern suspended from a post — holding enough fuel for eight days — guided vessels through the southern approach to Elliott Bay. The new century called for something more substantial, 48º NORTH
resulting in the construction of a 37-foot octagonal concrete and masonry tower with an attached fog signal structure. The Alki Point Lighthouse became operational in 1913. Painted white, the tower included a fourth-order Fresnel lens, typically used to mark shoals, reefs, and harbor entrances. This lens featured multiple bull’s-eye panels and measured more than two feet in height and 20 inches in diameter, weighing approximately 500 pounds. A clockwork mechanism, powered by a suspended weight, rotated the lens every ten seconds, producing a group of five white flashes followed by a fivesecond eclipse. To keep the lens revolving, the weight was wound every five hours. While the lamp used kerosene in the early years, by 1918 an electric light provided illumination. Visible for 12 miles, the beacon at Alki Point became a familiar sight to vessels in the busy shipping lanes west of the city. The light station also featured a three-trumpet fog signal, invented and manufactured by Celadon L. Daboll of New London, Connecticut. The sound came from two engines that produced compressed air, passing across a vibrating reed. Trumpets projected the blast in three directions. In 1947, an electric single stage Worthington Air Compressor and twin LeslieTyphon horns replaced the original equipment, producing two blasts every 30 seconds. Locals were aware of this signal, on shore as well as from the water. “As a navigation aid, the Alki horn does pretty well on dry land,” reported a tongue-in-cheek article in the Seattle Daily Times. “Gauging their positions by the sound whenever the fog clamps down, veteran residents of the area can drive their cars smack into their garages with their eyes closed.” (Dec. 12, 1943). THE KEEPERS AND THE ALKI COMMUNITY Residing in two large houses behind the tower, the light station keepers maintained close ties with the local community. Henry Mahler, the first head keeper, served for 17 years before retiring in 1930. His daughter Margaret, who was born in a
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