A8 • Friday, December 14, 2018 | Cannon Beach Gazette | CannonBeachGazette.com
Building lighthouse an engineering feat
‘Terrible Tilly’ plans
dated in 1880
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
Despite the fame and
numerous books writ-
ten about her, much is still
not known about “Terri-
ble Tilly,” the lighthouse
perched precariously on a
rock offshore of Tillamook
Head.
For years, Tilly enthusi-
asts have debated the ambi-
guity of certain details, such
as the design specifi cs of
the staircases, windows and
other features. Even confi r-
mation about who designed
the lighthouse remained
fuzzy.
Some of these debates
can fi nally be put to rest by
what appears to be recent-
ly-discovered copies of the
original blueprints for the
famous Tillamook Rock
Lighthouse.
The diagrams, printed on
parchment paper, are dated
April 22, 1880 — a little less
than a month before con-
struction of the lighthouse
began — and signed by
George Lewis Gillespie Jr.,
the man believed to be the
head lighthouse engineer.
The lighthouse, decommis-
sioned in 1957, was called
Terrible Tilly for the stormy
conditions of its location
and has stood vacant for
decades.
“This is very exciting for
those of us who like to nerd
out about the lighthouse,”
said Elaine Trucke, execu-
tive director of the Cannon
Beach History Center and
Museum.
The blueprints were
brought to the museum’s
attention by Richard Proc-
tor, who found the maps
tucked away in the rafters of
his Warrenton home in 1998
— then held onto them for
20 years.
“With my career in water
work, I thought they were
cool,” he said.
Proctor worked in marine
construction with Bergerson
Construction for more than
30 years. “There was a cer-
tain sentiment,” he said.
Proctor assumed they
were working prints given
their tattered condition, but
had no sense of their age.
Because he knew the pre-
vious owner of his home
worked for the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, Proc-
tor thought it was possi-
ble they were very old and
possibly original, but ulti-
mately decided to keep them
in storage.
He didn’t think about
them again until about a
month ago, after hearing
there was a lecture about
the lighthouse coming up by
Brian Ratty, a local author
who recently published “Til-
lamook Rock Lighthouse:
History & Tales of Terrible
Tilly.”
He decided to pull out
the maps and show them
to Ratty, who he said was
immediately intrigued. After
confi rming they could be
signifi cant, he donated them
to the Cannon Beach His-
Brenna Visser
Elaine Trucke, executive director of the Cannon Beach History Center and Museum, looks at what could be copies of the original blueprints for
the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse.
tory Center and Museum.
“It’s been fun to see the lit-
tle buzz they’ve created,”
Proctor said. “It’s very nice
to see that they will be well
cared for.”
While clearly old, it’s
unlikely the maps are the
original drawings, as there
are outlines around the prints
that make them appear like
copies. But they could be
the maps used at the con-
struction site in 1880, with
evidence of coffee stains
and burn marks from being
held up to candlelight.
Because very few records
were kept about the early
days of the lighthouse, the
maps are signifi cant because
they confi rm questions his-
torians have had about the
landmark for years.
For example, the light-
house today has portholes,
but the drawings show the
original lighthouse had reg-
ular windows — possibly
blown out by rough win-
ter storms. The lighthouse
today is made with lime-
stone from a recent ren-
ovation — the drawings
show the original structure
was built with granite from
a quarry in southeastern
Oregon.
The most satisfying con-
fi rmation, however, was the
signature.
“It has always been
thought to be Gillespie, but
other than some references
from the Bureau of Light-
houses, I’ve never seen a
plan with his name on it,”
Trucke said.
Trucke is now working
on getting the proper type of
light box to display the maps
in the museum, and hopes
to scan them and put them
online for everyone to see.
“This makes history tan-
gible for people,” Trucke
said.
Cannon Beach History Center and Museum
Terrible Tilly in a historic photo.
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Brenna Visser
Recently found blueprints of the Tillamook Rock
Lighthouse could have been the prints used during
construction in 1880.
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