Patos Island Light

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Patos Island Light
Location San Juan Islands, Washington
Coordinates 48°47′20″N 122°58′17″W / 48.789°N 122.9715°W / 48.789; -122.9715
Year first lit 1908
Automated 1974
Foundation Surface
Construction Wood
Tower shape Square
Height 38 ft
Original lens Fourth order Fresnel lens

Patos Island Lighthouse is a lighthouse at Alden Point on the western tip of Patos Island in the San Juan Islands of Washington state, USA.

The original light station was a post light and third-class Daboll trumpet fog signal. Beginning operation on November 30, 1893, the light was used as a navigational aid to steamships traveling to ports around Georgia Strait such as Vancouver, and up the Inside Passage to Alaska.

The lighthouse was improved in 1908 with a new fog signal and a 38-foot tower, which housed a fourth-order Fresnel lens. The light was automated in 1974. Today, it has a modern lens which flashes a white light once every six seconds and has two red sectors marking dangerous shoals off the island. The original fourth-order Fresnel lens, which was also used at the Alki Point lighthouse, is now in private ownership in Oregon.

The early years of the light were recorded in The Light on the Island, the childhood recollections of Helene Glidden, daughter of Edward Durgan who was lighthouse keeper from 1905-1913.

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