New items have been added to the Split Rock on-line store  with more to follow soon.  Commemorate the upcoming celebration with a “1,000 Watts of Ship Stopping Power” poster print.  For those of you interested in attending the First Friday programs  at Split Rock this summer, tickets went on sale this week.  Tickets are only available on line at www.mnhs.org/firstfridays Due to limited seating purchase your tickets early to ensure availability.

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Mark your calendar! Friday, January 8th marks the release of our limited edition product from the Split Rock Museum Store.  Among the products will be the Harbour Lights brand, centennial edition Little Light of Mine.  2 PM in our theater we will be hosting MN artist Jim Povich for the unveiling the original Centennial watercolor painting done especially for the Centennial.  After the ceremony Jim will be available to talk about his painting and limited edition prints will be available for sale.

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Winter is a quieter time at the lighthouse, and along the North Shore in general.  It seems like this first week of each new year winter wants to get serious about letting us know how far the sun is away from our hemisphere and the temperatures drop like a rock thrown into the lake.  This week the highs might get into single digits above and the lows at night are in the minus teen and twenties. 

For those hardy folks that make the winter trek to the North Shore over the holidays (and there are an amazing number of people around this week) they can be rewarded with some spectacular conditions and photographs.  This is the month when the full moon rises behind the lighthouse at sunset behind the lighthouse.  Twenty years ago there were only a few people that knew about this or were interested in taking photographs of the moonrise.  For this last moonrise on December 31 at least a dozen photographers who were willing to abide the single digit temperatures they were rewarded with a beautiful moonrise with just the right amount of cloud cover to make the photos more interesting.

This is also the time of year for lake effect snow.  With the prevailing north or northwest winds in the winter the North Shore gets far less lake effect snow than the south shore of Lake Superior.    From Split Rock you can watch the frigid winds pulling the moisture from the warmer lake in the form of sea-smoke (the old time local commercial fisherman called it “frost-smoke”).  The tendrils of steam rise and move across the lake and as it comes in contact with the higher elevations along the far shore it drops this moisture as very fluffy snow…often feet at at time!  The big lake will be ice free for another month before the water temperature drops enough for it to make ice on calm nights in early February.

The pastel colors of winter sunrises and sunsets, the bright sunlight and steam off the lake, and the quieter traffic does make this time of year a peaceful counterpoint to the hectic summers at the historic site.  But then again, there is planning for the Split Rock centennial to see to.

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For the last few decades the four-ton ship anchor from the 430-foot iron ore carrier ‘Madeira’ shipwreck has been sitting in a corner of the parking lot of a souvenir shop near Split Rock Lighthouse.  The anchor had originally been raised from the 1905 shipwreck in the 1960’s.

Several years ago the souvenir shop burned down and when the land recently came up for sale the Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society (GLSPS) worked with the land’s owner who donated the anchor, a bollard from the ship’s deck, and a section of the storm-twisted hull of the ship to the GLSPS.  GLSPS offered the anchor on long-term loan to the Minnesota Historical Society and we agreed that displaying the anchor in front of the visitor center at Split Rock made a lot of sense.  After all, the 1905 storm (known locally as The ‘Mataafa” Blow) that sank the ‘Madeira’ and several other ships was the prime reason for the construction of Split Rock Light Station in 1909.  This last weekend divers from GLSPS, volunteering their time and equipment, along with Split Rock Lighthouse Historic Site staff, moved the anchor to the service area of the historic site.

Next summer, in time for the centennial of the lighthouse and the 105th anniversary of the storm that sank the ‘Madeira’, the anchor will be placed on display along with interpretive information on the ship, the storm, and the anchor in front of the Split Rock Lighthouse Visitor Center.  For any who know the fabled story of the wreck of the ’Madeira’ and the heroic rescue of nine of the ten crewmen this makes a lot of sense.  The shipwreck took place against Gold Rock Point, the next point of land to the northeast of the lighthouse, and it remains a very popular dive site.

Lake Superior divers in general, and the Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society in particular, have done a lot in the last several years to protect the shipwrecks in the big lake.  The GLSPS should be commended for their PIB program (Put It Back) which returns many artifacts to shipwrecks that over the years have found thier way into divers’ basements and garages.  This puts the artifacts back where they can have more meaning to divers and enhance the wrecks as the cultural resources that they are.

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Split Rock Lighthouse has the last operational Fresnel lens in the country remaining in the lens room of a lighthouse that still operates on its original mercury float and is rotated by a clockwork mechanism.

Last week one of the few people in the country who can be considered an old-school ”lampist”, Jim Woodward, along with Kurt Fosberg, cleaned the mercury and made adjustments to the lens, float, and rotating mechanism.  Since mercury is a hazardous material special certification and special care and equipment is required to prevent exposure to mercury vapors during the process.

Nearly two gallons of mercury was drained, and the mercury bowl and float cleaned, and the mercury replaced.  The very small surface area of mercury that is exposed to the air when the float is closed was covered with mineral oil to stop any mercury exposure to the air.

This was a fascinating procedure to watch especially in that the knowledge of the old classical lenses and their care is becoming a lost art.  This tune-up, along with restoration on the lighthouse itself, were completed in time for the 100 year anniversary of the commissioning of Split Rock Lighthouse which will be celebrated in 2010.

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