After many ships, including the SS Northerner and a lighthouse tender with supplies to build the facility, were lost to the jagged rocks surrounding the 326-foot (99 m) sea stack "Sugar Loaf" and Blunt's Reef offshore of Cape Mendocino, the lighthouse with attendant buildings including a carpenter shop, an oil house, a barn and a two-story residence were built on 171 acres (69 ha; 0.267 sq mi) of remote rangeland.

[5] In 1905, the continuing danger from Blunt's Reef led to the installation of a lightship, which saved over 150 passengers of the steamer Bear after it ran aground in 1916.

[5] In 1941, the Blunt's Reef lightship saved the surviving crew of the SS Emidio, the first casualty of the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine force action on California's Pacific Coast.

[9] By agreement with the Coast Guard in early September 2012, the lens was disassembled and put in temporary storage while the Ferndale Museum is remodeled to display it.

[5] Restored, fitted with new glass and painted by the Cape Mendocino Lighthouse Preservation Society, it was installed at Point Delgada in Mal Coombs Park (40°01′20″N 124°04′10″W / 40.02222°N 124.06944°W / 40.02222; -124.06944) in Shelter Cove, California.

While the original lighthouse was moved to Shelter Cove, and the keeper's residence demolished, the oil house is still at the site.