Weekend’s Paula Drake interviews Clarence Young, who spent time at the Split Rock Lighthouse in the early 1900s. His father, Orren "Pete" Young, was the lighthouse's first head keeper from 1910 to 1928. Clarence recalls the experience of travel to lighthouse, playing there as a child, and weather along Lake Superior.
CLARENCE YOUNG: We would go from Two Harbors to the lighthouse. They had a motorboat at the lighthouse, and dad would go to Two Harbors. But once a month, there's something there, maybe less.
We'd go up there. He'd come down and get us in June, and we'd go up there till September. And then from then on, we would go to Beaver Bay. That was the nearest. That was about 8 miles.
It'd take about 45 minutes in the boat. And we'd go there about once a week for groceries and the mail. And then on the way back, we would let off the mail. We would pick up the mail for some of the fishermen friends along the way.
PAULA DRAKE: Clarence, how did you spend your time while living those summers at the lighthouse? What did you do to occupy your time?
CLARENCE YOUNG: Well, we would romp around in the woods, I suppose, and do things like other children do. There was at some times the first and second assistant. The second assistant especially would have a-- there was a boy there, and we'd go around together and we'd take the boats out. We had two boats, the rowboats, and we'd go over and watch the fishermen clean their fish and that.
PAULA DRAKE: I understand that the lighthouse was built after some pretty bad shipwrecks occurred in the lake nearby. Can you tell me about that?
CLARENCE YOUNG: Well, there was fall storms. Along in November, they seem to have the worst storms on the Lake Superior. And in 1905, I guess there was boats lined up the Knife River and Gooseberry. And all along the shore there was boats went ashore.
It seemed like the taconite ore that's in the rock now is a magnetic ore and it seemed to attract the compasses. And the boats would get-- if they'd get close to the shore, or even if they weren't so close, it would throw the compasses off. The compasses that they had in those days were just magnetic compasses. And the boats would be lost and they'd go ashore. But after those shipwrecks at that time, then Congress got busy and appropriated the money to build the lighthouse.
PAULA DRAKE: Clarence, how did they light the lighthouse back in 1910?
CLARENCE YOUNG: It was done by vapor. You've seen these vapor lanterns that they pump pressure on the gasoline forms the vapor gas, and it gives kind of a whitish green light. It's real bright.
And they would put kerosene, high-grade kerosene in one tank. There was about a 5-gallon tank. They wouldn't fill it full. And then there was another tank that they would pump air into and the air would force the kerosene up into a gooseneck.
When they'd light the light, they would use an alcohol burner to heat the gooseneck. And that would go up over the mantle. And when that would start vaporizing it, they would put the mantle on and light that, and it would show that green light, and then that would burn all night.
PAULA DRAKE: How did they get it to flash?
CLARENCE YOUNG: Well, it's a large French prism lens. It's about 4 feet across it. And that was on the two sides and then that would turn around. And as it turned around, it would make the flashes.
PAULA DRAKE: Oh, I see. So it was a steady light.
CLARENCE YOUNG: Well, the light was steady, yes. Oh, yes.
PAULA DRAKE: But the actual beacon turned around there?
CLARENCE YOUNG: Yeah, the lens turned around.
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