Told with eloquent introspection and an eye for detail, Light Years is the personal account of a lighthouse keeper in twenty-first century British Columbia-an account that details Caroline's endurance of extreme climatic, interpersonal and medical challenges, as well as the practical and psychological aspects of living a happy, healthy, useful and creative life in isolation. The process of lighthouse automation began in the late 1960s with the introduction of helicopter reliefs, but most lighthouses remained manned until the. Yet Caroline is exhilarated by the scenic coastline with its drizzle and fog, seabirds and whales, and finds time to grow a garden and, as anticipated, write. "So far the only life I know I've saved is my own," she says, with her trademark dry wit. As for dangerous rescue missions or dramatic shipwrecks-that kind of excitement is rare. weather report, the days are filled with maintaining the light station buildings, sea sampling, radio communication, beach cleanup, wildlife encounters and everything in between. The reality is hard physical labour, long stretches of isolation and the constant threat of de-staffing. When a permanent position for a lighthouse keeper became available, Caroline quit her job and joined Jeff on the lights.Ĭaroline soon learned that the lighthouse-keeping life does not consist of long, empty hours in which to write. They endured lonely months of living apart, but the way of life rejuvenated Jeff and inspired Caroline to contemplate serious shifts in order to accompany him. Jeff was tired of piecing together low-paying part-time jobs and, with Caroline's encouragement, applied for a position as a relief lightkeeper on a remote North Pacific island. With an established career in book-selling and promotion, four books of her own and having raised a son with her husband, Jeff, she yearned for adventure and to re-ignite her passion for writing. Lighthouse keeping was a unique occupation, now obsolete, and this book is a fitting tribute to these tough, usually solitary, and dedicated heroes who kept the. Historian Virginia Neal Thomas writes that though about five percent of lighthouse keepers between 18 were female and received equal pay to men, women lighthouse keepers were for all. In 2007, Caroline Woodward was itching for a change. Public interest in Split Rock continued to grow.Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award - BC Book Prize (2016)
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In 1935 a new access road to the station was built, and in 1942 a gift shop opened. This job was of course more relevant years ago during the 19th century. To handle the growing demand, visiting hours were established and a safety fence was erected along the cliff's edge. Generally speaking, a lighthouse keeper is someone who maintains a lighthouse facility. The Lighthouse Service required the keepers to escort any visitor to the lighthouse. This gave Split Rock Lighthouse five times as many visitors as any other station in the service. By 1938, Keeper Franklin Covell estimated nearly 100,000 visitors to the site. By the early 1930s about 5,000 people visited the lighthouse each year.
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The keepers and their families weren’t the only ones to take advantage of the new roadway. By the 1930s, the keepers and their families lived at the station year-round, the children boarding buses for school in Beaver Bay and Two Harbors and supplies arriving more steadily by road. The Lake Superior International Highway was built near the lighthouse in 1924, finally making the lighthouse accessible by land. An extended spur of the rail system allowed the keepers to push the carload of supplies right to the oil house and storage barns where the supplies were stored until used. This work recounts the life and work of one of the last keepers of lighthouses when they were powered by kerosene, and a clock work mechanism. The elevated railway, completed in 1916, hauled supplies on a flat car up the hill from the dock where the tenders were moored. In 1915, the Lighthouse Service began construction on a tramway at the southern end of the station. They needed a new method that didn't require calm weather, a rarity on stormy Lake Superior. However, delays due to wind and waves made it hard for the tenders to use the hoist and derrick system without causing further delay to their schedules.
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Lighthouse Service had a long history of supplying remote stations.Īt Split Rock, they adapted the steam-powered hoist and derrick used for raising construction supplies and instead used it to hoist freight from the tenders, or supply boats. Later, George applied for the open post at Lennard Island and. Although the station was one of the most isolated on the Great Lakes when it was commissioned in 1910, the U.S. Initially George became a relief lightkeeper, temporarily stationed at various lighthouses across BC while Woodward remained on land.