1850: Congress appropriates $8,000 for a lightboat to be stationed off the southwest point of Janes Island on September 18.
1852: John T. Tardy & Phillip Auld are awarded the contract to build the lightship at Janes Island with a low bid of $5,990.
1853: The lightship is constructed and put into service. The 76-foot long ship has the name painted on each side in black letters on a cream-colored hull, with a fixed light at 30-feet.
1856: The lightship is repaired and refitted.
1866: The lightship is reported to be leaking badly and replaced by a relief lightship on December 18. The estimate of repairs is more than the ship is worth and sold at auction for $518.55. It is recommended to construct a screwpile lighthouse.
1867: The new hexagonal screwpile lighthouse is completed and fitted with a fourth-order Franklin lens exhibiting a fixed white light. It is first exhibited on October 7.
1869: Two plates of glass are replaced in the lantern to replace existing ones broken by wildfowl.
1879: The lighthouse is destroyed by ice on January 20. Congress appropriates $25,000 on March 3 for a second lighthouse to be constructed. Plans are made to build a second screwpile lighthouse like the Hooper Strait Lighthouse. The hexagonal lighthouse is completed, and fourth-order light is first exhibited on December 20.
1885: Minor repairs are made, and two boat hoisters are installed.
1893: The fog bell is pulled from the support by floating ice and severely damages the station boat and boat hoister in January.
1899: New model fourth-order lamps are installed
1901: Soundings are made around the lighthouse and miscellaneous repairs are made.
1917: The Secretary of Commerce commends Keeper Henry S. Moore, who helped two men in a boat stranded in the ice by taking them to the lighthouse and furnishing them with food and lodging on February 13.
1920: The red sector in the light is discontinued on February 18.
1928: Keeper Luther E. Bozman and Assistant Keeper Gordy Parks aid a disabled powerboat near the station.
1935: Keeper Luther E. Bozman follows the order to abandon the lighthouse due to life-threatening ice conditions. The screwpile lighthouse is destroyed on February 8.
1936: The lighthouse is replaced by an automatic light & bell constructed on a skeletal tower supported on a caisson base.
Sources:
- Annual Report of the Lighthouse Board, various years.
- Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of Finances, various years.
- Forgotten Beacons, Patrick Hornberger & Linda Turbyville, 1997
- Commerce Reports, Volume 2, Issue 77
