From the current Coast Pilot (2011):

"... Desdemona Sands, marked by a light near the W end, is a shoal area extending SE for about 8 (9.2) miles from just inside the entrance to Columbia River. Desdemona Sands has the main river channel to the S and a secondary channel to the N. The southern section of Desdemona Sands is composed of shifting sand shoals that dry at low water. Only shallow draft vessels should attempt to navigate Desdemona Shoals, mariners are urged to use caution in the area ..."

"... On a case-by-case basis Congress appropriated funds for design and construction of important facilities. These included lighthouses: Cape Arago (1866), Cape Blanco (1870), Yaquina Bay (1872), Cape Foulweather (1873), Point Adams (1875), Tillamook Rock (1881), Warrior Rock (1888) at the mouth of the Willamette River, Cape Meares (1890), Umpqua River, Heceta Head, Coquille River (all 1894), and Desdemona Sands (1905 [error ???, 1902, see below]). The goal was to create a system of stations with interlocking lights. On a clear night at sea, a mariner might expect to sight at any point a distinctive beacon on shore to pinpoint the location. Fog signals powered by steam engines blasted warnings from a number of the stations to tell captains to drop anchor or beat a retreat until the mists cleared. ..." [Oregon State "BlueBook" website, 2006]

The U.S. Coast Guard website (2006) states:

"... One of the last wooden straight-pile lighthouses built was the Desdemona Sands Lighthouse, Columbia River, Oregon. It was completed in 1902 and dismantled shortly after World War II. ..."

The 1903 U.S. Coast Survey's "Coast Pilot" described the Desdemona Sands Lighthouse as being a fixed white, 4th order light, located 46 1/2 feet above mean high water and visible for 12 miles. Location is 46N 13W latitude and 123N 57E longitude. The lighthouse structure is a "White, octagonal, one-and-one-half-story dwelling, with gray trimmings, rising from a rectangular platform, on piles, and having a bronze-colored pyramidal roof, surmounted by a gray cylindrical lantern with bronze-colored roof. A small one-story projection, for the fog signal, is on the westerly side, and a one-story annex on the easterly side of the dwelling." The fog signal was a "Daboll trumpet; blasts 3 seconds, alternate silent intervals 3 and 23 seconds".

The 1909 U.S. Coast Pilot lists the Lighthouse as "White, octagonal, one-and-one-half story dwelling, with gray-green trimmings, rising from a rectangular platform, on piles; bronze-colored, pyramidal roof; gray-green, cylindrical lantern with bronze-colored roof; small, one-story projection, for the fog signal, on westerly side, and one-story annex on the easterly side of dwelling". The fog signal was a "3d-class Daboll trumpet; blasts 2 sec., slient intervals alternately 3 and 23 sec".

The Desdemona Sands Lighthouse was de-activated in 1934 and dismantled in 1945. The fourth-order bulls-eye Fresnel lens now resides in the museum at the Mukilteo Light Station in Puget Sound.

"... About a mile eastward of Sand Island and the end of Clatsop Spit, the channel is divided by the shoal, Desdemona Sands. Desdemona Sands Light is shown from a white pyramidal tower on white piles on the western end of the shoal. The light is 36 feet above water, and visible 11 miles. A fog signal is sounded on an air diaphragm horn. ..."

Since October 1997 CORIE (a pilot environmental observation and forecasting system run by the OGI School of Science and Engineering of the Oregon Health & Science University) has maintained a fixed light called "Desdemona Sands Light" off the Point Adams coast.