The U.S. state of Washington was originally part of the Oregon Country, the area west of the Continental Divide between latitudes 42° and 54°40' North. In the London Convention of 1818 the U.S. and Britain agreed to joint occupation of this territory. The Oregon Treaty of 1846 confirmed British occupation of Vancouver Island and the rest of what became British Columbia; it also set the boundary between the U.S. and British Columbia at latitude 49° between the Rocky Mountains and the Strait of Georgia. This treaty left the status of the San Juan Islands in doubt, leading to an 1859 military standoff known in Washington as the Pig War although no shots were fired. The dispute continued until 1872 when arbitration by Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm I established the international boundary in Haro Strait, placing the San Juan Islands in the United States. In 1853 Washington became an organized territory separate from Oregon and in 1889 it was admitted to the union as the 42nd state. An important feature of Washington's geography is Puget Sound, a network of fjords, strewn with islands, penetrating 100 miles (160 km) southward into the state and leading to the harbors of Seattle and Tacoma. Puget Sound is connected through Admiralty Inlet to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which separates northwestern Washington from Canada's Vancouver Island. In recent years geographers have defined the Salish Sea to include Puget Sound and the Straits of Georgia and Juan de Fuca. Preservation efforts in Washington have been strong for many years and the United States Lighthouse Society has its headquarters at the Point No Point Lighthouse in Hansville. Navigational aids in the United States are operated by the U.S. Coast Guard, but ownership (and sometimes operation) of historic lighthouses has been transferred to local authorities and preservation organizations in many cases. Aids to navigation in Washington are maintained by Coast Guard District 13, based in Seattle. Aids to Navigation Teams are based at Seattle, at Kennewick for the Columbia River, and at Astoria, Oregon, for the Pacific coast. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from Volume G of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. USCG numbers are from volume 6 of the U.S. Coast Guard List of Lights.
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Puget Sound Lighthouses
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![]() Marrowstone Point Light, Marrowstone, August 2014 Google Maps street view by Jonathan Nelson |
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San Juan Islands Lighthouses
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Southern British Columbia | West and South: Western Washington
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted 2001. Checked and revised December 13, 2020. Lighthouses: 26. Lightships: 1. Site copyright 2020 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.