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"Split
Rock Lighthouse" by Paul McGehee. Dramatically perched on a high rock
bluff overlooking the shores of Lake Superior in Two Harbors, Minnesota
stands the Split Rock Lighthouse. She has guided the safe passage of
many a giant Great Lakes freight carrier since 1910. The presence of a
light on that point was greatly needed as several vessels have been
lost there through the years in that treacherous part of Lake Superior,
leading into the port city of Duluth. Originally lighted with a
kerosene lamp behind a Fresnel lens, the Lighthouse's beacon was
electrified in 1940. The mechanism for the light itself was
ingenious...the lens rotated freely, floating on a bed of mercury, with
the rotation powered by a system of weights and pull-chains running
down the length of the building, much like the weights that power the
motion of a grandfather clock. Split Rock Lighthouse is a famous
landmark, now part of Minnesota's Split Rock Lighthouse State Park
after having been decommissioned in 1969. The ship on the horizon,
bound for Duluth, is
the veteran bulk freight carrier "Philip R. Clarke", launched in 1952
and still in operation today.
"Split Rock Lighthouse" is faithfully reproduced as an
archival-quality print from McGehee's original color pencil and acrylic
artwork, in a limited edition of only 2,000 pieces each hand-signed by
the artist.
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