Past Military Use of the Makah Reservation

Tatoosh (Cape Flattery) Lighthouse, 1877

The U.S. military has been a presence in the area since at least the middle of the 19th century.  In 1852, a government survey selected Tatoosh Island, which is off the tip of Cape Flattery, the northwesternmost point of the contiguous United States, as the location of an 85-foot lighthouse.  In 1868, the U.S. government bought Waadah Island and set it aside for military use; a station was later built on the island for use by the U.S. Life Saving Service (later renamed the U.S. Coast Guard) (USCG, 2002).  Military defenses were built along the coastline in the first decades of the 20th century.  Areas of the Reservation are marked on older maps as U.S. Military Reserve (USA, 1912; USACE, 1935).

U.S. Military Areas on the Reservation (USA, 1912)

With the onset of World War II, military presence on the Reservation increased.  The U.S. Army leased land from the Tribe for an Air Force Station (AFS) in 1942.  The Makah AFS was first under the jurisdiction of the Army, then was transferred to the control of the U.S. Air Force (USAF) in 1947.  U.S. Army and Navy personnel were stationed at the Makah AFS during the war.  The Makah AFS, which was a radar and communications facility staffed and maintained by the 758th Radar Squadron, was closed in 1988.