Eldred Rock

Eldred Rock is the oldest original lighthouse still standing in Alaska. It is a two-story building topped by a light tower. The ground floor was built of reinforced concrete, the first time that material was used for a lighthouse facing Alaska's weather. Eight years before the lighthouse was built, the steamship Clara Nevada had sailed south from Skagway with 100 passengers, Klondike gold, and a load of dynamite. Foul winter weather soon was joined by hurricane force winds. When someone on shore saw a ship on fire near Eldred Rock, high seas kept help from reaching it for a week. Only one body, that of the Clara Nevada's purser, could be found. Ten years later, the lighthouse on Eldred Rock weathered another screaming gale. When the keeper went outside afterward, there, on the north end of the island, sat the Clara Nevada with remains of her crew and passengers scattered along the beach. The storm had raised them from their watery grave and, by nightfall, the sea had taken them back. The ship's spars still can be seen at low tide. The Eldred Rock Lighthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and its original Fresnel lens is at the Sheldon Museum, in Haines. The Coast Guard manages the site.

Juneau, Alaska · United States