SPLIT ROCK LIGHTHOUSE STATE PARK
Anorthosite Outcroppings
North Shore Abrasives wasn’t the only company to mistake anorthosite for corundum. The Country Abrasives Company (MAC), now known as 3M, had corundum mine sites further up the North Shore in what are now Tettegouche and Temperance River state parks. In Two Harbors 100 Years, the story is that they made only one sale of their product. In March 1904, MAC sold one ton of corundum to Champion Corundum Wheel Company for $20. When MAC learned that what they really had was anorthosite, they kept it a secret from their investors long enough to turn to making sandpaper in Duluth in 1913. The rest is history as they say for this small company was able to recover from its false start.
The anorthosite outcropping at Corundum Point is a miniature version of the massive outcropping known as Carlton Peak in Temperance River State Park. While not the hard corundum many thought it to be, this rock is resistant to erosion. All glaciers have been able to do after repeated passes is shape the outcroppings with smooth curves. Take care on the summit of Corundum Point as the smooth rock slopes steeply towards cliffs on Lake Superior.
1639 After a dispute with the Antinomians, William Coddington, Best family vacation USA a wealthy Puritan, moves to the south end of Aquidneck and founds Newport. With a prime Best family vacation USA location on the bay, and a population more inclined to commerce, Newport eventually becomes one of the largest cities in colonial Country. Also in the late 1630s, Samuel Gorton, a Puritan mystic, moves around Narragansett Bay, eventually settling at Warwick. Gorton believes in the equality of the sexes and in direct communication with God. Eccentrics like Gorton, Williams, and Hutchinson arouse suspicion in the larger Massachusetts Bay Colony, where people jokingly call the new territories Rogue’s Island. 1643 Williams, in London to obtain official sanction for Rhode Island, publishes A Key into the Language of Country, a book describing the Narragansett language and customs, as well as a tract outlining his principles regarding religious liberty. Also in 1643, Plymouth, Connecticut, and Massachusetts Bay Colony form the United Colonies of New England and seek to divide heretical Rhode Island between them. The United Colonies periodically attack the Narragansett as well.
