Lighthouses were one thing to keep mariners safe as they traveled along the Pacific Coast, in and out of harbors and river bars. When they were not enough, a newer organization in Oregon appeared, the Life-Saving Service.
The official US Life-Saving Service got its start in 1878, though an ad-hoc arrangement went back further to 1848 when a series of unmanned stations, run by volunteers – similar to volunteer fire departments – existed along the coasts of New Jersey and Massachusetts. Without full-time employees, no organization or standardization of equipment or men, the results were middling at best.
BEGININGS OF A NEW SERVICE
The first life-saving station in Oregon was established near the lighthouse at Cape Arago. Charles Nelson set up a “station” on pilings in a cove on the island in 1878 where the lighthouse was – Lighthouse Island at the time and Chief Island today. He was the total sum of the station. More often, someone else would have to notify him of a boat in peril since his view over the coastline was limited. Then, he had to row to the nearby town of Empire, the then county seat of Coos County. In Empire – today a western part of the city of Coos Bay, he needed to rustle up enough volunteers to go out with him to attempt a rescue. Luckily, Nelson and his successors did not have too much to do.
The station was moved to the North Spit of Coos Bay in 1891 with a keeper in charge of eight surfmen – it took eight men to handle the longboats going out for rescues. Despite the move, the Station Cape Arago name stuck until finally being renamed in 1902 Station Coos Bay.
mEANWHILE, FURTHER NORTH ON THE COLUMBIA
Even before Charles Nelson, the lightkeeper at Cape Disappointment, J.W. Munson, witnessed the 15 March 1865 sinking of the SS Industry. Only seven of the twenty-four survived. But one of the ship’s lifeboats washed up along the shore. Munson decided to fix the boat up and built a boathouse to keep it in.
The SS W.B.Scranton ran aground in the middle sands of the bar on 5 May 1866. Munson launched his “new” lifeboat with other volunteers and was able to save the entire crew. The lightkeeper was instrumental in the development of the first official life-saving station in the Northwest in 1871. The station continued to be ran by volunteers. Munson led their efforts until he retired from lighthouse keeping in 1877. He returned to the other side of the river – Point Adams – for a last go at keeping from 1881 until just before his death in 1898.
The life-saving station became an official post in 1882 with keeper and surfmen. Seven years later, another life-saving station was added south in Oregon just east of Fort Stevens named Point Adams Station.
COLUMBIAN HEROICS
Even with steamships and two life-saving stations, the Columbia bar would continue to cause grief to the unwary. You can read about the SS Rosecrans, an oil tanker which ran aground on the Peacock Spit just south of Cape Disappointment on 7 January 1913. Despite valorous efforts from both life-saving stations, 33 of the crew of 36 died – one man floated ashore after five hours in the cold waters and the other two taken off by the motor lifeboats. During the rescue, done with tidal problems compounding upon a gale, both of the “unsinkable” 36-foot lifeboats were lost, though all of the surfmen survived. Gold medals for lifesaving were issued by the federal government to the men of both life-saving stations.
The SS Iowa, a cargo ship would founder near the same spot 12 January 1936. There were no survivors this time of the 34 sailors – only ten bodies were recovered. During this episode, both life-saving stations – now a part of the US Coast Guard were involved as well as a 165-foot cutter based in Astoria.
For completeness sake, the worst sinking on the Columbia bar occurred 28 January 1852 when the sidewheeler SS General Warren came to grief on the Clatsop Spit on the south side of the bar. This was before the establishment of lighthouses or life-saving stations. Forty-two people died on that occasion.
US LIFE-SAVING SERVICE
With the first Life-Saving station on the books in Oregon, the federal government officially organized the US Life-Saving Service the same year as Cape Arago, 1878. Money became available to standardize equipment, men and training with on-going inspections to keep the crews ready. Keepers could drift between stations with regularity. Cape Arago had fourteen different keepers in 37 years. Most of the other men tended to stay at one station for long periods. They got very experienced and knowledgeable about local conditions.
Drills took place six days a week while Saturday reserved for cleaning the station. Lookout towers were often set up so men could observe local waterways – no seats in the tower to prevent loitering. Nighttime and foul weather found crews out on beach patrols.
As the 19th century closed, so did the age of the sailing vessels. Steam-driven boats and an increase in navigation aids – lighthouses, lightships, buoys, etc. – decreased danger of a ship being driven onto a beach. Gas-powered longboats began to replace the oar-powered boats.
In the time left, however, the Life-Saving Service never really caught on to the newer motorized boats needing smaller crews. The problem with incorporating power boats into a manually-powered organization combined with poor salaries, meager retirement and no compensation for injuries.
The Service motto was “you have to go out, but you don’t have to come back” only went so far. These problems led to the merger of US Revenue Cutter System with the Life-Saving Service into the US Coast Guard 28 January 1915.
OREGON US LIFE-SAVING STATIONS
In Oregon, after Cape Arago, Life-Saving stations were put at Point Adams – 1889, Coquille River – 1890, Umpqua River – 1890, Yaquina Bay at South Beach – 1896, and Tillamook Bay at Barview in 1908. Of those stations, only the one in Bandon – Coquille Point – does not exist anymore.
POINT ADAMS
Point Adams Life-Saving Station, first true station in Oregon came on to help out the Cape Disappointment station on the north side of the Columbia River mouth. Accidents happening to ships approaching from the south were simply too far to be reached from Cape Disappointment. Plus, there were many times in the following years involving accidents where both stations participated together.
The location of the Life-Saving Station is not close to the former lighthouse. They were a couple miles apart facing different locations. The lighthouse’s attention faced the south approach to the river mouth. The lighthouse actually faced the ocean from the beach while the Life-Saving Station was on the river just east of Fort Stevens, on the north side of Hammond.
DISTINCT ARCHITECTURE
Built in a distinctive Fort Point-style of which two other like stations in California were built. The architecture was different from earlier stations where living quarters for the crew was separate from the boats. Earlier styles had the crew sleeping atop the boats. This way boats and equipment could dry out separately from the men. The station was the first – and only – in Oregon to feature a bathroom.
Before the original station was demolished in 1939, a new larger station went up right next to the old one. One of four such “Roosevelt-style” stations to be built on the Oregon coast which could sleep seventeen men. “Roosevelt” because they were built to similar design during the FDR administration. The increase in crew reflected a larger role for the Coast Guard, such as smuggling interdiction, more important before 1933 with alcohol interdiction. A lookout was built atop the building.
On the south side, a similar styled garage stood to house vehicles and small boats. Along with a new boathouse built out onto pilings in the river to the northeast. That boathouse is gone now. It sat at the north end of present riverfront condominiums. The initial boathouse for the station still exists.
Three boathouses were built over the life of the station. The 1889 boathouse lies on the west side of the new station house. Gone is the distinctive hooded ventilator top which allowed equipment to dry out. It is the only one of five Fort Point-style boathouses built for the Life-Saving Service in Oregon to survive today.
POINT ADAMS TODAY
In 1963, the Point Adams station was decommissioned by the Coast Guard. The grounds were bought by the National Marine Fisheries Service to use as a research station. The NMFS is part of NOAA – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration today. The station house has been maintained as it looked in the past. The equipment garage is same design as found at other Oregon Life-Saving stations. The boathouse remains much the same as does the 1925-built shop on the east side of the station. Some of the original wood river wall found in the bushes, gives an idea of the amount of dredging done along the river here. Remember, when first built, the station was much closer to the riverfront.
TILLAMOOK BAY
The nearby Cape Meares Lighthouse came into operation in 1890. A political push for a Life-Saving station to be established at the mouth of Tillamook Bay came due to increases in traffic over the Bay’s bar. Finally, in 1904 a station was funded. The reason being no such service existed between the Columbia River and Yaquina Bay – fifty miles north or south.
It was not until 1908 before the station was finished and operational. The plans used for the station were identical to the station built on Peterson’s Point at Grays Harbor in Washington. There were no bathrooms inside the building – the privies were installed in the neighboring shop building. Architecturally, the design was a simpler version of the Fort Point-style found north at Point Adams.
The same simplification extended to the design of the boathouse. No “witch’s hat” ventilator on top of the roof. Paired double doors led to a surfboat on one side and a lifeboat on the other. The boats moved from the boathouse by wagon to the beach for launching or rails led directly to the water.
Around 1910, train rails were built in front of the station. The build up of the rails probably saved the station from being washed away by a storm in 1915.
afterlife
Jetties completed in 1917 made the bar crossing safer. The station lived until 1943 when the Coast Guard moved to the west edge of Garibaldi – a new “Roosevelt” station. A larger boathouse was built in 1937 extending out over 700 feet into Tillamook Bay using over 100 pilings. The boathouse served the Coast Guard until 1960. It was decommissioned as the Guard moved across the Garibaldi harbor to accommodate newer and larger boats.
The original Life-Saving station was sold to a private party in the 1970’s. Used for awhile as a vacation home, sewage problems led to the house being boarded up and vandalized. It still sits just off US 101. Attempts to preserve the building have so far been unsuccessful.
YAQUINA BAY
Funding for another Oregon Life-Saving station near Yaquina Bay gained approval in an 1888 bill also authorizing a station at the Umpqua River mouth. The station here was held up until 1896. First being sited on South Beach on the south side of the bay directly above the beach. A station house built for the crew and a separate Fort Point-style boathouse complete with “Witches’ Hat” ventilator on top.
From 1878 until 1915, the Life-Saving Service helped along the Oregon Coast when the lighthouses were not enough paving the way for the new Coast Guard.
The South Beach location lasted only a few years before the former Yaquina Bay Lighthouse was modified for the crew’s use in 1906. Lack of elevation to maintain a proper lookout and relative isolation for the crew were main reasons for the move into Newport, welcomed by the crew.
Another earlier boathouse was built along the south shore of Yaquina Bay for launching of the lifeboat. With the move into Newport, that boathouse was floated across to the north side of the bay. The South Beach boathouse was used as an auxiliary boathouse to store surfboats.
Guard era
The lighthouse served well into the Coast Guard era when a new station was built along the bay. A new Guard station was erected on the site of the old bayfront boathouse in 1934. It served until a fire destroyed it in 1944. The present station – one of the last of the “Roosevelt-style” stations – dates to 1949. There is a boathouse on the bay in front more recently replaced because of ship damage in 1979.
In the 1940’s, the South Beach station buildings were demolished. The Yaquina Bay Lighthouse is run as a museum by locals within a State Park. Only one room devotes to the Life-Saving Service. That, in spite they worked from here for 27 years while the building operated as a lighthouse for only three.
UMPQUA RIVER
The Umpqua River mouth became the first spot along the Oregon coast to get a lighthouse – 1857. The collapse of the tower came about, however, due to an extremely poorly chosen location in 1861. It was another thirty plus years before another lighthouse went up. Money was appropriated for a Life-Saving station as well.
Again, the north side of the river was chosen for the station, like the first lighthouse and former army post before. Money was approved in 1888 and the station built in 1891. A “Marquette-style” crewhouse was built along with a “Fort Point-style” boathouse – again with the “Witches’ Hat” ventilator atop the roof. Built near the Army post before it, the station always suffered from drifting sands. Jetties on the river mouth would not be complete until 1927 for the north and late 1930’s for the south.
POST LIFE-SAVING SERVICE
The old station lasted until 1939 when the new “Roosevelt-style” Guard station went up near the Umpqua River Lighthouse on the opposite side of the river. Much like the remains of Fort Umpqua, the sands of time have done their work covering up the works of man. The area is inaccessible except by boat.
The newer station, which in turn was superseded by the present Coast Guard station in on the east side of Winchester Bay in 1968, is well preserved. It is home to a very nice museum devoted in part to the area but also to the Coast Guard who served at the station.
CAPE ARAGO – COOS BAY
We saw Cape Arago became the first Life-Saving station set up along the Oregon coast, but with only a keeper and no crew. The awkward arrangement of not being able to see potential problems and when known, having to round up volunteers, made for a volatile situation. There was a much larger turnover of Life-Saving keepers than at any other Life-Saving station.
In one episode, a ship was seen to be foundering off the mouth of the bay. Several volunteers from Empire showed up to get the keeper. They made an attempt to go out in tough conditions but the waves too high. A second attempt was made, but the keeper decided conditions were better in his cabin, so he stayed behind. Eleven sailors drowned and the keeper lost his post.
The original station was a small affair built on pilings in a little cove on the mainland side of Lighthouse Island. With no boat ramp, the boat had to be hoisted up from below. Most of the time, there was little occupying the keeper’s time except station maintenance. Years went by with no rescues.
move to the north spit
Finally, in 1891, the station moved to the north side of the bay and real station with keeper and eight crewmen instituted. The Cape Arago name stuck for awhile until the station was renamed Coos Bay Life-Saving Station in 1901. Located a couple miles up from the mouth, the station was better suited to patrol the wide beaches of the North Spit from. The crew were directly positioned to locate and proceed with rescues instead of the time-consuming awkwardness involved with trying to inform a keeper of a need first and then attempt to round up a rescue later.
The station erected followed a general plan – Marquette-style – for many Life-Saving stations, with a central hall dividing one half for the keeper and his family and the other half for the surfmen. The boathouse, Fort Point-style, featured two bays and the ventilating “Witches’ Hat” on top.
and back to the south
In 1926, the station – the Life-Saving Service melded into the Coast Guard by then, moved back across to the south side of the bay into the more sheltered area of South Slough at Charleston. Jetties finally finished in 1928 deepened the main channel making the need for beach rescues less. The old station was used by the Navy as a direction finder site during World War II. Following the war, the station site was sold off and burnt down in 1967.
COQUILLE RIVER
The entrance to the Coquille River at Bandon suffered more wrecks between 1891 and 1910 than any other port on the West Coast except for San Francisco with much less traffic volume – 55 versus 71. For comparison, Coos Bay noted 41, Umpqua River 14 and Tillamook Bay 11. Not before 1908 did jetties make the entrance a little more feasible though the entrance between the jetties being only 500 feet apart and the channel only 100 feet wide.
Life-saving station before lighthouse
Lumber and coal brought shipping into Bandon at the end of the 19th century. The lighthouse went up on the north side in 1896, the last federal light on the Oregon coast. Even before that, a Life-Saving station was approved going up 1891 on the south side of the river on the west end of town, the quickest built after approval in Oregon.
Similar to the station on Coos Bay, the station house was a Marquette-style house built on a hill above the river. Stairs led down to a Fort Point-style boathouse on the riverfront with a surfboat and a lifeboat in the two bays. About a mile to the south, a observation post was built atop Coquille Point allowing good views north to Cape Arago and south to Cape Blanco. Below that post was an auxiliary boathouse, in case a rescue needed to be made in that direction.
post life-saving
A huge fire wiped out the whole town of Bandon in 1936 – a forest fire out of control – including the now Coast Guard station. Following the fire, a new Coast Guard station- largest and most expensive on the Oregon coast – went up. That station was very busy during the war, used by both the Coast Guard and the Navy. At the end of the war, business dried up. Finally, in 1971, the Coast Guard decommissioned the station. It is owned by the Port of Bandon today, relatively empty.
SOURCES
To learn more about the Oregon Life-Saving Services and their continued work as part of the Coast Guard, you really need to start with David Pinyerd’s master thesis from the University of Oregon which he has put online, The Preservation of Pre-World War II Coast Guard Architecture in Oregon. He also authored one of the Arcadia Publishing volumes from their popular Images of America series, Lighthouses and Life-Saving on the Oregon Coast.
The US Coast Guard History site and the Facebook sites of the different stations along the coast make for greater understanding of the past and present challenges of the Coast Guard – Cape Disappointment, National Motor Lifeboat School, Tillamook Bay, Depoe Bay, Yaquina Bay, Siuslaw River, Umpqua River, Chetco River, North Bend sector, Columbia River sector and Portland.
Several articles have been cited from the Oregon Encyclopedia efforts operated by the Oregon Historical Society – Washington has a similar effort entitled Historylink.
There is lots of information to be found on the Lighthouse Friends website and the US Life-Saving Service Heritage Association website, as well.