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THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JUNE 12, 2021
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DailyAstorian
Remembering
the Desdemona Sands Lighthouse
Lighthouse was one of
six along the Columbia
T
By JULIA TRIEZENBERG
For The Astorian
here have been six diff erent lighthouses
(or lightships) that lit the Columbia
River and North Pacifi c Ocean in the
North C oast’s history. Some of them are
still around, while for others you can
only see the remnants of what they left behind.
The pilings that used to hold up the Desde-
mona Sands Lighthouse can still be found on
a shoal near the mouth of the Columbia. Orig-
inally built to replace the Point Adams Light
that stood on the Oregon side of the river, Con-
gress appropriated $24,000 to construct Des-
demona Sands on June 6, 1900, in addition to
$11,000 given for a station near Fort Stevens.
The lighthouse’s structure was designed
by famed architect Carl Leick, who was also
responsible for the designs of the Flavel House
and Clatsop County Courthouse in Astoria. Its
octagonal frame sat on a wooden platform in
an area of the river that used to be known as
Chinook Sands.
Chinook Sands was eventually renamed
“Desdemona Sands” after a bark called Des-
demona ran aground there in 1857. This par-
ticular spot’s shifting sands made it danger-
ous for mariners to navigate so the lighthouse
marked the western side of the sandbar.
Construction was offi cially completed in
1902. Described by some as a “poor man’s cas-
tle,” Desdemona Sands’ light was a fourth-or-
der Fresnel lens that was visible for up to 12
miles. The lighthouse also had a fog signal on
its west side that would blast for two seconds
at 3- and 23-second intervals when needed.
T he structure was unique because it was
positioned in the middle of the river instead
of on shore and it also didn’t have a place
for the lighthouse keepers’ families to stay.
Instead, families would live in Astoria while
keepers stayed on the river for weeks at a time.
They would lower a small boat down from the
lighthouse and row their way back when the
Columbia River Maritime Museum
There have been six diff erent lighthouses (or lightships) that have lit the North Coast’s waters.
weather was good enough.
Because so little of the area around Des-
demona Sands is navigable, virtually every
large-scale vessel would travel past it on the
Oregon side of the river. Ships would glide
past the lighthouse at all hours of the day and
night.
The keepers often became friends with the
ships’ crew members, and they would pass
books or magazines to each other from the
lighthouse platform in wooden barrels.
The biggest concern for the lighthouse’s
safety was fi re. The oil that the light required
was stored in the wooden structure itself rather
than a secondary oil house that onshore light-
houses might have.
There was an incident in 1916 when a por-
Desdemona Sands Lighthouse
sat on pilings near the mouth
of the Columbia River.
Columbia River Maritime Museum
tion of the building caught fi re. T hankfully, the
keepers were prepared enough that they were
able to put it out themselves before help could
arrive.
Unfortunately, Desdemona Sands Light-
house was one of the fi rst casualties of auto-
mated technology. In 1933, 8,000 feet of sub-
marine cable electrifi ed the lighthouse. After
that, the light and fog signal could both be
operated by remote control. T he structure was
deactivated as a staff ed station.
The lighthouse was demolished in the early
1940s and replaced by a light beacon, which
lit that area for another 20 years before it was
also taken down in 1964.
Julia Triezenberg is an educator at the
Columbia River Maritime Museum.