Visiting North Head Lighthouse

by Robert Bales

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Visiting North Head Lighthouse

Artist

Robert Bales

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Photograph - Photo

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Tourists enjoying North Head Lighthouse.

The Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, installed in 1856, was obscured to ships approaching from the north by the headland extending southwest from the light. To correct this, a lighthouse was built at North Head, which faces the ocean directly and would be clearly visible to ships traveling from the north. The 65-foot (20 m) tower stood on a 130-foot (40 m) cliff. The lens was the first-order lens from Cape Disappointment, and was first lit in 1898. In 1935, the first-order lens was replaced by a fourth-order lens. That lens was eventually replaced by an aerobeacon in the 1950s, and later by a modern optic mounted outside the tower. The light was automated in 1961. (Nelson p. 112) Today the lighthouse is part of Cape Disappointment State Park.
On May 16, 1898, the North Head Lighthouse was put into service as the primary navigation aid at the mouth of the Columbia River. The Cape Disappointment lighthouse had served this function since Oct. 15, 1856; however, ships continued to run aground at the "Graveyard of the Pacific." Due to the sheer number of shipwrecks, it was determined a second lighthouse was needed on the northwestern spur of Cape Disappointment, commonly referred to as North Head.

Today, the North Head Lighthouse still stands as a sentinel overlooking this treacherous body of water, the confluence between the Columbia River and Pacific Ocean. The North Head Lighthouse is still an active aid to navigation, although the lighthouse keepers who once tended the flame have been replaced by an automated beacon. The lighthouse offers sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean, Long Beach Peninsula, Columbia River Bar and the northern Oregon Coast.

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December 27th, 2023

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