Tree Point Lighthouse

In the mid-winter of 1954 I flew from Detroit to Seattle and then on to Sitka Island, Alaska. From there, I was taken in a two-engine amphibian to Ketchikan where the coastal mountains allowed only a narrow ledge for the town and no place for an airport. Water planes had always been my favorites: flying boats, seaplanes, amphibians, and float planes. It was a short flight and the splashy landing took me by surprise. I spent the night at the Ketchikan Coast Guard base and the following day traveled sixty miles south in a fifty-two-foot patrol boat to Tree Point Light Station at the southern most tip of Southeastern Alaska. There I would remain as a lowly Coast Guard Seaman for twelve months.