Warrior Rock Light
Warrior Rock Light in 2008
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| Location | Sauvie Island, Oregon, U.S. |
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| Coordinates | 45°50′55″N 122°47′18″W / 45.84858°N 122.78835°WCoordinates: 45°50′55″N 122°47′18″W / 45.84858°N 122.78835°W |
| Year first lit | 1877/1889/1930/1970s |
| Automated | 1930 |
| Deactivated | 1969-1970s |
| Foundation | sandstone |
| Construction | wood frame originally, concrete since 1930 |
| Tower shape | octagonal |
| Height | 25 feet (7.6 m) |
| Focal height | 20 feet (6.1 m) |
| Characteristic | Wht Fl 4s |
Warrior Rock Light is a lighthouse on Sauvie Island in the U.S. state of Oregon, which helps guide river traffic on the Columbia River around the Portland, Oregon area. It once contained the Pacific Northwest's oldest fog bell. It is Oregon's smallest lighthouse, and the only lighthouse, or one of only two lighthouses, still operating in Oregon which are not on the Pacific Ocean, depending on whether the Umpqua River Lighthouse is considered to be on the coast or on the Umpqua River.
By 1877, navigational needs near Sauvie Island caused the United States Lighthouse Board to place two small red post lanterns at Warrior Rock. U.S. Congress authorized a lighthouse for the site in 1888. The structure was designed by Carl Leick and constructed in 1889 as a small, wood frame building atop a sandstone base, it had living quarters below and an oil lamp beacon light with lens and a hand-cranked fog bell on top. The light was placed to warn of a bedrock reef which projects into the Columbia at the east tip of Sauvie Island, at Columbia river mile 87.2 (km 140.3).
The fog bell was cast in 1855 at the J. Bernhard & Co. foundry in Philadelphia and first installed at the Cape Disappointment Light at the mouth of the Columbia River, though the noise level of the ocean and winds led to its retirement in 1881 for a louder model. It was subsequently installed at the West Point Light in Seattle, but removed in 1887 to make way for a steam whistle. It was installed at Warrior Rock in 1889.
Lightkeepers used a skiff to approach the island from St. Helens, and the lighthouse itself in times of high seasonal water. The 1920s-era lightkeeper rigged an aerial cable to get to the lighthouse from the keepers quarters during such times.
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Wikipedia