Race Rocks Light
Race Rocks Light is one of the first two lighthouses that were built on the west coast of Canada, financed by the British Government and illuminated in 1860.The lighthouse was built between 1859–1860 by the crew of HMS Topaze and outside labourers under a contract awarded to John Morris by the British Government.[2] It was illuminated on 26 December 1860, six weeks after the smaller Fisgard Island lighthouse built at the entrance to Esquimalt Harbour near Victoria.[3] The lighthouse has been automated since 1997 at which time Lester B. Pearson College took over the management of the station and the surrounding Race Rocks Ecological Reserve.[4] The Race Rocks Light is one of 12 lighthouses part of the British Columbia Shore Station Oceanographic Program, collecting coastal water temperature and salinity measurements everyday since 1921.