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In a six-page colorful layout in the December 30, 1965 edition of Treasure Chest, a comic-book-style magazine, they
published a beautiful and condensed history of lighthouses.
In the section on the construction of California’s Farallon Island Lighthouse, as shown here, one man says, “Not even a pack mule can travel over these rocks!” However, if the folks at Treasure Chest had done a little research, they would have found this statement to be incorrect.
Major Hartman Bache (1798-1872), the military engineer who was in charge of the construction of many West Coast lighthouses wrote to the Lighthouse Board about Farallon Island Lighthouse: “Few, if any, unaccustomed to the ascent, can make it by the use of the feet alone – the hands must be brought into requisition, and even then, a false step might precipitate the climber, by a series of pitches, to a depth of nearly, if not quite, 200 feet. The bricks used in the present structure were transported on men’s backs by fours and fives at a time, and then only for the portion of least acclivity, a windlass being employed to raise them the remainder of the height.”
Finally, the men, who could no longer handle the back-breaking work of hauling bricks up on their backs, refused to do any more, and went on a sit-down strike. And that’s where Jack the donkey came in.
Jack was brought out to the island by a lighthouse tender, and totally against his will, was hoisted in a canvas harness up and onto the island. Thus began Jack’s long career on the island; first, to help haul bricks and supplies up to the top, and later, after the lantern was lighted for the first time on January 1, 1856, to assist the keepers in hauling supplies. Jack also became a family pet of sorts, especially to the lighthouse kids who lived on the island.
However, when Jack was about twenty years old, after having spent 18 years of his life on the island, he was replaced by a burro named Jerry. It is unclear if Jack died on the island or if he was removed, the same way he had arrived so many years earlier, and shipped to the mainland to live out his retirement years.
In July of 1892, Jerry was replaced by a mule named Patsey. An article in the August 9, 1896 edition of the San Francisco Call stated: “The laziest mule in all California is the one on the Farallon Islands that belongs to the lighthouse keepers. He is the successor of the late lamented ‘Jerry’ and is known to his owners as ‘Patsey’ In many ways he is a smart mule, but he devotes most of his talents to devising means to avoid the little work that is required of him. The strange thing about his plan is that he goes to more work to avoid work than it would take him to do it.”
It seems that Patsey was allowed to roam the island at will, and was only called upon to work when the lighthouse tender delivered supplies. However, Patsey soon learned that when he heard the lighthouse tender’s whistle blow, it would be time to work. So, he would hide where no one could find him. But eventually the keepers got on to his antics, and even then, there were times that the keepers went to great lengths to find him.
This story appeared in the
Sep/Oct 2023 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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