Four Canoes, One Lighthouse, and a Midnight Theft on the Strait
The keeper at New Dungeness reported that a party of Northern Indians broke into the lighthouse storehouse and made off with oil; a revenue cutter was dispatched in pursuit.
By the politeness of Mr. J. J. H. Van Bokkelen, of Port Townsend, we are in receipt of the following intelligence of another depredation by “Northern Indians” — the paper’s term for Indigenous people from farther north:
On the evening of the 8th inst., four canoes of Northern Indians landed at New Dungeness Lighthouse and broke open the storehouse attached to it, taking some oil. Capt. [—], having only a few men with him, did not consider himself authorized to offer resistance, as the party was prepared to “kill and plunder.” At Port Townsend, the Collector ordered the revenue cutter [—] to hold herself in readiness, take [—] Scott on board, and proceed in pursuit of the Indians; this was done.
“Four canoes of Northern Indians landed at New Dungeness Lighthouse, and broke open the storehouse attached to it and took some oil.”
New Dungeness Lighthouse still stands on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, a reminder that this coast was a contested and heavily trafficked corridor long before it became a scenic byway. The paper’s language of “depredation” framed Indigenous movement and conflict through a settler’s lens; today, tribal sovereignty and cross-border rights are still argued in very different terms.
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