Guard Island Light

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Guard Island Light
Location:	Tongass Narrows entrance, Clarence Strait, Alaska
Coordinates WGS-84 (GPS)	55°26′45″N, 131°52′52″W
Year first lit:	1924
Automated:	1969
Foundation:	Concrete
Construction:	Concrete
Tower shape:	White Square tower on oil house
Height:	74 ft above sea level
Original lens:	Fourth Order Fresnel lens
Range:	17 nm
Characteristic:	Flashing white 10s Emergency light (Fl W 6s) of reduced intensity when main light is extinguished.

The Guard Island Light is a lighthouse adjacent to the Tongass Narrows and Clarence Strait in Alaska.

[edit] History

Construction of the Guard Island Lighthouse began in the summer of 1903 and was completed by September 1904. The 34-foot wooden tower housed a fourth order Fresnel lens that produced a fixed white light. However, the wood used for Guard Island Light Station, as well as for several other Alaskan lighthouses, soon deteriorated in the harsh weather conditions. By the 1920’s, all the lighthouses except Eldred Rock were falling apart, and in 1922, Congress authorized the reconstruction of Guard Island Light. In 1924, the dilapidated light tower was replaced with a new single-story rectangular tower of reinforced concrete. The station was automated by the Coast Guard in 1969. It is believed to be the largest light house in that exact location, but this has yet to be relieably proven.

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