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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2018)
Friday, December 21, 2018 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A3 A TRIP TO ‘TERRIBLE TILLY’ By Brenna Visser Seaside Signal Scott Rekate remembers a lot about visiting the Til- lamook Rock Lighthouse. It was dark. Even a little spooky. But perhaps what was most memorable was the smell. “It’s a popular rest place for birds. The guano there ... the ammonia there would gag you,” he said. “To start out to the top you’d have to take a deep breath and then run up the stairs.” In the late 1970s, Rekate was one of the many dory fi shermen circling the famous lighthouse in search of a good Chinook salmon run. He was one of a hand- ful who made it into “Ter- rible Tilly” after it was decommissioned and before it became a columbarium in 1980. Other than a few pho- tos, the experience mostly fell out of his memory until a few weeks ago, when he read a story about a man who discovered copies of the original schematics for the lighthouse in his War- renton home. Rekate, a retired Can- non Beach contractor, now plans to offer his photos to the Cannon Beach His- tory Center and Museum to help piece together the light- house’s history. “When I read that arti- cle, I thought, ‘Hey, maybe they could use these, too,’” he said. Local lore Lots of local lore exists about fi shermen taking trips into the lighthouse, but pho- tos documenting the inte- rior or taken from the per- spective of being on the lighthouse are uncommon, according to the history center. While the abandoned lighthouse was always in the background, it wasn’t espe- cially common for fi sher- men to get onto the sea stack, Rekate recalled. There is no good way to dock a boat, and the area is known for its tumultuous conditions. But one day, when fi shing was unusually slow and the water was strangely placid, Rekate and a few other fi sh- ermen decided to take a look inside. Getting there, however, was still a challenge. Rekate and his partners took turns jumping onto the island while the others would put- ter around. “Even though it was calm, there was still a swell, so you’d have to time it,” he said. “You’d move in with the swell and the per- son going would jump, then you’d have to hit reverse and back out.” When he fi rst arrived at the lighthouse, the front door was fl ung open and the insides were in disarray. The building was incred- ibly dark, Rekate remem- bered, illuminated only by the light from the front Scott Rekate/The Daily Astorian Rare photos of the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse have recently been released by a fi sherman who visited the site before it was closed off . door and from the light- house above. Some chairs and a table remained — even a 1950s newspaper from Tampa, Florida. Inside where the Fresnel lens used to live, little holes from small rocks carried by large waves punctured the glass. What impressed him the most, however, was the staircase. “The catwalks were very unique,” Rekate said. “Light from the lighthouse would hit down on dia- mond-shaped Fresnel pieces on the staircase and illu- minate the whole staircase without any lights. I thought that was pretty cool.” Still curious Rekate remains curious Scott Rekate/The Daily Astorian Scott Rekate at the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse. about the state of the light- house almost 40 years later, and of the other fi shermen who made the journey. “If there was any kind of major swell, you’d bash into the rocks,” he said. “So I can’t imagine it happened a lot.” John Gorka in Concert DECEMBER 24 8:30 pm - Carol Sing 9 pm - Holy Eucharist 503 N. Holladay, Dr. • Seaside, OR been blown apart across the country by now,” he said. powered by Calvary Episcopal Church DECEMBER 25 10 am - Holy Eucharist Many who remember Terrible Tilly have “likely January 17, 2019 • 7:30pm Astoria’s Performing Arts Center music fi rst Tickets Liberty box office & online at LibertyAstoria.org coastradio.org I’m so glad I found you – and that the folks at Providence knew how to get you gone. These days, the view from here is lovely. Darn lucky and blessed, Penny Ever wanted to raise an animal and take it to fair? Seaside Signal The Barnyard and Com- pany 4-H Club in Seaside is looking for new mem- bers. There focus will be on teaching youth how to care for and feed their ani- mal; how to meet indus- try standards; animal prod- ucts for retail, nutritional value, breeds identifi cation, and more. Education will be primarily for animals in the swine and sheep species. This club is for members ages 9 to 19. For more infor- mation or to sign up, call Jennifer Biamont at 503- 440-2730 or Sandra Carlson at Clatsop County Extension at 503-325-8573. prov idenceoregon . o rg / d e a rnorthcoa s t