Split Rock Lighthouse
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| Split Rock Lighthouse lit at sunset, 2010 | |
| Location | Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, Beaver Bay Township, Lake County, Minnesota |
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| Coordinates | 47°12′00″N 91°22′01″W / 47.20005°N 91.3669°W |
| Year first lit | 1910 |
| Deactivated | 1969 |
| Foundation | stone |
| Tower shape | Octagonal |
| Height | 54-foot (16 m) tower on a 130-foot (40 m) cliff |
| Original lens | 3rd order, bi-valve type Fresnel lens |
| Range | 22 miles (35 km) |
| Characteristic | 0.5-second flash every 9.5 seconds |
| ARLHS number | USA-783.[1] |
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Split Rock Lighthouse
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| Nearest city: | Two Harbors, Minnesota |
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| Coordinates: | 47°12′1″N 91°22′3″W / 47.20028°N 91.3675°WCoordinates: 47°12′1″N 91°22′3″W / 47.20028°N 91.3675°W |
| Built: | 1909 |
| Governing body: | State |
| NRHP Reference#: | 69000073 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP: | June 23, 1969[2] |
| Designated NHL: | June 23, 2011 |
Split Rock Lighthouse is a lighthouse located southwest of Silver Bay, Minnesota, USA on the North Shore of Lake Superior. The structure was designed by lighthouse engineer Ralph Russell Tinkham and was completed in 1910 by the United States Lighthouse Service at a cost of $75,000, including the buildings and the land. It was built in response to the loss of ships during the famous Mataafa Storm of 1905, in which 29 ships were lost on Lake Superior.[3] One of these shipwrecks, the Madeira, is located just north of the lighthouse. The light was first lit on July 31, 1910.
It is built on a 130-foot (40 m) sheer cliff eroded by wave action from a diabase sill containing inclusions of anorthosite.[4] The octagonal lighthouse tower is a steel-framed brick structure with concrete trim on a concrete foundation set into the rock.[3] It is topped with a steel lantern. The lighthouse features a large third order, bi-valve type Fresnel lens manufactured by Barbier, Bernard and Turenne Company in Paris, France. The tower was built for a second order lens, but when construction went over budget, there was only enough funding remaining for the smaller third order lens. The lens floats on a bearing surface of liquid mercury. The lens is rotated by an elaborate clockwork mechanism that is powered by weights running down the center of the tower which can be wound by a crank at the top.[5] When completed, the lighthouse was lighted with an incandescent oil vapor lamp that burned kerosene. In 1940, the station was electrified and the lamp was replaced with a 1000 watt electric bulb, and the incandescent oil vapor lamp was moved to Au Sable Point Lighthouse in Northern Michigan.
Split Rock was also outfitted with a fog signal housed in a building next to the light tower. The original signal was a pair of sirens driven by two Franklin 30 hp (22 kW) gasoline-driven air compressors manufactured by Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company. In 1932 the gasoline engines were replaced with diesel engines. The steam sirens were replaced with a Type F-2-T diaphone (be-you) type signal in 1936. When the station was electrified four years later, the fog signal began to be powered by electricity. The fog signal was discontinued in 1961.
The light was retired in 1969 by the U. S. Coast Guard. The lighthouse is now part of the Split Rock Lighthouse State Park and is operated by the Minnesota Historical Society. The site includes the original tower and lens, the fog signal building, the oil house, and the three keepers' houses. It is restored to appear as it did in the late 1920s. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. Notwithstanding that the light has been retired, every November 10 the lighthouse emits a light in memory of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald which sank on that date in 1975. On June 30, 2011, the lighthouse was designated as a National Historic Landmark.[6]
The United States Postal Service issued a stamp that featured the light on June 17, 1995. It was one of five lighthouses chosen for the "Lighthouses of the Great Lakes" series[7] postage stamp designed by Howard Koslow in 1995. There was one lighthouse chosen on each of the Great Lakes.[8] The five lighthouses are Split Rock Light on Lake Superior,[9] St Joseph Light on Lake Michigan, Spectacle Reef Light on Lake Huron,[10] Marblehead Light (Ohio) on Lake Erie[11] and Thirty Mile Point Light on Lake Ontario.[12]
Because of its picturesque form and location, it has been the subject of many photographs and postcards.[13]
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The lighthouse keeper's dwellings of the Split Rock Lighthouse, Summer 2004
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The fog signal building at Split Rock Lighthouse, Summer 2004
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Aerial view of Split Rock Lighthouse
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Split Rock Lighthouse and Lake Superior
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Split Rock Lighthouse Construction
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3rd-order, Fresnel lens
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Mercury bowl and float of Fresnel lens
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Lighthouse lens crank
[edit] References
- ^ The Weidner Publishing Group "Split Rock (Lake Superior) Light - ARLHS USA-783." 2003. Retrieved 2010-03-28.
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2008-04-15. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html.
- ^ a b Pepper, Terry (2003). "Split Rock Light". Seeing The Light: Lighhouses of the western Great Lakes. http://www.terrypepper.com/lights/superior/splitrock/splitrock.htm. Retrieved 2010-01-16.
- ^ * Ojakangas, Richard W.; Matsch, Charles L. (1982), Minnesota's Geology, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, p. 173, ISBN 0-8166-0953-5.
- ^ Buchta, Jim (2010). "Beacon on the shore". Star Tribune . http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/travel/92773164.html. Retrieved 2010-05-09.
- ^ "AMERICA’S GREAT OUTDOORS: Secretary Salazar Designates 14 New National Historic Landmarks". June 30, 2011. http://home.nps.gov/news/release.htm?id=1174. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
- ^ Stamp images, Great Lakes Lighthouses.
- ^ Split Rock Lighthouse stamp.
- ^ Postage stamp artwork, Split Rock Lighthouse Stamp.
- ^ Postage stamp artwork, Spectacle Reef Lighthouse Stamp.
- ^ Postage stamp artwork, Marblehead Lighthouse Stamp.
- ^ Postage stamp artwork, Thirty Mile Point Lighthouse Stamp.
- ^ Split Rock Light postcard collection.
[edit] External links
- Split Rock Lighthouse State Historic Site
- SplitRock Lighthouse Weblog - Official Blog
- Split Rock Lighthouse & Vintage Split Rock Lighthouse - Flickr Groups
- Split Rock Lighthouse Photo Tour
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- Lighthouses in Minnesota
- National Historic Landmarks in Minnesota
- Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places
- Minnesota state historic sites
- National Historic Landmark lighthouses
- Octagonal buildings in the United States
- Maritime museums in Minnesota
- Museums in Lake County, Minnesota
- Lighthouse museums in Minnesota
