Duluth South Breakwater Inner Light guides vessels from Lake Superior into the Duluth Ship Canal as the rear light in a range with the outer light. Although a light stood at the canal’s south entrance from 1874, funding for a matching inner light was not secured until 1889. The first structure, a wooden pyramidal tower with a revolving fourth-order Fresnel lens, entered service on September 1, 1889. During a harbor upgrade, the canal and breakwater were rebuilt from 1898 to 1900, and the present skeletal lighthouse was completed in 1900–1901. Still active, it was recognized in 1983 for its importance to Great Lakes commerce, engineering, and transportation.