Patos Island Lighthouse sits at Alden Point on the western tip of the island, but this wasn't the island's first navigational aid.

Fog signal building with large trumpet

In 1888, the Lighthouse Board recommended a light and fog signal be established on the island to complement one just established on Canada's Saturna Island, on the opposite side of Boundary Pass.

Patos Island is situated at the north entrance to the Canal de Haro, opposite to the Saturna Island, British America, on the easternmost point of which a light-house has been erected by the authorities of British Columbia. This is a very dangerous point, with currents reaching fully 7 miles an hour. Vessel-masters dislike to approach it in foggy weather, as they are unable to locate themselves because of the swirling, irregular currents. The channel between Patos Island, on the American side, and East Point on the Canadian side, is one used by the Alaska steamers, by the large coal fleet from Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, and by the vessels running in connection with the Canadian Pacific road. Much of this shipping enters at American ports and a large amount of American capital is interested in it. The Board recommends that a post light be established on the west end of Patos Island, with a first-class Daboll trumpet in duplicate. It is estimated that these aids to navigation will cost $12,000.

Congress appropriated the requested amount on March 3, 1891, but work on the island did not commence until March, 1893. By the end of the following June, the contractor had erected a double dwelling, fog signal building, water tanks, and a post light near the western end of the island. The fog signal equipment was set up in October, and the Daboll trumpet was put into operation on November 30, 1893.

The original fog signal was found to be deficient, but a longer trumpet installed the following year proved satisfactory. The original hot-air (steam) engines were replaced by duplicate oil engines in 1900.

In contrast to the white light used by the Canadians on East Point, a red light was employed on Patos Island.

Edward Durgan, the island's third and best-known keeper, came to the island with his wife and numerous children in 1905, after having served at several lighthouses including Turn Point Lighthouse, Heceta Head Lighthouse, and New Dungeness Lighthouse. Patos Island was a desired station with a mild climate but was also profoundly isolated.

Patos Island Lighthouse Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

Once a month, members of the Durgan family would take a twenty-six-mile journey over the waterways to Bellingham, Washington for supplies. The closest neighbor was the Saturna Island lightkeeper, five miles away.

The isolation proved devastating when seven of the thirteen Durgan children contracted smallpox. Hoping to get the attention of passing ships, Keeper Durgan flew the flag at the lighthouse upside down as a distress signal. Help did eventually arrive, but tragically three of the children died. One of the surviving children, Helen Glidden, has written a memoir entitled The Light on the Island telling of her life growing up on the island where she talked with "God," played with her pet cow, and wandered the beaches, known to her as "the petticoats" of Patos Island. (Some of the information in this paragraph comes from Helen Glidden's book, which is a fictionalized account of her life on the island. There were thirteen Durgan children, but apparently two died before the family moved to the island. Also, only one child died on the island, and it was likely due to appendicitis not small pox.)

In 1911, Keeper George Lonholt replaced Edward Durgan, who was transferred to Semiahmoo Lighthouse where he would die of a heart attack in 1919. In 1922, four accounts of assistance rendered by Keeper Lonholt appeared in the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses. On one occasion, Keeper Lonholt went to the aid of the Verona when it was overtaken by a heavy storm off Patos Island. Ten passengers aboard the boat were cared for at the station for two days until the weather improved. In another instance, the engineer of the Meteor along with the ship's captain, and the captain's wife and two children were cared for by Keeper Lonholt at the station until a launch could be procured to tow the Meteor to Anacortes.

The light was improved in 1908 when a thirty-eight-foot tower was built atop the original fog signal building to house a fourth-order Fresnel lens. Other structures that were on the island with the current lighthouse include two dwellings, cisterns, and a boat ramp as shown in this photograph, which appears with permission of Western Washington University. A radiobeacon was established on the island in 1936. The light was automated in 1974. Today, it flashes a white light once every six seconds, with two red sectors marking dangerous shoals.

The original keepers' duplex was torn down in 1958 and replaced with a 3,300-square-foot building for the Coast Guard crew. After the Bureau of Land Management assumed control of Patos Island in 2005, the Orcas Island Fire Department was contracted to burn the Coast Guard quarters, which had become a safety hazard due to deterioration and vandalism.

Patos Island Lighthouse under restoration - June 2008 Photograph courtesy Eric Geyer

The lighthouse is now part of Patos Island State Park. The fourth-order Fresnel lens used in the lighthouse was saved by maritime author Jim Gibbs.

Two childhood friends, Linda Hudson of Lopez Island and Carla Chalker of Wisconsin, formed the non-profit Keepers of the Patos Light in 2007 after visiting the island, which they had read about fifty years earlier in The Light on the Island. Working with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Orcas Fire Department, the goal of the Keepers is to renovate the lighthouse and preserve the unspoiled beauty of the island. During May and June of 2008, which just happened to be the 100th anniversary of the lighthouse, Tom Lantos Contracting was hired to revitalize the structure. The lighthouse received a new roof, new doors, new windows, new gutters and downspouts, and a new coat of paint, inside and out. In addition, repairs were made to the foundation, chimney, and tower. According to Nick Teague, BLM Ranger for the San Juan Islands, the preservation effort is all about "folks doing good work to preserve this valuable place from becoming a whisper of the past."

Head Keepers: Harry D. Mahler (1893 – 1903), Albert A. Morgan (1903 – 1905), Edward Durgan (1905 – 1911), George L. Lonholt (1911 - at least 1922), Hans F. Jensen (at least 1925), Chris C. Waters (at least 1930), Frank W. Dorrance (at least 1940).

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References

1. Lighthouses of the Pacific, Jim Gibbs, 1986.
2. Umbrella Guide to Washington Lighthouses, Sharlene and Ted Nelson, 1998.