So, I went to Duluth a few weeks ago when my brother visited. We went to a fantastic train museum, had some awesome pie at a place famous for it (mine was a rhubarb and raspberry pie). I even bought a huge “I love Duluth” coffee mug when I thought our trip was over. But I think the coolest thing was located an hour outside of Duluth, that would be the Split Rock Lighthouse (had to buy a second coffee mug for this one).

It was made in 1910 at a time when shipwrecks were a problem on Lake Superior. There were in fact several lighthouses built along the rocky areas of the lake. The only problem was the road that lead up to it because… there wasn’t one. Talk about blazing a new trail. The whole operation took about 9 months to finish. Turnover was high as workers came and went. They had to take a break for the winter winds.
In the museum I heard a story from a daughter of one of the lighthouse workers. She said how the inspectors would hide their boats in the sunrise, how they would sneak in and see if everything was going well. She saw them once and warned her father who made sure to put on his uniform (which apparently he was supposed to wear at all times). The inspectors looked through everything even their personal belongings. I could imagine how tense that situation would be. How many infractions before being fired?

About 4 houses were constructed, real big and nice looking ones too, especially for the time. Whole families would live there for months and months, bringing whatever furnishings they could. There were no nearby schools and the closest town well, there was no road to it. The lighthouse tenders would expect all the food and other stuff they needed to be brought to them by boat.

The lighthouse was a gaslight one, I think kerosene. It had to be wound every 2 hours like a large clock. These giant weights would move down and rotate the prisms at the top. Several round prisms were made of glass based on the designs of one genius man. The whole set of prisms for the lighthouse would cost 600K in today’s money. Ships could see the light from 22 miles away. There was also a nearby fog horn that had to be housed in this 1 story 100by100 square foot building.

And there were several of these located all over Lake Superior. It was just so overwhelming!