Split Rock Lighthouse, on the north shore of Lake Superior in MN. When the lighthouse was built in 1910, the area was total wilderness and completely undeveloped. All materials for the contruction on Split Rock Light were brought in by sea (Superior is considered an inland sea and so anything travelling on her waters is considered to go by sea) and hoisted to the site. How did they get the hoist up there? I'll let you think about that one for a while! Long enough? Ok, I'll tell...they built a tramway starting from the lakeshore up to the top of the hill--actually a small version of an incline railway...and everything went up that way. Once the hoist was built and in place, the heavy equipment was hoisted the 133 feet from the lake to the top of the cliff. This photo was taken from the site of the dock area below where the tram once stood, so you can see even after the tram was built, supplies had a long way to go to reach the building site. It was also used after completion of the construction to get supplies and mail to the lighthouse keeper and his family, as it was some years before there were any overland roads to the area.
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