1999: Alki Lighthouse

Alki Point Lighthouse in West Seattle marks the southern entrance to Seattle's harbor, Elliott Bay. The present lighthouse built in 1913 is visible from many points around the Seattle area. It was automated in 1984 and is one of ten Washington lighthouses open to visitors.

Seattle's first settlers landed there in 1851 and called it New York in anticipation of a great and powerful future. Things progresses slowly, however, and "Alki", a Chinook Indian jargon word meaning "by and by" was added. The name Alki Point ultimately prevailed.

The point's first light was hung on the side of a barn by a farmer concerned with the safety of passing ships. The first official light was a post lantern established in 1887. The Lighthouse Service paid the landowner, Hans Martin Hanson, $15 a month to light the lamp, fill the tanks, trim the wicks and clean the glass. It was necessary to walk on planks across a swamp to reach the light.

In 1895 the Lighthouse Board decided Alki Point needed a fog signal. The white stucco building with a thirty-seven foot tall octagonal tower was completed in 1913 and the structure hasn't changed since. Hans Hanson's original oil lamp served as the beacon until 1918, when it was replaced by an electric lamp.

The original oil lamp was stolen in the early 1970's and couldn't be found. Two years later, a woman from California brought in the lamp for appraisal by an antique dealer, who recognized it. Police traced it back to the shop where it had been purchased. The lamp had never been polished since the theft and the culprit's fingerprints were still on it. He was caught and served two years and the recovered lamp can today be seen at the Coast Guard Museum in Seattle.

-Dashiel Wham, Writer (1999)