The Eldred Rock Lighthouse was first lit in 1906.
The area has played a part in some of Alaska's worst shipwrecks: the Princess Sophia went down in 1918. When the vessel ran aground, the Captain decided to wait out the tide instead of evacuating. By morning, the ship was gone. All 343 passengers and crew died.
The ship joined the Clara Nevada, which sank in 1898, after witnesses from tens of miles away saw a fireball engulf the ship. Local rumors alternate blame between shoddy boilers, dynamite intended for Juneau mines, and a ruinous Captain who blew a hole in the Clara Nevada's side, sending 75 passengers to their death while he made off with $14 million in as-yet-unrecovered Yukon gold.
Some think the gold is still buried in the forest margins of Lynn Canal.
