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Mare Island stretches along the length of the
eastern end of San Pablo Bay, which mariners could
reach by entering the Golden Gate and travelling
northeast toward the Sacramento River.
The island gets its name from an episode involving General Mariano
Vallejo. Vallejo served the Mexican government
and later was a member of the constitutional convention
that led to U.S. statehood for California. Vallejo
was transporting horses - including a prize white mare - across
the nearby Carquinez Strait when their barge sank.
Some time later, the mare was discovered grazing on the
island, which was dubbed "Mare's Island."
In 1850's, the steamer Napa City ran aground off
Mare Island, where a navy base had been established
in 1854. However, a light was not built to mark the
area until 1873. The design matched that of the
East Brother light,
completed the following year. The station was perched
high on a hill, with a supply pier below. The tower housed
a fourth-order Fresnel lens.
Kate McDougal served as keeper at Mare Island from 1881-1916.
She was the wife of Commander Charles J. McDougal, Inspector
of the Twelfth Lighthouse District. While attempting to land
a small boat in the surf off
Cape Mendocino,
Inspector McDougal's boat foundered. The inspector, weighted
down by the payroll he carried to the station, drowned.
Kate McDougal was left with four young children and a
pension of $50 per month.
Inspector McDougal's friends in the Navy made sure that his
family was looked after. George Dewey, a classmate of
Inspector McDougal at the Naval Academy and future Spanish-American
war hero, arranged for Kate to serve at Mare Island.
Her friends in the Navy also arranged to have a telephone
installed in the station as a Christmas gift.
Keeper McDougal faithfully kept the light until the station
was closed. The Lighthouse Board felt that
the Carquinez Strait
was a better location for a light than Mare Island - the
new station was completed in 1910. In 1916, the fog signal
was automated, and Kate McDougal retired. The station was
abandoned in 1917, and razed in the 1930's.
Guardians of the Golden Gate, Shanks pp. 201-207
Umbrella Guide to California Lighthouses (2nd ed.), Nelson pp. 132-134
Women Who Kept the Lights, Clifford pp. 113-118
California Lighthouse Life in the 1920s and 1930s, Wheeler p. 67
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