Old Alcatraz Light
Chronology of California Lighthouses
The 19th Century
| 1851 | The United States Coast Survey selects the sites of the first seven California lighthouses.They are Alcatraz, Point Loma, Point Conception, Santa Barbara, Point Pinos, Fort Point, Humboldt Bay |
| 1853 | January 29. The Oriole arrives at San Francisco with materials for California's first seven lighthouses. The Winfield Scott runs aground at Anacapa Island. The Carrier Pigeon wrecks at Pigeon Point. The Tennessee runs straight into Point Bonita. Alcatraz and Fort Point Light Stations completed. They await the arrival of their lenses from France. Fort Point Lighthouse torn down to make way for military fortification. |
| 1854 | June 1. Alcatraz Light begins operation, the first on the West Coast. Phineas Banning requests that the U.S. Lighthouse Service build a station at Point Fermin, at the entrance to San Pedro Harbor. The San Francisco runs into Point Bonita. Money for the construction of the Point Reyes Lighthouse is appropriated. December. The Farallons Light must be rebuilt to accomodate the first order Fresnel lense before it can begin operations. |
| 1855 | February 1. Point Pinos Light begins operation. The lense is acquired from Fort Point Light. March. Second Fort Point Light begins operation. April 30. Point Bonita Light begins operations from a 355 foot brick tower. November 15. Point Loma light begins operation. December. The Farallons Light begins operations on Southeast Farallons Island. |
| 1856 | February 1. After many construction problems, the Point Conception Lighthouse begins operation. August. A twenty pounder cannon is installed at Point Bonita. It is California's first fog signal. Fog bell installed at Alcatraz. December 1. Santa Barbara Lighthouse begins operations. December 10. Crescent City (Seal Rock) Light begins operations. December 20. Humboldt Bay Light begins operations on North Spit. Construction of the Light has been delayed by the sinking of the Oriole. |
| 1858 | The Lucas wrecks on Southeast Farallons Island in the fog. The tragedy inspires lighthouse keeper Hartmann Bache to devise a fog signal that uses a train whistle blown by the rush of air caused by the sea breaking in a natural passage. The Shubrick comes around the Cape Horn to begin service as a lighthouse tender. |
| 1860 | California politicians complain about the delays in constructing the Point Reyes Light. |
| 1861 | The Sea Nymph runs aground at Point Reyes Beach when its captain believes he is sailing into the Golden Gate. It is the first of seven ships which will be lost here before the planned light station is completed after the Civil War. |
| 1864 | Third Fort Point light erected upon the parapets of Fort Winfield Scott. This is constructed so as to facilitate easy dismantling in the event of war. |
| 1865 | The Brother Jonathan wrecks upon St. George's Reef, at the cost of 150 lives. Many years will pass before a lighthouse can be approved, designed, and built atop the navigation hazard. |
| 1867 | September. The Shubrick is wrecked 30 miles south of Cape Mendocino while bringing construction supplies for the new light. The cargo is lost, but the tender is salvaged. |
| 1868 | Money is appropriated for the construction of a first order light at Año Nuevo or nearby after two major shipwrecks near Pigeon Point. December 1. Cape Mendocino Light begins operations. |
| 1869 | December 31. Santa Cruz Light begins operation. |
| 1870 | The Lighthouse Board decides to build a light on East San Pablo Point. When the owners balk, they move the light's location to East Brother Island. May 1. Point Arena Light begins operations. December 1. Point Reyes Light begins operation. |
| 1871 | September 10. Pigeon Point's steam whistle begins operation. Steam whistle begins operations at Point Reyes. December 1. Trinidad Head Light begins operations. |
| 1872 | The Lighthouse Service selects a site at Point Fermin. The Point Conception fog bell is replaced by a steam whistle. May 29. Año Nuevo fog signal begins operations. The first blast stampedes local cows to the beach. November 15. Pigeon Point Light begins operation. It's First Order Fresnel lense is recycled from North Carolina's Cape Hatteras Light. (Despite local legend to the contrary, the lense is not a war-prize. Cape Hatteras is being rebuilt and updated at the time.) |
| 1873 | Mare Island Lighthouse begins operations. An earthquake cracks the ground at the Cape Mendocino Light.< |
| 1874 | The Lighthouse Board recommends that a light be constructed at Point Sur. March 1. East Brother Light begins operation. May 1. East Brother's fog signal starts to blow. December 15. Point Fermin and Port Hueneme Lighthouses begins operation. |
| 1875 | February 15. Piedras Blancas Light begins operation. March 1. A 12-inch steam whistle begins tooting at Point Montara. The Ventura is lost near Point Sur. Yerba Buena Light Station and Depot begins operation. A twelve inch steam whistle is added to the Humboldt Bay Light. |
| 1876 | A construction tunnel is drilled through the rocks at Point Bonita. A bridge linking the lighthouse keeper's quarters and the top of Fort Winfield Scott is constructed at Fort Point. |
| 1877 | February 1. The new Point Bonita light begins operation. An earthquake cracks the foundations of the Humboldt Bay Light. |
| 1878 | Fog bell installed at East Brother. |
| 1880 | January. The steam screw lighthouse tender Mazanita begins service. |
| 1881 | March. Inspector D.J. McDougal and three men drown when their boat capsizes off Cape Mendocino. McDougal's wife is appointed keeper of Mare Island Light. Egg collecting on the Farallons is made illegal. |
| 1882 | June 20. Second Point Conception Lighthouse begins operations. |
| 1883 | September 10. Lime Point fog signal begins operations. The two keepers of Año Nuevo and two local ranchers are swept out to sea while rowing to shore. The steamer Los Angeles is unable to find any survivors or traces of the victims. New fog bell installed on Alcatraz. |
| 1885 | The Lighthouse Board recommends a light for the port of San Luis Obispo. Winter storms flood the cellar of the Humboldt Bay Light. The Lighthouse Board decides to move the light to Table Bluff. |
| 1886 | Congress appropriates money for the Point Sur Light. Point Knox fog signal established on Angel Island. The Madrona replaces the Manzanita, which is reassigned to the Pacific Northwest. |
| 1887 | Congress appropriates money for the construction of the San Luis Obispo Light. Keepers run the Point Reyes fog signal continuously for 2070 hours! |
| 1888 | The Queen of the Pacific sinks while trying to reach the Port of San Luis Obispo. |
| 1889 | The Lighthouse Service anchors a bell-buoy near Mile Rock, just outside the Golden Gate. Work begins on construction of the Los Angeles Harbor breakwater. Due to political infighting, the station will not be completed for 21 years. August 1. Point Sur Light begins operation. |
| 1890 | January 27. Oakland Harbor Light begins operations. June 30. San Luis Obispo Light begins operation. August 1. Ballast Point Lighthouse begins operation near entrance to San Diego Bay. It is one of two replacements for the Old Point Loma Light. A lens lantern is mounted on a water tank at Año Nuevo. |
| 1891 | February 16. Roe Island Light begins operations. March 23. Second Point Loma light begins operation. First Point Loma Lighthouse decommissioned due to fog shrouding the light, situated at 455 feet above the sea. |
| 1892 | October 20. After many years of planning and construction, the St. George Reef Light begins operations. It is one of the most expensive ever constructed at $700,000. October 31. New Humboldt Bay Light at Table Bluff begins operations. December 24. A storm drives the lighthouse keeper's family out of their home at Cape Mendocino. |
| 1896 | July 14. The Columbia wrecks on the rocks at Pigeon Point when her captain mistakes the fog signal for a ship's horn and steers to avoid a collision. |
| 1898 | Lightship No. 70, built in Portland, Oregon, begins service outside the Golden Gate. Fog signal installed at Trinidad Head. |