Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1886-01-14
TILLAMOOK ROCK.
How the Lighthouse Was Built,
Despite the Wild Sea.

How the Lighthouse Was Built,
Despite the Wild Sea.
"Well, yes, I've seen my share OF
rough life, and have been in a number
of tight places at one time and another,
since l first came to Oregon, in 1850;
but the time when I felt most certain
that my last hours had come was the
9TH of January, 1880, on old Tillamook
Rock"
The speaker was typical Oregonian
pioneer, lean, bony, muscular; man
without bit of nonsense or brag about
him; one whom all the world could not
scare, and whom no emergency would
confuse.
We were at this time loading with
round timber for spars and masts at
Astoria-those beautiful, clear trunks
of Oregon fir for which the ship-build-
ers of New England now send to the
Columbia River, away round Cape
Horn.
Sitting on deck, that evening, with
the full moon just looking up overthe
distant peaks of Mt St Helen's, our
sailor lads, for two or three of whom
this was their first voyage up the coast,
were on hand for one of Bill Harris
Oregon experiences. Bill was the man
loading us with lumber, and it was he
whose remark have recorded above.
''On Tillamook Rock?" questioned
several voices. "What, I'illamook
Light Rock, twenty miles down the
coast from the bar?''
1.-The same, only there wasn't any
light on it then. We were blasting
that winter for the foundation of the
present lighthouse.
We had noticed the new lighthouse
rs we bore in, to make the mouth of
the Columbia. 1t stands on lofty,
solitary rock, rising out of the sea, off
Tillamook Head, bold promontory of
this rugged coast / remarked that it
Looked ugly and dangerous.
''Well, it is an ugly place." said
Harris. 1.-The fact is, putting that
lighthouse there has been one of the
boldest engineering feats of the CEN
fury, though it has never attracted any
particular attention, for it was all done
as quietly as clock-work, and no brag
ging. worked there over year, and
know what I'm saying. For years
they had talked of light there. or
else on the head back of it, for you
know what a blind, dangerous open
ing the mouth of the river makes. But
everybody who had ever been near the
rock said that it could never be done;
that no mortal man could land on the
rock, much less face gale there.
1.-The sea is never still about Tilla-
nook. 1t has a manner of rising up
suddenly, and ebbing offround the rock
in an awfully tumultuous fashion.
There is tremendously strong water
all round, with an undertow setting so
powerful at times as to draw small
boat down, due to. suck holes among
the cliffs, under water may be, The
rock itself is an irregular, jagged butte
of rough, black basalt, rising abruptly
out of the ocean, with two hundred and
forty feet of water all around it. At
that time it rose one hundred and six
teen feet above the sea level in calm
weather, but during severe storms the
waves dashed over it. On the west, or
seaward side, it leaned out-save for a
little shelf or ledge just above the
water-overhanging the sea, the over
Set amounting to about twenty feet at
the summit. On the east, or landward
face, the surface inclined upward at an
angle of thirty degrees, or rising, till
within twenty feet of the crest, where
the rock rose perpendicularly. From
the south side there was great crack,
twenty-five feet in width. which nearly
divided it in two unequal sections. Into
this crack, or fissure, the sea constantly
threw itself with terrific force, and an
awful gurgling roar, to which was
added the loud, dismal 'youk' of the
sea-lions, the only living creatures
(Which dared to approach these rugged,
Yea-bcleagured lodges.
Finally. the number of wrecks and
the necessity of having either the head
or the rock lighted, drove the Light
house Board to take it up. Major G.
L. Gillespie, then Chief Engineer of
the board, was directed to examine the
location, and with his usual courage
he at once said that the light must be
put on the rock. 1 suppose there
weren't two men here at Astoria who
did not say: 1t can't be done 1t
was looked upon. as foolhardy pro-
iect, sure to result in the loss of life.
''This was in the spring of 1870, but
1t was not until June that any vessel
dared to go near the rock. At length,
on the twenty-second day of the month,
the revenue cutter 'Corwin," with Mr..
III. S. Wheeler. C. E., and party of
sailors, steamed down to Tillamook.
1t was very calm day, and BY using
'surfboat' two sailors were landed on
:he northeast side, which seemed that
day to be the lee side. But they had
hardly climbed up the slope. when the
Sea suddenly rose up threateningly,
without any apparent cause, and near
" .,wamped the surf-boat. 1t was i'm
possible to approach again, to get the
new men off the rock, but after an hour
or two lines were thrown to them, and
BY jumping into the sea they were res
cued.
"A few rough measurements as to |
the height and dimensions of the rock
were made, but more careful survey |
was necessary, and for this purpose |
Mr.. John X. Trewavas, master-mascn
of high rcpute in Oregon, was asked to
undertake the measurements. The gen.
tlcman had had large experience in
light house building in England.