Eldred Rock Light

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Eldred Rock Light
Location: Lynn Canal, Alaska
Coordinates
WGS-84 (GPS)
58°58′15″N, 135°13′15″W
Foundation: Masonry
Construction: Wood
Year first lit: 1905
Automated: 1973
Tower shape: Octagonal
Height: 56 ft (91 feet above sea level)
Original lens: Fourth order Fresnel lens
Range: 8 nm
Characteristic: Flashing white light every 6 seconds

The Eldred Rock Light is a lighthouse adjacent to Lynn Canal in Alaska. It is the last of the ten lighthouses constructed in Alaska between 1902 and 1906.

[edit] History

The Lighthouse Board approved plans for a lighthouse on Eldred Rock in 1905 and hoped that hired labor could have the design completed before November and the coming of harsh winter weather. However, due to weather, the lighthouse was not finished until June 1, 1906. A fourth-order Fresnel lens was placed in the lantern room, near the top of the fifty-six foot lighthouse, at a focal plane of ninety-one feet. This unique lens consisted of two bull's-eye panels — one about four feet in diameter and the opposing one a smaller, 14-inch panel. A sheet of red glass was placed between the light source and the larger prism, causing the revolving lens to produce alternating red and white flashes. The light was automated by the United States Coast Guard in 1973 and downgraded to a minor light. The original lens was moved to the museum in Haines in 1978.