Humboldt Lighthouses
Humboldt Harbor Lighthouse,
One distinctive feature of Humboldt County’s history has been our dependence on the sea. Early European/American settlers came in the 1850s looking for gold, farmlands, timber and oil. And it was largely by sea that they came. Overland access was possible, but the routes were long, difficult and dangerous. Until railroads and highways connected us to the outside world in the early 20th century, it was largely by sailing ships and later by steamers that we were connected to the outside world.
The problem with depending on ocean transportation, however, particularly on our rocky and foggy coast, is that it was dangerous. History records dozens of often spectacular wrecks in our waters. The response was construction of lighthouses. In the early years, these lights were fueled with local oil from whales, lard or ground cabbage seeds.
The first area light was completed on Humboldt Bay’s north spit in 1856. Over time, however, earthquakes, shifting sand foundations, and the fact that the tower was just too short to be seen adequately from sea, led to the station’s abandonment in 1892. Its lamp and lens were moved to the newly constructed lighthouse on Table Bluff on the south end of the bay.
The much higher location and the location there of a naval wireless station in the 1920s meant that this site continued in use until most lighthouses were electrified or closed in the 1950s. The tower itself was moved to Woodley Island to become a tourist attraction, and the Table Bluff site itself became for a time a religious commune. Today a public park on Table Bluff offers the spectacular views that once made it an ideal lighthouse location.
Further south in Humboldt, two other lighthouses had something in common. The Cape Mendocino light built in 1868 and further south the Punta Gorda built in 1911 were placed along some of our wildest and most dangerous coast. Inland too was largely wilderness, and the stations were hard to reach and supply. As always, houses were built for the keepers and their families, but those stationed there had to content to live in self-reliant isolation. The Punta Gorda post was referred to as “the Alcatraz of Coast Guard stations.”
When the Cape Mendocino station closed, it was still considered historic and sparked a protracted battle among communities. Eventually the tower itself went to Shelter Cove while the light was housed in a tower replica at the front gate of Ferndale’s fair grounds. At Punta Gorda, the tower itself survives, but the little village it supported was razed. Even so, the scenic site still rewards a long hike to view it.
Of course, Humboldt Bay was not the only harbor in the county that needed lighthouse protection. Trinidad was also an active port supplying our gold rush and fishing industry. To guide ships there, a lighthouse was built on Trinidad Head in 1871. Although high above the crashing surf, at times waves overtopped it and put out the light. When this station was also electrified, the Trinidad Civic Club housed the original light in a replica tower to serve as a memorial to lives lost at sea. Currently this edifice is being relocated due to the unstable cliff and the proximity to the Wiyot village site of Tsurai. The original tower on the Head is still open occasionally to visitors.
Electrified lights and fog horns still protect our coast though the nostalgic glamor of the old lighthouse towers is largely gone. But those wishing to learn more about our lighthouses or any other aspect of local history are invited to visit the Humboldt County Historical Society – where we always endeavor to shed light on our past.