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Minnesota Tours - Split Rock Lighthouse

 Split Rock Lighthouse - Two Harbors, MN

The Split Rock Lighthouse is part of the Minnesota Tour of the North Shore. Check it out online.

The North Shore of Lake Superior has always been a hazardous area to mariners. The huge deposits of iron in the rocks along the shore can make a compass needle jump and bounce, rarely giving the navigator a good reading. Nowhere is this more of a problem than between Two Harbors, MN and Beaver Bay, where pilots are told to expect compass deviations of up to 2.2 degrees. This alone makes the area extremely difficult for a mariner, so imagine if you add one of Lake Superior's famous storms to the mix.

Origin of the Lighthouse

The Mataafa storm, a series of punishing back to back gales on November 27th through 29th, 1905, resulted in the loss or damage of 29 ships, one third of which were owned by the steel company and were completely uninsured. Two of the ships, the William Edenborn and the Madiera, found themselves hopelessly tangled in the rocky shoreline, capsizing in minutes near Split Rock, which some have called the most dangerous piece of water in the world. When the losses had been tallied, seven ships had gone down within only a dozen miles of the Split Rock River. More than 200 men died.

A delegation led by the steamship company presidenthastily traveled to Washington, D.C., and in early 1907, Congress appropriated $75,000 for a lighthouse and fog signal in the vicinity of Split Rock. A survey party selected a 7.63 acre-parcel of land between Two Harbors and Beaver Bay, Minnesota at the edge of a 127-foot tall cliff known locally as Stony Point. While the site selected for the station was atop Stony Point, the Lighthouse Board named the station after the Split Rock River, three miles to the southwest. The lighthouse and fog signal were completed in 1909 and commissioned one year later. Since Highway 61 was not built until 1924, the material for the lighthouse had to be delivered by water. Fortunately, the lake was deep enough for a sizable ship to pull close, and a timber derrick with a hoisting engine was swung out over the cliff and used to haul the materials to the top. For 59 years, the keepers at Split Rock warned ships away from the treacherous North Shore. While its 1.2 million-candlepower beacon had an official range of 22 miles, fisherman often said they could see it 60 miles away at Grand Marais.

Keeping of the Light

In the early years of the 20th century, iron ore shipments on Lake Superior doubled and redoubled. United States Steel's bulk ore carriers became "the greatest exclusive freight-carrying fleet sailing under one ownership in the world," so the demand for a new lighthouse on the lake's inhospitable North Shore was hardly surprising. The U. S. Lighthouse Service operated Split Rock from 1910 to 1939.

A seasoned lighthouse keeper was needed to take charge of the new station due to its difficult terrain. Orren "Pete" Young had 9 years light-keeping experience and was promoted to the post upon Split Rock's opening in 1910. He served as the head keeper at Split Rock for its first eighteen years. Edward Sexton and Roy Gill were brought in from Devil's Island and Huron Island as First and Second Assistant Keepers on August 31st.

Tragedy at Split Rock

During its early days, the  station was so remote that it may as well have been on an island. Even though the area around the lighthouse had been clear-cut to ensure full visibility of its tremendous beam, thick uncut virgin forest enveloped the station. The highway would not be built for another 14 years, so the station's mail was delivered to a lumber camp at the mouth of the Split Rock River, which was considered by the people of Duluth, Minnesota to be the very eastern edge of civilization on the North Shore.

On Sunday October 2nd, 1910, Assistants Sexton and Gill left the station at 12:30 p.m. in the station's small rowboat on a mail run. When keeper Young's assistants had not returned by nightfall, he became seriously concerned, but was unable to leave the light unattended until the following morning. At 8 a.m. the next day, he set out on a second boat to search for his men. He quickly discovered their empty boat floating bottom-up two miles to the west of the station. Faced with the realization that that both of his assistants had likely drowned, Young searched the area for their bodies to no avail. Needing to return to the station before dusk to exhibit the light, Young was forced to abandon the search, and towed his men's boat back to the station. On returning to the station, Young found the boat's boom had been lashed to the seat. A consummate sailor, Young knew better than to lash the boom, since the rowboat could easily be blown over in even a stiff wind were the boom not allowed to swing free. While Young reported in the station log book that he searched for the bodies every day for the following two weeks, they were never seen again.

Young sent word to the Detroit office of the death of both of his Assistants, requesting the appointment of replacements as soon as possible. Sadly the late First Assistant Sexton's pregnant wife and young child left the station on October 6 on a motor launch dispatched to pick them up from Two Harbors.

Tourism at Split Rock

With the construction of the North Shore Highway past the station in 1924, the station's isolation vanished immediately, and growing numbers of tourists took the drive from Duluth, MN to visit the station. Light keepers were mandated to "be courteous and polite to all visitors and show them everything of interest about the station at such times as will not interfere with light-house duties."   However, by 1936, 30,000 visitors signed the station's visitor log every year. It's been estimated that only one-third of visitors actually signed the log book, so it could have been more like 90 or 100,000 visitors. Because of the high volume of tourist traffic, the light keepers were relieved of their duties as lighthouse tour guides.

In 1939, the United States Lighthouse Service was absorbed into the U.S. Coast Guard, which continues to operate all lighted aids to navigation in the United States today. With the installation of commercial electric power along the North Shore Highway, the station was electrified in 1941. With electrification, the incandescent oil vapor lamp illuminating Split Rock's 2nd Order Fresnel Lens was removed, and replaced by an incandescent electric bulb of 1,000 watts, with a decrease in intensity of the light from 1.2 million to 450,000 candlepower.

Closing of the Lighthouse

The station closed in 1969 when modern navigational equipment such as RADAR and Long Range Navigation, or LORAN, made it obsolete. The State of Minnesota obtained the scenic landmark in 1971. In 1976, the Minnesota Historical Society assumed operation of the 25 acre site on which stood one of the most photographed lighthouses in the United States. The Society continues the dual goals of preservation and interpretation of Split Rock Light Station for future generations to enjoy. Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources operates Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, a 2,200-acre state park that offers hiking, picnicking and tent camping to visitors.

Today, the US Coast Guard runs only a single manned light station: Little Brewster Island in Boston Harbor, the first lighthouse built on American soil. All other lighthouses in the United States are either automated or decommissioned in the face of new navigational technology.

The Edmund Fitzgerald

Each year the Lighthouse marks the anniversary of the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald with a public program that includes a reading of the names of the 29 men who lost their lives on the Fitzgerald on November 10th, 1975. The lighthouse, normally closed during the winter, is reopened for this one day event and the beacon is lighted at dusk. Hundreds of visitors have attended this event each year since the ceremony was started in 1985 on the tenth anniversary of the sinking of "the Big Fitz."           

Check out the Minnesota Travel Podcast for more stories like this one.

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