Collection is open for research.
Gift of Oswald Allik, March 1964 (Lib. Acc. 10063).
In 1878, the United States Congress appropriated $50,000 for a lighthouse to facilitate navigation on the northern coast of Oregon. After officials determined that a lighthouse on Tillamook Head would not provide good visibility for mariners, the location was changed to Tillamook Rock, a small basaltic island located 1.2 miles due west. From 1879 to 1880, quarry workers used dynamite to create a level surface on the island's top, and on June 22, 1880, the cornerstone for the lighthouse was laid. The facility began operations on January 21, 1881.
Duty at the Tillamook Rock Light Station, also known as Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, was hazardous and isolating, as the island was frequently battered by storms. In October 1934, a storm produced waves high enough to surge over the tower and shatter the lighthouse's Fresnel lens. This storm also severed the telegraph cable and washed away the landing gear. The lighthouse keepers eventually made contact with the mainland by using a transmitter that keeper Henry Jenkins had constructed from spare parts.
Among the lighthouse's head keepers were William Dahlgren from 1901 to 1909, Robert Gerloff from 1903 to 1928, George Wheeler from 1929 to 1952, and Oswald Allik from the late 1930s to 1957. The U.S. Coast Guard closed the lighthouse on September 1, 1957. By that time, it was the nation's most expensive lighthouse to maintain and radar had made it obsolete.
Since its closure, the lighthouse has been sold several times. In the 1980s and 1990s, it operated as the Eternity at Sea Columbarium, where clients could pay between $1,000 and $5,000 to have their ashes interred. Tillamook Rock is part of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge, and the lighthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Source: "Tillamook Rock Lighthouse" by Cameron La Follette and Douglas Deur, Oregon Encyclopedia,
Tillamook Rock Light Station records, Mss 144, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Collection was processed prior to 1971, and reprocessed circa 2010. The visitors register book was rebound at an unknown date.
Other materials at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library relating to Tillamook Rock Light Station include the Joseph Hornung papers, Mss 2234; "Report upon the construction of Tillamook Rock Light Station, sea coast of Oregon," by G.L. Gillespie (call number VAULT 627.92 G478r 1881); "'Terrible Tilly' (Tillamook Rock Lighthouse): The Biography of a Lighthouse: An Oregon Documentary," by Bert Webber and Margie Webber (call number 623.894 W371t); "Tillamook Light," by James Gibbs, Jr. (call number 623.89 G443t); and the marine vertical file Lighthouses - Tillamook Lighthouse.
The collection consists of records of the Tillamook Rock Light Station (also known as Tillamook Rock Lighthouse), located west of Tillamook Head, Oregon. The records consist of loose papers, two record books, and a visitors register book. Most of the loose papers are telegrams and other correspondence relating to a severe storm that hit the lighthouse in October 1934 and its aftermath. This correspondence was primarily between lighthouse keeper William Hill and lighthouse superintendent R. R. Tinkham, but also includes correspondence from keeper Henry Jenkins and assistant superintendent E. C. Merrill, and a letter in Spanish from the Mexican Lighthouse Service asking for a translation of a magazine article about the lighthouse's experience during the storm. Other loose papers in the collection include historical information about the lighthouse, including information compiled by lighthouse keeper Oswald Allik circa 1964; an 1886 circular about usage of oil; an 1892 notice regarding charts showing the lighthouse's position; information about Heceta Head Lighthouse at Florence, Oregon; and photocopies of newspaper clippings, primarily about the 1934 storm or the death of lighthouse keeper William Hill.
The two record books in the collection consist of a booklet with information about supplies, particularly oil, from 1926 to 1929; and a record of absences from 1926 to 1950. The register book lists visitors from 1896 to 1957 and their home towns.
The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.