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Located at the hazardous mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the NW-most point in the Continental US, the Tatoosh Island Lighthouse was established between 1855-1857 on a 20-acre, windswept promontory named for the Makah Chief Tatoosh. A treaty had been negotiated by the Washington Territory's first Governor, Isaac Stevens (1818-1862), between the US Government and the Makah in 1855; white settlers believed that the treaty abrogated the rights of the Makah to their lands, while the tribe specifically indicated that they reserved access to traditional hunting and fishing grounds. Tatoosh Island had been a summer camp for the Makah, a jumping off point for whaling and fishing. For this reason, the Makah resented government effort to build a permanent lighthouse there, c. 1855; territorial officials had to build a blockhouse to garrison defenders to fight off Makah efforts to halt construction on their traditional fishing land. The lighthouse became a key beacon for mariners entering the Strait of Juan de Fuca, an area with unpredictable currents and high winds. George Garrish served as the first lighthouse keeper when service began here on 12/28/1857. He and two assistants quit two months later due to Makah hostility and the island's rugged location, as did his replacement, Franklin Tucker. Stability came by the 1870s-1880s, when living conditions began to be upgraded and Makah resistance subsided.

As originally constructed, the Tatoosh Lighthouse consisted of a gable-roofed, two-story keeper's house with two-foot-thick, sandstone walls. Kitchen and living rooms were located on the first floor, four sleeping chambers on the second. A 65-foot tower with a cast-iron top jutted from the center of the keeper's house. Gradually, the island became a complex of buildings clustered around the lighthouse. The US Department of Agriculture built a weather-reporting station on the island in 1883, necessitating the installation of telegraph lines linking Tatoosh with the nearby town of Neah Bay. According to historian William S. Hanable, this telegraph line consisted of the "longest hung cable in the world." (See William S. Hanable, "Cape Flattery Light on Tatoosh Island begins operating on December 28, 1857,"Accessed 12/15/2010.)

The lighthouse keeper's decrepit quarters were renovated in 1875, and a new, free-standing dwelling was also built that year. Equipment upgrades to the island's foghorn and light were made periodically. The 65-foot tall lighthouse became automated in 1977. The US Coast Guard renovated the facility in 1994, with its current Fresnel lens installed in 1996.

PCAD id: 9401