It was laid in the 1890s to transport building materials from the beach to the construction site of the 16 meter (52 foot) high Mona Island Lighthouse, which was put into operation on 30 April 1900.

[3][4] The hurricane of September 1921 tore off the roof of a lighthouse storage room and damaged the kitchen and the industrial tramway.

A flight of the stairs led through the cave, and then another 1.8 km (6,000 feet) long tramway had to be used, which often derailed because the 22-year-old rails were already crumbling.

As late as 1925, a stubborn donkey named Macario hauled the wagon covered by a makeshift sunshade canopy.

[5] As the building material for the lighthouse was prefabricated and delivered by the French construction company Stapfer de Duclos & Cie, it may be assumed that a Decauville portable track with the metric gauge of 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) instead of the imperial gauge of 2 ft (610 mm), which was more common in other parts of Puerto Rico.