Five finger Light Station is one of the two oldest light stations established in Alaska. Increased shipping in Alaska’s Inside Passage, due to the discovery of gold in the Yukon just five years before, caused the Federal Government to appropriate a little over $425,000 to establish the territory’s first six light stations. Lit for the first time on March 1, 1902, the lighthouse on Five Finger Island was constructed to guide vessels into the bustling frontier town of Juneau. The original structure (seen below) was burned to the ground on December 8th, 1933. The station keepers were able to save the boathouse and the carpenter’s shop, but the tower, dwelling and the radio-beacon were destroyed. A Public Works appropriation of $92,000, made under the Roosevelt administration during the “Great Depression”, enabled Five Finger Light Station to be rebuilt to its current concrete structure.