06/03/2026
Supplying the Station Series: Tramway 2.0
The new tramway running from the keeper’s houses to the tram engine building and down to the boat house replaced the hoist and derrick in 1916 because it was seen as being a safer and more reliable method of supplying the station.
The land was surveyed in August of 1915 by C.A. Park (the Lighthouse Service Inspector) and Head Keeper Orren “Pete” Young. Work Officially began October 11, 1915. Seven (7) local men, including some fishermen from Little Two Harbors, were contracted for the job.
First, a 12-foot wide trail was cut through the brush to the top of the slope. Next, wooden framing for the concrete rail supports were constructed and concrete mixed by hand and poured in with wheelbarrows. By November many of the concrete forms and hoist house were finished and the hoist engine was placed inside the hoist house when work ended for the season.
In June of 1916 a new crew arrived to finish the work. The concrete supports were finished in July and the entire tramway was completed August 1, 1916.
Photo #1: View of the tramway with the boat house in the foreground on the right and the tramway building on top of the hill to the left, with the lighthouse and Keepers’ houses on top of the cliff, about 1920.
Photo #2: First Head Keeper Pete Young standing in the door frame of the tramway building, 1918.
Photo #3: A view of the upper tramway tracks in 1917 with a load of lumber on the cart, gentlemen unknown.
Photo #4: Clothes washing day at the base of the tramway, 1915-1916. Head Keeper Pete Young on the right with the mustache, and Conrad Lornston (fisherman from Little Two Harbors) center; man on left unknown.
