Patos Island Lighthouse sits at Alden Point on the western tip of the Island.

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 from Nanaimo, British Columbia to Alaska through the Boundary Pass waterway adjacent to the island.

Patos Island Lighthouse Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

The best known lightkeeper, Edward Durgan, came to the island with his wife and numerous children in 1905 after serving at Turn Point Light. Patos Island was a desired station with a mild climate but profoundly isolated.

Once a month, members of the family would take a 26-mile journey over the waterways to Bellingham, Washington for supplies. The closest neighbor was the Canadian 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, Mr. 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 13 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.)

The lighthouse was improved in 1908 with a new fog signal and a 38-foot tower, which housed a fourth-order Fresnel lens. Other structures that were once present on the island included two dwellings, cisterns, and a boat ramp as shown in this photograph, which appears with permission of Western Washington University. 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 keeper's quarters were torn down in 1958, and replaced with a two-story duplex for the Coast Guard attendants. After the Bureau of Land Management assumed control of Patos Island in 2005, the Orcas Island Fire Department was contracted to remove the duplex, which had become a safety hazard due to deterioration and vandalism.

The lighthouse is now part of Patos Island State Park. The fourth-order Fresnel lens, which was also used at Alki Point Lighthouse, is on display at Admiralty Head Lighthouse in Washington.

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

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 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 the be the 100th anniversary of the lighthouse, Tom Lantos Contracting was hired to revitalize the Patos Island Lighthouse. 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."

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References

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

Lighthouse tours from Orcas Island that pass by Patos Island are offered a couple of times each summer.