Sign about Tillamook Rock Light which is visible from this location at Ecola Point. There is a second sign about the islands and nesting birds.
Marker #1 Name: Tillamook Rock Light: From Navigational Necessity to Wildlife Refuge
Marker #1 Text: Isolated atop a one-acre island more than a mile offshore Tilly, as it’s better known, was an engineering feat. Built when mariners had only eyes and instincts - no radar - to guide them along the treacherous coast, Tilly was completed in 1881. The project cost $123,493 and the life of one man.
Innovations Needed To Build Tilly
The work crew and supplies were housed on a ship anchored nearby. Access to the rock was treacherous, so heavy rope rigged with a pulley was strung between the rock and the ship to transport men and supplies. A massive derrick was built to land heavy supplies like the huge basalt blocks used for the walls of the house.
Tillamook Rock Today: Historic Lighthouse, Columbarium, and Wildlife Refuge
Each year, thousands of common murres and Brandt’s cormorants return to Tillamook Rock to nest. Although the murre colony is fairly young - birds didn’t nest there until the lighthouse was decommissioned in 1957 - it is significant because more than 8,000 murres nest on Tillamook Rock, more than nest in the entire state of Washington.
Eternity at Sea, Inc. owns Tillamook Rock and uses the inside of the lighthouse as a columbarium. Inurnments of recycled aluminum urns are limited to once a year - after the birds have finished nesting - to minimize impact. In 1993, the company’s commitment to wildlife and the environment led to the addition of Tillamook Rock to Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge. The company also had Tilly placed on the National Register of Historic Places
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