Scotch Cap Light Station, Alaska: Only Yesterday

The Lighthouse Service began constructing light stations in Alaska in 1902. The Sentinel Island and Five Finger stations, of Southeastern Alaska, were the first to go into service on March 1, 1902. The third station completed was that at Scotch Cap on Unimak Island in the Aleutians. The station went into operation on June 18, 1903. A sister station, Cape Sarichef, on the north end of Unimak Pass was completed the following year. In 1901 Congress authorized $40,600 to construct a lighthouse and fog signal station at Scotch Cap on Unimak Island in the eastern end of the Aleutian Islands. The pass was the primary passage for vessels navigating between the North Pacific and the Bering Sea. The Scotch Cap and Sarichef Light Stations would assist vessels traveling through that pass.