Gunflint Trail History

Gunflint Lake's Railroads- Iron Ore to Logging

2008-04-05T08:06:00.000-07:00

f you are interested in the history of the Port Arthur, Duluth and Western Railroad, which ran from Port Arthur to the Paulson Mine, go to- http://members.shaw.ca/padwrr/. The railroad extension into the Minnesota was first to reach the iron ore at the Paulson Mine north of gunflint lake. When this venture met with failure, the Pigeon River Lumber Company constructed a side spur called the Gunflint & Lake Superior Railroad from Little Gunflint Lake, 3 and ½ miles to Crab Lake in 1903. For several years this logging venture succeeded in shipping a rich harvest of timber from the Crab Lake area onto the mills in Port Arthur.

The website by Dave Battistel, Thunder Bay, Ontario traces the history of the rail road from it inception in 1872 through its demise in 1938 and then traces the disposition of the rail line's route and facilities up to 1999. The site also includes many historical and recent images of the rail line.

For additional articles on the History of the Gunflint Trail can be viewed at http://gunflinthistory.blogspot.com/

Gunflint Trail Post Office on East Pope Lake

2008-02-13T14:09:00.000-08:00

Larry Wooding- I would like to let you know that my father, Lawrence F. (GUS) Wooding, the long time owner of the Old Post Office on the Old Gunflint Trail, will be celebrating his 90th birthday on March 2nd at his residence in Sarasota, Florida. He purchased the Old Post Office in the early 1950's from George Stapleton and was one of the earliest person on the Old Gunflint Trail.

His address for cards is:

LAWRENCE F. WOODING

2670 SIESTA DRIVE

SARASOTA, FL 34239

Thanks!

Road Lake's First Cabin and Dave Clark

2008-01-22T04:25:00.000-08:00

The following link is from Dr. Richard Fink, longtime Hungry Jack Lake cabin owner concerning the first cabin on Road Lake- http://picasaweb.google.com/FinkFamilyAlbum/RoadLakeCabin. The cabin was built by Dave and Ann Clark. After selling the Road Lake Cabin to Dr. and Mrs. James Russell Fink, Richard's parents, the Clarks' went on to operate Rockwood and later Borderland lodges.

History of Youngs Island- Poplar Lake

2007-09-19T03:45:00.000-07:00

Dorothy Young's Island is a fifteen acre island located near the middle of Poplar Lake on Government Lot 1, Sec 1 (lot with the cabin), and Government Lot 12 Sec 1, T64-2W; Government Lot 8, Sec 6 and Lot 3, Sec 7, T64-1W. It is one of thirty-two islands on the lake. The island's eight-tenth of an acre mainland boat landing is located along the Gunflint Trail west of Windigo Lodge at T64N, R1W, Sec. 6 Government Lots ---------------------------6& 7.

Mature white pine, white spruce and white cedar dominate the island's pre-1999-blowdown forest eco-system. Prior to this storm there were twenty-four large white pines and an uncountable number of old cedars all dating back many centuries. Unlike most of the forest surrounding Poplar Lake, the island, along with the point north of the island and Swensen's Island, were not burned in the big fire that took place in the early part of the twentieth century. This fire produced the aspen-birch forest found around Poplar Lake today. It is believed that Poplar Lake's name is derived from this forest. While the island contains many mature birch trees, there are no poplars. Along the old snowmobile trail north of the cabin, which runs eastward to a point on the island north side, several moccasin flowers can be found. Moose maple is prevalent throughout the island.

The 1999 BWCA blowdown toppled half of the two dozen white pine and many of the old cedars. Among the cedars toppled by the storm was the largest and perhaps the island's oldest cedar. This cedar was located about two hundred yards west of the cabin.
In the open areas created by the blowdown and later storm clean-up, raspberries flourish.

Documented human history on the island can be traced back thousands of years through an exciting find uncovered during the mid-1980s. Ted and Barbara Young's son Joey and a friend were playing in the garden east of the cabin when they came across what appeared to be an ancient rock tool. When the artifact was shown to the USFS's archaeologist, Gordon Peters, he identified it as a scrapping tool used by Clovis people who roamed the area some 8,000-12,000 years ago. Peters went on to explain that the tool came from the ancient rock quarry on Knife Lake.

From these early times on, other native people certainly traveled and camped on the island. While no additional artifacts from these first people have yet been found, their presence in the area is evident by the many canoe routes they opened and traveled.

The next documented evidence of anyone setting foot on the island was when the US government's first surveyors came through the area in the 1880s. The survey crew left behind a hand carved wooden survey corner post on the east end of the island. Ted Young found this dated and signed post several years ago but unfortunately it has since been lost. The wooden post was replaced by a metal corner pole in 19__.

During the late 1880s, prospector Frank Johnson built one of the first known cabins on Poplar Lake, directly across from the island and just east of the Prune Lake Portage. From this cabin Johnson and his prospecting crew traveled the area in search of minerals.

A Certificate of Title was issued for the island along with much of the land around Poplar Lake on December 20, 1917. The Marais Investment Company of Duluth purchased this title on December 27, 1919. Shortly thereafter the land was transferred to William H. Yawkey, a New York City industrialist. At Willam Yawkey's death the land was passed on to his descendants. The Yawkey family controls large mining and timber holdings throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. The family also became famous for their involvement in professional baseball: family members owned the Boston Redsox and the Detroit Tigers. Ownership of these lands continued in the Yawkey family until January 20, 1931, when Paul and Jenny Stoltz, owners and builders of Rockwood Lodge, purchased the island land.

On the same day the Stoltzes received title for the island, the title was again transferred, this time to Henry & Leonora Cunnington. The Cunningtons lived in Minneapolis where Henry was a musician with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. The next year, 1932, the Cunningtons hired Paul Stoltz to build a small vertical log cabin on the island. Assisting Paul in the construction of the cabin was Poplar Lake resident Eddy Girous This cabin remains to this day. Paul and Ed have passed on.

The Cunningtons used their cabin as a summer home. The cabin was equipped, as were most of the cabins on Poplar Lake, with a wood cook stove, kerosene lights, kerosene stove, an icebox, and an outhouse. It was rumored that when guests came, rather than cook on their wood or kerosene stove, the Cunningtons would have meals catered in by boat from Rockwood Lodge.

On September 3, 1946, the island was purchased by Alma and Louis Grewe. Louis owned Grewe's Granite Works in St. Cloud. Shortly after the Grewes purchased the island, Louis died and Alma became the island's sole owner. After Louis's death Alma changed her last name to Olsen, probability by marrying someone named Olsen. But she remained sole owner of the island. During the Grewe's ownership the island was used very little. The forest crept in, engulfing the cabin, and maintenance was neglected. The old "Grewe's Island" sign remains in a shed on the island.

On Memorial Day weekend in 1952, Dorothy Young, her husband Edwin, and their three children, Ted, Tim and Nancy, came to the Gunflint Trail looking for property to purchase. The family stayed at Dell Kloek's cabin, now the Bridgemans' cabin, on the mainland. Van Johnson, a Grand Marais realtor, showed them several properties around the area. None of the properties shown by Johnson interested the family. On the second day of looking for property, Edwin ran into Darwin Noyes at Rockwood Lodge who had two islands for sale on Poplar Lake: Grewe's Island and Ode Island, now Swenson's Island. Edwin, the children, and Darwin went out by boat to view the islands. After returning to Dell's cabin the family decided that they would like to purchase Grewe's Island. Edwin informed Darwin and a deal was struck to purchase the island for $3400.

As a side note, the reason the Young family stayed in Dell's cabin was that Dell was interested in selling his cabin and had invited the Youngs to stay there in hope they would purchase it. Many years later, after the Youngs had purchased the island from the Grewes, Dell told Ted that he wanted to sell his cabin in order to purchase the island Grewe owned. Unfortunately for Dell, it was Ted's family that ended up purchasing the island the weekend they stayed at Dell's cabin. Eventually Dell bought another island next to Young's Island. In relaying his early misfortune to Ted, Dell stated that "he now was happy how it all turned out and greatly satisfied with the island he ended up purchasing."

During the winter after the island had been purchased by Edwin and Dorothy, Edwin died, leaving Dorothy with three young children, a home in the Minneapolis suburb of Morningside, a recently purchased island, and little money to pay the island's monthly mortgage. The next summer, Dorothy rented her Morningside home and took her children to the island. They stayed until the fall. Over the next several summers the family would again return to their island for the summer, moving back to the cities each fall. Dorothy had a job that enabled her to take much of the summers off.
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During this period the cabin was equipped and furnished much as it was when the Cunningtons owned it, with a cook stove, kerosene lighting, and an outhouse. Running water was whoever went to the lake to fetch it. The Young family crossed the lake to and from the island in an old wooden boat with an even older three-horse Sea-King outboard motor. More often than not, the
Dorothy with daughter Nancy in front of island's wood cook stove- mid 1950's

motor did not work and the family ended up rowing.

One family story recalled from this period was the time during a hot July day when Dorothy sent her sons, Tim and Ted, off with fifty cents to purchase a block of ice from Rockwood Lodge. The children got the ice from the resort's ice house and loaded it into their boat. But rather than return to the cabin with the ice, they spend the next several hours playing with their friends. Needless to say by the time the kids returned the fifty-pound block of ice had melted to about five pounds. And mother was not happy!

The island was a busy place during the summer. Relatives and friends were always welcome, and if they stayed overnight, Dorothy always made room for them in the small cabin. The social life of the family took place at the island, at neighbors' cabins, or at the nearby resorts of Rockwood, Northwoods and Balsam Grove (now Nor'Wester). The Youngs' boat was docked at Rockwood Lodge, and later when Ted's college roommate and friend Carl Brandt Jr. purchased Balsam Grove from his mother, the boat was moved there. As Dorothy's children reached their mid-teens they worked at resorts in the area. Ted worked first as a dock boy at Rockwood and later served as a fishing guide. Tim worked at Northwoods and at Echo Ridge, a small lodge now the Perusses' cabin, and Nancy worked as a cabin-girl at Balsam Grove.

In 1972, Tim, Ted and Nancy, whose married name was now Olmem, and their spouses purchased from Matty Mattis a lot near Windigo Lodge to use as a boat landing. The lawyer handling the transaction for the three families filed the ownership deed with the following information: Ted and Barbara Young having a 1/3 ownership interest, Nancy and Terry Olmem with 1/3 ownership interest and Timothy and Lois Young with 1/2 ownership interest.

Ted and Barbara Young, in May of 1974, moved from Chicago to the island and became year-round residents. In October of 1975 their son Joey was born. The family raised chickens, goats, duck, geese and pigs on the island. They eked out an existence by doing odd jobs, guiding and working at the resorts on the lake. One memory from this period was young Joey running down from the garden screaming and holding up his diapers with the geese biting him in the behind as he ran.

In the winter the cabin was heated by wood. While some of the firewood was cut on the island, most was hauled in by snowmobile from the mainland.

Sled dogs were brought to the island in 1975 and a dog sled touring business was started shortly thereafter. The business, first called "Young's Dog Sled Freighting Service", would become Boundary Country Trekking.

Phone service at a cost of $25 was installed on the island in 1979. An addition was added to the cabin in 1980. The addition added an another bedroom and a new kitchen.

Shortly thereafter Arrowhead Electric Coop ran electric power to the Island. In preparation Ted cut-open the right-away on the mainland and island where the line was to run. And he recalled the cold-snowy-very windy day the power-company ran the lines and brought the transformer across the lake. According to Ted, "dragging the power line from the point on the mainland across the channel went pretty smooth. But bring the transformer across was a different matter. We tied two boats together loaded the heavy transformer aboard and started across. The waves were pretty big. We were lucky to get the across without tipping the boat and loosing the transformer in the lake It was a pretty hairy experience!"

The island cabin was converted into a B&B in 1983 and ran until 1992.

In a ceremony during the summer of 1986 honoring Dorothy, and attended by many of the her
Poplar Lake neighbors, the island was formally dedicated as "Dorothy Young's Island." A
Bronze plaque affixed to a large rock in front of the island's cabin testifies to this event and her
desire that the island should someday be passed on to her grandchildren. Dorothy continued to
return to the island until her death in 1987. With her death, the island was passed to her three
children and their spouses.

Joey grew up and left the island to follow his dreams" in 1998. He had attended school in Grand Marais, catching the school bus on the Gunflint at the mainland boat landing. Rarely did he ever miss school because of ice conditions. In the winter he often was able to bike to the bus stop using the frozen snowmobile path as his bike trail.

Following the 1999 blowdown the Young family responded with an ambitious program to clear the down trees littering the island. A logger was hired, and in February of 2000 the logger and his son brought a skidder and log forwarder over the ice-covered lake. The loggers went to work clear the down trees, salvaging what they could by dragging them across the lake and piling the rest to be burned. Due to the early spring, this equipment had to be removed by mid March. Additional clearing, piling and later burning was continued throughout the summer by hand. That summer the family held a tree-planting weekend on the island and over a thousand red and white pine seedlings were planted.

Ted and Barbara moved from the island in April of 2000 to the Bed and Breakfast they were building on Little Ollie Lake. With their departure the island reverted to its original use as a summer home.

Terry and Nancy Olmem were the island's main occupants during the summers. Since Nancy was a schoolteacher in Duluth she was able to spend much of the summer there. During the summers of 2006 and 2007 the Olmem's replaced many rotting timbers beneath the cabin and rebuilt the sagging dock.
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On July__ 2007 the Young and Olmem families, in order to perpetuate the continued use and administration of the affairs of the island by their descendants, established the Dorothy Young's Island Limited Liability Corporation (LLC). Members of this new LLC are Tim Young, Nancy Olmem and Ted Young. It is the Corporation's mission to continue the Young family's heritage by passing on the island in the future to Dorothy Young's direct descendants, thereby fulfilling her wish that someday her grandchildren would inherit the island. .

Davis Lake Timber Sale, 1948-1952:

2007-02-14T10:11:00.001-08:00

The Davis Lake Timber Sale was located in a remote region, within what is now the Boundary Waters, around Brule, Winchell and Moon lakes. According to Robert Lee, who served as one of the camp clerk on the Davis Lake Timber Sale, the sale was the last camp logging operation conducted by the North Star Timber Company and combined both old and new logging techniques.

Camp 27, located a half mile west of Winchell Lake on Davis Lake served as the main logging camp for the sale. Working from the camp, timber crews mainly cut the area’s black spruce forest.

Timber harvested from the sale was then transported during the winter along an ice road maintained across Brule Lake. From Brule Lake’s Cone Bay the road continued along a land road just west of the South and North Cone Lakes crossing the North Cone-Davis portage on to the camp. The camp was located on the north east end of Davis Lake.

The sale was close-out in 1952 but Camp 27 on Davis Lake remained intact until 1964 when the USFS ordered it destroyed. With the destruction of the camp an important landmark of Boundary Waters history was lost forever.

From an unpublished document by Robert Lee, "North Star Timber Co. and the Davis Lake Timber Sale," May 2005.

Helen Lake Logging Road

2007-02-14T07:56:00.000-08:00

Helen Lake Road and Timber Sales - In 1947 construction of the Helen Lake Logging Road was begun in order to reach and cut the tall white pines in the area around Vista Lake. Beginning at what is now the Lima Grade at a point just north of where the Grade crosses the North Brule River the road eventually penetrated some three and one-half miles west, into what is now the Boundary Water. The road winds passed Helen Lake then across the Horseshoe-Vista Lake portage and continues another half-mile to near Snack Lake.

From 1947 through 1953 the road enable loggers to harvest the tall white pines from the region north of the road up to Swamp, Poplar and Lizz Lake and the much of the area southwest of vista lake. In this area logging was conducted by a series of small sales to several loggers.

From the late 1970s until early 1980s Boundary County Trekking again used the road from the Vista-Horseshoe Portage east to the Lima Grade as a dog sled touring route

Remaining artifacts along the road: While the road is over-grown and difficult to follow and the bridges over Vista, North Brule and Poplar Creeks are gone, the road can still be traveled on foot if you are willing to take time.

Following the road to the west from the Vista-Horseshoe Portage cross the creek next to Horseshoe Lake to pick-up the road on the other side of the creek. From here you Travel west along the road approximately one quarter of a mile where you will come across an old abandoned car. Traveling further, to the end of the road, another one quarter of a mile you will come to a large sawdust pile and the site of a sawmill that operated there when the region was being logged.

The Snowshoe Baby

2006-04-10T06:42:00.000-07:00

The story of Art Madsen's Snowshoe Baby Cook County News-HeraldLast Updated: Thursday, April 06th, 2006 02:37:21 PM

Grand Marais mayor Homer Massie presents a pair of tiny snowshoes to the “Snowshoe Baby,” Helen Sue Madsen, as her brother Chris looks on.
Editor’s note: This is an abridged version of the story of the Snowshoe Baby originally written by Helen Sue (Madsen) Manzo and Alesha Leanne Manzo. Marco Manzo III Contributing writer Art Madsen (1904 – 2000) one of Quetico Provincial Park’s original 16 Rangers and a sworn officer of the law, helped lay the foundation of Quetico’s vast 1-million acre, 600-lake park. Madsen patrolled various beats in the Quetico during the winter — averaging 1,500 miles per winter on snowshoes. He captured two of Quetico’s most notorious poachers: one which took him three years to track then had to wrestle the armed poacher to the ground before arresting him. Art Lake in the northeastern section of Quetico is named in his honor. Madsen lived an adventuresome, vibrant, long and healthy life. (For more on Art Madsen see Boundary Waters Journal Fall 2000 issue, “The Original Quetico Ranger” or at www.sagonto.com “Adventure Articles.”) Imagine you are a pregnant woman — one due very soon, out in a snowy wilderness, and you needed to get to the nearest hospital, 180 miles away. In today’s society, not many would be in this situation, by choice. In 1956, Virginia “Dinna” Madsen was large with child No. 4 and her husband, Art, was not about to have the baby in their
The Snowshoe Baby, above, learned to snowshoe before she was one. She was called the Snowshoe Baby because of what her mother had to go through to get to a hospital in Duluth from Gunflint Lake in 1956 to give birth to her.The story was picked up by newspapers all over the country and editors never forgot about the Snowshoe Baby. In fact, when “The Snowshoe Baby” had her first child, Paul Harvey announced it on his radio show.
remote island cabin on Saganaga Lake, five miles from the end of the Gunflint Trail. The choice was made and the day set to start the trek to get out, which started with Art preparing a half-track at the neighbor’s for the first five miles through a two-foot fall of new snow which weighed and cracked the ice, causing deep slush conditions. The half-track was in need of repair, so Art arranged for a fisherman on Sag with a snow boat (like an Everglades air boat) to take Dinna and their six-year-old son, Chris, as far as the winter portage, a little over half the distance to the road, so Art could finish the repair and catch up with the luggage. The ride in the airboat was so rough that after several sharp bumps the plank on which Dinna was sitting cracked. Mother and son were left at the portage to wait for Art. She made a small fire to warm them, as it was very cold and little Chris was getting hungry. Dinna, waiting at the winter portage, recalled: “Suddenly, we could hear someone coming with a dog team. It was our neighbor Irv Benson (who lived on the island behind us) with his team and sled. Irv had a load of furs to send out with the mail truck, and he informed us that the slush was very bad. Irv offered us a ride, but his sled had quite a load on it with his furs. At the same time, Art had just started out with the half track three miles away. I could faintly hear the half-track’s engine, off and on, as the wind would pick up the rumble and carry it around the islands and trees. I was confident that Art would be coming soon on the half-track, so I declined Irv’s offer. Irv then left with his dog team to catch the mail truck. Chris and I continued to wait. Little did we know that the half track had thrown a track and was bogged down in heavy slush.” She and Chris waited until they saw Art on snowshoes pulling their luggage in a toboggan. Art was alarmed and quite distraught to see his very pregnant wife and son standing out in the cold, and asked why they didn’t go with Irv. Dinna explained that she knew he would be along shortly as she could hear the half-track approaching. Art had left Dinna and Chris’ snowshoes and the half-track behind when the steel track got bogged down in the deep slush, froze and snapped, so gave his snowshoes to his pregnant wife and broke trail with the toboggan. Little Chris followed, sinking almost the length of his body into the snow. “In that deep slush I could only walk 15 steps, then I had to rest and then start again,” Dinna recalled. “Our legs were so tired, and Art had to struggle along himself without any snowshoes, assist Chris and tow the toboggan as well. The baby kept on moving, and Art was afraid that we were going to have it right there. I did my best to stay calm and focused by telling myself, ‘Take it easy, but push onward. Hurry up, but go slow.” They continued on, making slow progress, but somehow managed to complete two miles. Upon rounding the bend to the last stretch of ice, snow and slush, the landing was in sight. Irv, who was still waiting for the mail truck, saw them heading his way, struggling through the deep snow and slush. Seeing their predicament, he hitched up his dogs again and came to meet them to transport them the last one-half mile. About the last mile they were spotted by Irv Benson who was waiting for Don Brazel and his mail truck. Irv hitched up his team and picked up Dinna and Chris. Art said goodbye to wife and son at the mailbox and snowshoed the five miles back up the lake to look after his other two children who were being watched by a close family friend. Dinna had to stay the night with Eve Blankenburg, as the Trail was not plowed that day. It had snowed 17 inches. The next morning, Eve called the snowplow custodian and convinced him to plow the Trail. “My husband is one of the biggest taxpayers in the county, and we’ve got an expectant mother here,” she told him. “We want to see that snowplow today.” When the snowplow finally arrived, Russell and Eve drove Dinna and Chris to town by following the plow on its way back down the Trail. When they arrived Russell called Ade Toftey, the publisher/editor of the Cook County News-Herald, from Leng’s Soda Fountain, and Eve related the adventure. Ade took the story and wrote an article which eventually went out over the Associated Press wires. Meanwhile, Dinna and Chris caught the bus to Duluth. The newspaper stories caused a public stir with headlines like “By Dog Team, Snowshoes: Expectant Mom Mushes Way to Village,” “Everything From Snowshoes to Bus ‘Outruns’ Stork.” Dinna was called the “Mushing Mother of the North” and her new daughter, Helen Sue, was dubbed forever after as “The Snowshoe Baby.”

History of Gunflint Lodge

2005-07-22T06:51:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Doris (Dora) Blankenburg and her son, Russell started Gunflint Lodge in 1925. The Blankenburgs were originally from Chicago and owned a resort called Light House Lodge in northern Wisconsin. One summer some of the guests commented that the next summer they would be going up to a new area just opening up in northern Minnesota. The name of the area was the Gunflint Trail.

Russell decided to come to the Gunflint Trail area and look around. As a result of this trip, he urged his mother to buy a piece of land on Gunflint Lake, which was the end of the Gunflint Trail at that time.

After a couple of years of operation, Mrs. Blankenburg felt that operating two resorts in two states stretched her too thin. She put Gunflint Lodge up for sale. One of Mrs. Blankenburg's friends from Illinois was Mrs. Mae Spunner. Her husband, George, had given the Blankenburgs advice on the purchase of their Wisconsin resort. When Gunflint Lodge was put on the market, Mrs. Spunner expressed interest in purchasing it.

Mae Spunner brought her daughter, Justine, up with her to discuss the purchase of the resort with Dora Blankenburg. While the two women finalized the purchase of the resort, Justine took her first canoe trip with a college friend and a guide. The trip was down the Granite River to Saganaga Lake. At the time Justine had just finished her undergraduate work at Northwestern University and hoped to become a physician. While in school, Justine had agreed to come up during the summers and help her mother run the resort.
For complete history go to Gunflint Lodge History.

History of Hungry Jack Lodge

2005-07-10T04:16:00.000-07:00

Unusual and unforgettable is the history of Hungry Jack Lodge to those who have had a part in building it and to those who have visited it.

Hungry Jack Lake received its name in 1884 when U.S. Government surveyors were plotting the land and charting and naming the lakes. The surveyors had hired
Andrew Jackson Scott Sr. (Jack Scott) (1843-1930) a noted guide, hunter and trapper, to guide them through the country that he knew so well. It was late fall when they reached the shores of what is now named Hungry Jack Lake and set up a winter camp. When they ran low on food supplies, the surveyors decided to snowshoe 32 miles into Grand Marais for the necessary provisions. When they arrived, a blowing snowstorm hit. This storm plus holiday celebrations in town prevented the surveyors from returning to camp for two weeks. When they finally returned, poor jack who was nearly starved to death heard them approach and ran from the shack. One surveyor yelled "Hey are you hungry Jack?" Jack replied "Am I hungry Jack! I'm nearly starved to death!" And from that day on, the lake has been named Hungry Jack.
In 1923 the Gunflint Trail from Grand Marais was extended to Hungry Jack Lake as a forest fire prevention and fighting trail because of its central and key location to the canoe routes through Superior National Forest. For complete History go to Hungry Jack History.

History of Nor'wester Lodge

2005-06-27T05:42:00.000-07:00

Carl & Alis Brandt came to the Gunflint Trail in 1931 to start a sawmill. They soon realized that visitors to the area needed a place to stay. So Carl began building cabins while Alis cleaned cabins, washed laundry, and cooked meals for the many fisherman. They named their resort "Balsam Grove," a name which would stay with the resort through the next 35 years or so.

Built with native spruce and pine logs the lodge still stands today (an addition was later added). Several original diamond willow furniture pieces Carl made are found in the lodge along with furs from many of his trapping and hunting trips.

Today, more than 70 years later, this one-of-a-kind vacation destination on Poplar Lake on the Gunflint Trail remains family owned and operated. In 1968, when Carl and Alis´ son, Carl, and his wife, Luana took over the resort, they changed the name to Nor´Wester Lodge & Outfitters. The name may change and the owners may change, but the beatufiul setting and the spirit of remains.

From Nor'wester Lodge and Outfitters web site.

History of Old Northwoods Lodge

2005-06-27T04:20:00.000-07:00

Old Northwoods Lodge sits on the site of the original Northwoods Lodge, one of the founding resorts on the Gunflnt Trail. In the early 1930s, Dr. Rempel, a Russian CCC Camp Director, owned and operated the Northwoods Lodge, a premier hunting and fishing destination for visitors from the Twin Cities, Milwaukee, and Chicago. For complete history go to Old Northwoods Lodge

Hungry Jack Lake History by Maryanne Norton, 1998

2005-06-24T06:26:00.000-07:00

A well-known story is that of the naming of Hungry Jack Lake. By the fall and early winter of 1873/74, federal surveyors were working in the area. They camped on the shore of an unnamed lake. When food ran very low, two of the surveyors snowshoed into Grand Marais while guide Andrew Jackson (Jack) Scott remained. Two weeks later as they approached the camp, one surveyor called out, "Are you hungry, Jack?" The lake immediately was named Hungry Jack Lake, inspired by Jack Scott’s two weeks of hunger and thirst. For complete History go to Hungry Jack Lake.

Boundary Waters Chronology- Beginning 4.6 Billion Years Ago

2005-06-24T04:45:00.000-07:00

The Boundary Waters Chronology by Stephen Wilbers begins at the formation of the Canadian
Shield and take you through pre-contact, post contact periods and on through the many political fights over the formation of the BWCA. Great overview reference! To view go to Boundary Waters Chronology.

The Finn Lake Logging Road-1956

2005-06-24T04:04:00.000-07:00

Ted Young, Gunflint Trail- Fifty years ago next year, as a teenager and fishing guide working out of Rockwood Lodge, I headed out with a party of fisherman to Caribou Lake. Upon crossing the portage from Poplar to Lizz Lake I was shocked to find that a road had been built through the portage. For the full story go to Finn Lake Road.

History of the Gunflint Trail's Banadad Ski Trail

2005-06-24T03:59:00.000-07:00

What is know today as the BWCAW'S longest groomed ski trail - the Banadad -- was developed many years ago from a network of old logging roads.

In 1953, The Finn Lake Timber Sale modeled after the earlier adjoining and to the south Davis Lake Timber Sale was begun. The Finn Lake Road was construct to access the sale. This road was to become the eastern end of the Banadad. The road began at the General Logging Company's abandoned railroad grade just east of Poplar Lake (now the Lima Grade) and proceeded due west about ten miles to Finn Lake passing just north of Moon Lake.

Timber harvested from the area was transported along this new road to the Gunflint Trail then down to Grand Marais. Some of the tall white pine from the sale were truck across an ice road over Poplar Lake to Sam Sepalla's saw mill located where Trail Center now stands.

The construction of the road and the subsequent logging was controlled by the Kimberly-Clark Company. While several small logging camps sprung up along the road, the company's largest camp was built just north of the old Moon Lake logging camp. According to Hank Larson who was logging in the area during this period: "...in l962 there were some eighteen to twenty-four men logging in the Finn Lake area. About twelve of them were shackers. Shackers is the term used to describe the men living in the camps."

During the early l960s another road was constructed from the Finn Lake Road north between Banadad and Rush Lakes across the Banadad Creek, continuing north for another quarter mile where it intersected with the Dawkin's and Birch Cliff Logging Roads. The Dawkins Road came in from the west and the Birch Cliff Road from the east. The Dawkin's road, also know as the Rib Lake road, began at the Gunflint Trail near the Loon Lake Public Landing. The Birch Cliff road connected with what was then the Winchell Lake fire trail beginning on the Gunflint Trail just east of Poplar Lake (now the access road to the Poplar Lake Public Landing).

In l964 with the passage of the Wilderness Act most of this area was place within the newly created Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCAW). The act prohibited logging in most of the area. Road construction and logging ceased, the men moved out and over the next twenty years the forest began to reclaim the logging roads.

Meanwhile the resorts on the Gunflint Trail began developing cross country ski trails. In l972 the first ski trails of what was to become the Upper Gunflint Trail system were constructed by Borderland Lodge. About the same time the owner of a now defunct resort on Hungry Jack Lake and Bearskin Lodge began developing ski trails. These trails were to develop into Bearskin and Golden Eagle Lodges' Central Gunflint Ski Trail System.

Following a bitter struggle pitting mostly city "preservationist" against "local" people from the area surrounding the BWCAW the l978 "BWCAW Act" was passed by Congress. While local residents were not happy with the legislation, they had manage to incorporate into the bill a provision that allowed for the grooming of ski trail within the BWCAW by snowmobiles.

By the early l980s Borderland (now called Moosehorn), Gunflint and Heston's Lodges in the Upper Gunflint area and Bearskin and Golden Eagle Lodges in the Central Gunflint had develop extensive ski trail systems. They were now interested in connect the two systems. Thus in l982 at the urging of the lodges, the U. S. Forest Service authorized the construction within the BWCAW of a ski trail between the Upper and Central Gunflint ski systems. The old Dawkins road, Birch Cliff and Finn Lake system was selected as the proposed route for this trail. During the summers of 1982 the accumulated forest growth was cut and cleared by crews from the Forest Service from the Dawkins, Birch Cliff and the eastern end of the Finn Lake Roads. Grooming by snowmobile of the this trail was authorized and the trail was opened for skiing that winter. The Subsequent year the Finn Lake Road and Banadad links were cleared and this route replaced the Birch Cliff section as the Banadad's eastern end.

The Upper and Central Ski system were now connected by a twenty-seven kilometer groomed ski trail through the wilderness. First called the Ski Thru Trail, Artery Trail or Tucker Lake Trail, depending upon whom you spoke to, the trail was officially named, by the Gunflint ski resorts, the Banadad in l984.

Many of the trail's early beginnings can still be seen. Skiing the Banadad from the east end about eight kilometers from the Lizz-Poplar Portage, the clearing where the Kimberly-Clark logging camp is still visible. However, all that remains of this once busy log camp is a dilapidated outhouse. Further along the trail at what is now called Moose Kill Hill is the junction where the Banadad link branches north off the Finn Lake Road. Another mile and one half further along the trail is the intersection (called Mid Trail Junction now) with the Dawkins and Birch Cliff roads. The Birch Cliff road (now called the Moose Trail) is primarily used to supply the two yurts located at Bedew Lake.

In an interview a few years ago logger Hank Larson described the beauty of the area. He particularly mentioned the rugged terrain and hills along the road near Banadad Lake. The two largest of these hills were named "Whoopee" One and Two by a party of passing skiers in l985.

Note-Banadad is the Ojibwa equivalent for lost.

Received Question About Early Native Americans in The Area

2005-06-23T03:57:00.000-07:00

Received the following from a reader and former resident, "have always wondered who lived in the County (shore and inland) and Trail previous to the Ojibway coming into the area. The general history books say the Dakota or Lakota but when they get into details they talk about north/central Mn. Then I have heard the Assiniboine (Nakota), but again the details place them more towards Lake of the Woods. Then I have heard the Cree, but then the details I have seen seem to place them to the North. So for Cook County, It is a gray area. I hope you would consider opening up the History Blog to see if anybody has some information particular to our area. Betty Powell Skoog mentioned somewhere once that her family had told her about the Sioux wars or something so there may be stories out there."

Anyone have an answer? I sure would be interested.
Show Original Post

Dan Nelson responded-

I have this from a Thunder Bay source, "Opinions vary on this subject but the general view of historians is that the Ojibway came to this area about the same time or slightly before the European fur traders and displaced the Cree in the north and the Sioux in the regions further south. Hence the places with names like Sioux Lookout and Sioux Narrows. There are still many Cree in the far north and the Sioux moved west. A book entitled The Eagle of Thunder Cape, published in 1924 and reprinted in 2001 by the Thunder Bay Museum, recounts the oral tradition of the Ojibway of major battles between the Sioux and the Ojibway. This tradition holds that the Sioux and the Blackfoot joined forces to conquer the Ojibway and the Northern Cree. You might also check Andrew Warren's book on the Chippewa as it is usually accurate.Archaeologists, however, differ with this view. There evidence shows that the Terminal Woodland Algonkian pre-historic people, characterized by their distinctive pottery and burial mounds, occupied this area from 750 AD to about 1650 AD when the Ojibway moved in. One scholar has written that the Terminal Woodland Algonkian people were, in fact, the Ojibway but this view is somewhat radical as the evidence for Ojibway migration at the time of the early fur trade is quite convincing. Most archaeologists, however, believe that the Terminal Woodland people were completely destroyed by or absorbed into the invading Ojibway culture, and that the Sioux wars came later when the Sioux invaded the territory. This view is backed by archaeological evidence while the historical view is backed by oral testimony and the second-hand accounts of missionaries. I don't know whether the Sioux ever resided in Thunder Bay area."

Company History- Trail Center

2005-06-20T09:13:00.000-07:00

History of Sam Seppala's saw mill operated on the Trail Center's site in the late 1930's and 40's as told by Glady's Seppala Truri. Great photos! One photo shows the orginal store.

Company History- Boundary Country Trekking

2005-06-20T06:04:00.000-07:00

Company History

Shortly after moving from Chicago to their family owned property, Young's Island, on the Gunflint Trail in 1974, Barbara and Ted Young started several business ventures. These ventures were to grow into Boundary Country Trekking Ltd. (BCT). Their first venture, Mid Trail Services, provided maintenance and construction services to Gunflint Trail summer cabin owners. Ted's canoe guiding services, which he began many years before as a teenager, also continued during this time. For the complete company history go to BCT History.