[2][3][4] It forms a range with the Duluth South Breakwater Outer Light to guide ships into the canal from Lake Superior.

[5] The original configuration of the breakwaters was graced by a tower on the south side of the lake entrance in 1874, shortly after the canal was constructed.

[4][6] Construction proceeded quickly on an open wooden pyramidal tower surmounted by a watch room and iron lantern, the latter housing a fourth-order Fresnel lens which rotated to provide a six-second flash; the light was first displayed on September 1 of that year.

[7] It was nominated for being one of the federal navigation aids essential to the development of the Great Lakes as the nation's most important transportation system in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

[8] The light remains in service, but in 2008 the tower was sold at auction to a pair of Duluth residents after an offer to donate it to educational or non-profit organizations found no takers.