Split Rock Light House

Historic Split Rock Lighthouse - this just made it on the National Historic List last week. It is about 60 miles North of Duluth on Hwy. 61

and it was built before a road was there...to save ships from

crashing against the cliffs. The shipping companies that lost and had damage to their ships lobbied congress for this lighthouse to be built after there were 3 violet storms in November of 1905, killing 116 sailors on one ship and damaging 30 others.

The homes for the Caretakers of the Lighthouse
Above: The Fog house (for the Fog horn)

View from Lighthouse
Stacie and Linda at the Lighthouse

Background on the Lighthouse:

Shipwrecks from a mighty 1905 November gale prompted this rugged landmark's construction. Completed by the U.S. Lighthouse Service in 1910, Split Rock Light Station was soon one of Minnesota's best known landmarks. Restored to its 1920s appearance, the lighthouse offers a glimpse of lighthouse life in this remote and spectacular setting.

- MN Historical Society web site

"The site ultimately selected for the lighthouse and fog signal was 2.5 miles (4.0 km) northeast of the Split Rock River, on Stony Point. There were no roads yet up the North Shore, so all construction materials were brought in by barge and hoisted up the cliff with a derrick and a steam-powered hoist. By midsummer 1910 work was complete on the lighthouse, foghorn building, and three houses for the lighthouse keepers.

The derrick remained the only way to bring supplies up the cliff until the lighthouse staff built a tramway in 1915-16. The station finally became accessible by a road, now Minnesota State Highway 61, completed in 1929. Five years later a crew from the Civilian Conservation Corps built a new access road and lighthouse tenders were provided with a truck to bring in supplies by land, so the tramway was dismantled." - from Wikipedia.org