Splitrock

Overview

Seven years of pine

In 1899 the Merrill and Ring lumber firm, through its Split Rock Lumber Company, set up a camp where the Split Rock River runs into Lake Superior, 17 miles northeast of Two Harbors. The company controlled the harbor, the railroad, the coal dock and the store, which held the post office. Early maps call the place Splitrock, Split Rock, Split Rock Point or Waterville.

Crews cut red and white pine up the valley, and a ten-mile railroad brought the logs down. It never joined another line, but the company incorporated it as the Split Rock and Northern to qualify for a common-carrier tax break. A dam at the mouth held the logs in a pond until they were sluiced into the lake, rafted and towed to the Duluth sawmill by the tug Gladiator, which carried carrier pigeons to send word if it got into trouble.

The pine ran out in 1906, and the town and railroad were taken apart the next year. A storm washed out the dam in June 1908, and forest fires swept the cutover land. Today the site is in Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, and the pilings at the river mouth are all that is left.

Timeline

Camp, railroad, gone

1. 1899Merrill and Ring, through its Split Rock Lumber Company, sets up a logging camp at the mouth of the Split Rock River.
2. 1899-1906Crews cut red and white pine in the river valley. A ten-mile railroad, chartered as the Split Rock and Northern to win a common-carrier tax break, brings logs to the shore. A dam holds them in a pond until they are rafted and towed to the company's Duluth sawmill.
3. PeakAbout 350 men work the woods by Wikipedia's count; the wayside marker says 400, with 50 living and working at the river mouth. The camp has a store and post office, a warehouse, bunk and dining houses, an ice house, seven dwellings, a 180-foot wharf and a coal dock.
4. 1906Logging ends. Wikipedia credits the operation with 200 million board feet and a profit of $863,454.
5. 1907The town and its railroad are taken apart.
6. June 1908A storm washes out the dam.
7. LaterThe site becomes part of Split Rock Lighthouse State Park.

What's left

What you'll see

Park at the Split Rock River wayside on Highway 61, where a North Shore Scenic Drive sign tells the camp's story. The Gitchi-Gami State Trail crosses the river on a footbridge and passes through a tunnel under the highway to the beach. The DNR says the log pilings at the end of the sand bar are what is left of the dam; Wikipedia describes wharf and trestle pilings about 184 feet long and 16 feet wide. A 2011 photo on the marker's page shows the pilings on the beach across the highway.

No building survives. The Superior Hiking Trail climbs the river gorge from the wayside past waterfalls. The 1956 Split Rock Point sheet below shows the highway bridge at the mouth, the sand spit and the bay, with no buildings at the river mouth.

• Dam, wharf and trestle pilings at the river mouth
• Sand bar at the mouth of the Split Rock River
• Split Rock River wayside and history sign on Highway 61

Historic maps

Splitrock on USGS maps, 1954–1976

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19541:250,00019561:24,00019761:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Two Harbors is the closest town. Highway 61 runs northeast from it along the Lake Superior shore to the Split Rock River wayside. From Duluth, take I-35 and the same highway up the shore.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Splitrock in photos

The Gitchi-Gami State Trail bridge over the Split Rock River, October 2011The trail tunnel under Highway 61 toward the river mouth, July 2022

Visitor reports

Been to Splitrock?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

Thanks. Your report reached us, and we'll read it before it goes on the page.

Mill, lumber and company

More mill, lumber and company ghost towns

The nearest, in other states.

Guide

Williamsonville

44.77, -87.54

Door County, Wisconsin

A shingle mill village of some 77 people on the Ahnapee River. On the night of the Peshtigo Fire a firestorm burned it, and most of its people died.…

County parkMill, lumber and company

Guide

Motor

42.81, -91.35

Clayton County, Iowa

Three partners built the biggest mill they could on the Turkey River in the late 1860s and named the town around it Motor. The railroad never…

County historic siteMill, lumber and company

All 51 mill, lumber and company ghost towns →

Nearby

Other sites near Splitrock

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Minnesota index.

• London7.7 mi W · Lake
• Taconite Harbor32.5 mi NE · Cook
• Elcor53.3 mi NW · St. Louis
• Fermoy56.2 mi W · St. Louis
• West Virginia59.1 mi NW · St. Louis
• Chippewa City65.2 mi NE · Cook
• Spina66.8 mi W · St. Louis
• Harlis68.3 mi SW · Pine

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Wikipedia, "Splitrock, Minnesota", read October 28, 2026: the 1899-1906 company town, Merrill and Ring and the Split Rock Lumber Company, 350 men, the company harbor, railroad, coal dock and store with post office, the other names, the Split Rock and Northern tax break, the Gladiator and its pigeons, 200 million board feet and the $863,454 profit, dismantling in 1907, the fires, the 184 by 16 foot pilings, the coordinates.
2. Historical Marker Database, "Welcome to Split Rock River Wayside Rest" (North Shore Scenic Drive Council sign), photographed January 26, 2025, with a photo of the pilings from October 14, 2011: 400 men with 50 at the site, the buildings, the 180-foot wharf, the dam and its June 1908 washout, short-term parking, the wayside address.
3. Minnesota DNR, Split Rock Lighthouse State Park snapshot virtual tour, read October 28, 2026: the park open year-round, the Gitchi-Gami crossing and tunnel at the river mouth, the dam pilings at the end of the sand bar, the Split Rock River loop trail, permits at the park office.
4. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits

• The Gitchi-Gami State Trail bridge over the Split Rock River, October 2011: McGhiever, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
• The trail tunnel under Highway 61 toward the river mouth, July 2022: Tony Webster, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Two Harbors 1954, 1:250,000; Split Rock Point 1956, 1:24,000; Two Harbors 1976, 1:100,000.