Trail Center: The Flavell Family Years – 1948-1963

Located at the east end of Poplar Lake along side of the Gunflint Trail is a small business place where workers and travelers rest and refresh themselves. This has always been so, and will probably always be so.

It was love a first sight when Will Flavell first saw Trail Service Center in March of 1948. He had brought his family to Pike Lake Resort for a vacation and fell in love with the lakes and woods of the Gunflint. Bev Johnson, an owner and realtor, took Will up the Gunflint to see the property. That winter had been mighty tough and some say the snow was so deep that only the rooftops were visible. Either Bev was a good salesman, or Will had that gleam in his eyes, the look of a dream coming true. Will said, “I’ll take it.”

William “Will” Flavell and his wife Carrie Haslam Flavell purchased the 9-acre Trail Service Center property from Bev Johnson for $9,000. The Flavells moved “up the trail” from LaGrange, IL with their three youngest sons: Tom, George and Harold. The snow of 1948 interrupted their move when the car became stuck in Wisconsin, and the trip hold to be completed on the Greyhound bus. Will could not wait to embrace this new place.

A WWII naval veteran, Tom Flavell lived and worked at Trail Service until 1950. He returned to Illinois 1951, married Wanda Wasilewski, and then had a family of two sons (Austin and Terry) and two daughters (Linda and Laurie). Tom named the small pond across the road “Tamarack Lake.” In those days this little pond was a source of minnows were trapped and were “free” not “store bought.”

George Flavell was quite a football player and track runner. He was the running back on the undefeated Cook County High School football team where he graduated in 1951. He served in the Air Force for four years, and subsequently returned to the Trail Center to help his folks run the place. George never married and remained at the Trail Center until 1963.

The youngest son, Harold, graduated from high school in Illinois in 1953 where the family often spent winters. Harold remembers his first car—a 1931 Model A Ford. Apparently a logger up the trail owned the car and was asking $75.00 for it. After Will finished with negotiations, the car was purchased for $37.50. Harold served for two years in the Army. He married Vera Wagg in 1955 and a family of four sons (Harold Jr., Jeff, Ti and Tom) and one daughter (Julie). Harold and Vera later moved to Grand Marais, where he worked in construction, and she worked as a nurse at the Cook County Hospital. They also owned Flavell’s Cabins in Grand Marais.

Trail Center was originally a sawmill. The original building was believed to be a mess hall for the loggers. Logs were floated or trucked to the east end of Poplar Lake and brought up the hill to the sawmill. The original mill location was located near the lake.

For a short time Will tried his hand at logging. He bought a Diamond T truck and loaded the logs by hand. His logging career almost ended in Lake Superior as the truck’s brakes failed while going down the steep hill into Grand Marais.

In those days the Gunflint Trail was a somewhat narrow, hilly, two lane gravel affair. The Gunflint followed the topography. In other words it was a breathtaking ride from Trail Service to Swamper Lake. Visitors and residents alike never forget this roller coaster ride. From Swamper to Grand Marais the road was improved and the ride was less thrilling. Jeff Halverson, one of the county employees who ran the motor grader on the Gunflint, frequently had to dismount and work the edges with his shovel. On one such occasion in early summer the Trail Service crew remembers poor Jeff shoveling away and the black flies showing him absolutely no mercy.

In 1961 grading and paving brought civilization to Poplar Lake. The road construction company needed a place to park their trucks (Euclid’s) and place their maintenance tent. A swampy area that is now the lower parking lot was filled with gravel by the road crew in exchange for a place to park. Today, this area, which was marshy extension of Poplar Lake, would need an environmental impact statement before it could be filled, moreover, such filling would probably never be approved. In those days, however, the fill was thought to be an improvement.

This parking improvement was also the demise of a small minnow pond located near the lake. Minnows were stocked here and sold to fishermen by the dozen or half dozen. It was a handy location near the dock. The minnows were moved to a tank by the store. It is likely the little intermittent spring that fed the minnow pond still winds its way through this area to Poplar Lake.

Without electricity things were done differently. There was a generator located behind the gas station, but its use was limited. Gas was pumped by hand and iceboxes provided food refrigeration. Gas lanterns did not necessarily mean you were “camping out.”

Cutting ice was annual winter event at Trail Service. As the best ice needed to be at least two feet or more thick, the work did not start until the ice conditions were just right. With the aid of a three-foot ice saw supplied by Ollor Snevets, the crew would cut a 2 by 2 foot grid in the lake. If timed right a 2X2X2 foot ice cube would result. Sometimes these could be up to 3 feet if the ice was thicker. With weights of 100 pounds or more, bigger was not better.

The ice crew would break each block loose from the grid and pull the block from the lake with tongs. Next the block was loaded on a truck and to be hauled to the icehouse. The first icehouse was located near the lake. Later, a new icehouse was later built behind the motel.

At the end of the day the contents of the icehouse resembled a 15X15X9 foot high ice cube. It was covered with sawdust for insulation. New sawdust was never used because it gives off heat as it cures. Old sawdust, in plentiful supply at Trail Service, was the best insulation. If covered properly, the ice could last all summer.

“Ice boxes” were the refrigerators in those days. A huge icebox was located behind the bar. It primarily cooled meat and beer for sale at the store. Iceboxes were also used in homes and cabins. Summer home residents bought ice, and fisherman iced down their catch for the trip home from the stores in the icehouse.

Gas pumps were hand powered in those days. The 10-gallon beauty standing in the Trail Service restaurant was once the main source of fuel. One would pump up to 10 gallons into the glass tank and then drain the needed amount into the auto’s tank. This pump stood in front of the only gas station, now the little trading post. It was quite the celebrations when Benson’s Texaco brought the new electric gas pump in 1961.

When the new road project was under construction the newly crushed gravel on the road acted like razors on tires. There was a tire-fixing boom at Trail Service that summer. It was good for business, but not for morale. Tires were fixed with hand tools in the little gas station. One hot summer day George proved this case. A gal who brought in a flat tire, kept looking over George’s shoulder and worst of all kept talking. Whenever she talked, George added 50 cents to the job cost. By the time George was done, the tire was not the only thing inflated.

Will started the grocery store, but he did not have an adding machine or cash register with a fancy tape; so he simply wrote and added the cost of groceries on the outside of the grocery bag. Grocery bags were made of brown paper in those days; plastic bags had not yet been invented. Customers never any complaints or any returns, so this simple method seems to have worked well. Some of the Poplar Lake “locals” that traded at Will’s store were: the Youngs, Bridgemans, Giroux, and Minny “Highpockets” Staples and her next door neighbor June Barnes.

The YMCA canoe groups also stopped at the store. Poplar Lake was a stop on their route to Winchell Lake. Some of these groups had 15 or more canoes. Giant Baby Ruth and Butterfinger candy bars were the undisputed favorites of these starving teenagers.

Will had a “barrel stove” in the store to take off the chill. It was an old 55-gallon drum with store bought flue and door hardware attached. Will religiously fed his stove with wood, paper and cardboard. Waste disposal was not a bid issue with Will.

The dump, not a sanitary landfill, was located on the Hungry Jack Road. The frequency of dumping often related to bear activity. One such bear became extremely interested in Trail Center garbage cans. Nightly raids became common.

George Flavell designed what he thought to be a bear proof garbage can. He ran a chain from one side handle through the lid handle and secured it to the other side handle. That night the enterprising bear simply crushed the can with his arms, and ate his fill. Using the old Diamond T truck, the Trail Center crew started taking garbage to the dump every afternoon. By the way the bears were plentiful at this open dump. Today open dumps are considered to be environmental disasters, but in those days, it was a tourist attraction.

Harold and George took the 1931 Model A to the dump one day, whereupon the front wheel fell off and rolled into the garbage pile. Six bears were munching on used melons at the time. Fully understanding the severity of the situation, George looked at Harold and said, “You go get it.” Harold recovered the tire, as it was his tire and his car, and they made it home safely.

The bear saga continued however. Once the garbage cans had been removed, the enterprising bear went next door and decided to eat Ollor Snevets lunch. This was a bad meal choice on the bear’s part. Ollor shooed the bear. That is to say he literally walked up to the picnic table and said, “Shoo, go away!” This bear was not impressed, and continued with lunch. Ollor went up the hill for his rifle. On his return the bear was gone, but Ollor tracked the bear westward down the Poplar Lake shoreline. There were bear burgers at the Trail Center that night. The whole philosophy of not habituating wildlife to human food was known on the Gunflint long before it became a popular topic.

Ollor Snevets was a person of American Indian descent who owned the canoe outfitter next door to Trail Service. It was said that his real name was Rollo Stevens and he spelled it backwards to avoid questions about a checkered past. Whether true or not, Ollor did stomp out of the store when once questioned about it.

Will and Carrie retired and moved to town in 1960. They lived in Grand Marais for the rest of their lives. They are buried at Maple Hill Cemetery.

Will and Carrie sold Trail Center to their oldest daughter Eleanor Flavell Elza and here husband James “Jim” Elza. George Flavell stayed at Trail Service as a full partner in the business. The Elzas brought with them five children: James Jr., Ronald, Kathy, Steve, and Scott.

Quite a building program was initiated. The kitchen and bathroom addition to the main building was built in February-March 1960, the new icehouse was built across the road, and a new motel was built that summer. Herb White of Road Lake, did the masonry work for the motel. Much of the beautiful stonework and stone fireplaces along the gunflint can be attributed to Herb. He was a superb stone craftsman. Herb and his wife later move to a new home he had built just down the road from Trail Center

East and West Twin were hot walleye lakes at that time. Catching your limit was never a problem at the secret spots on these lakes. One could even drive to these lakes on the “old railroad grade.” These lakes were reserved for tourists who had trouble-catching fish. At the end of a stay, Jim, George or Jim Jr. would take any luckless tourists to catch some walleyes. On one such occasion Jim. Jr. was rowing in with a full stringer of walleyes and some happy fisherman. Unfortunately, he had tied the rope stringer through the ore lock, and when the party arrived on shore, a short piece of rope was the only evidence of the fishing trip.

Fortunately, there was still the last resort (no pun intended). The last resort was the icebox where previously caught walleyes and northern were kept. No one went home empty handed, even though a few fish stories were likely invented.

Toddlers Steve and Scott, not to be outdone by bigger fishermen, went fishing in the minnow tank. They caught their limit, cleaned the fish and brought them to Eleanor.

The Forest Service maintained portages before the BWCA rules were implemented. These improvements made canoe trips somewhat easier. The portages had little docks for the canoes, portage signs announced each location, and small motors were often used to propel the canoes. Paddling around to locate a portage was a lot less frequent. This is not to say things were better or worse, they were just different. The BWCA rules came into effect in 1964.

James “Jim” Elza Jr. also played football at Cook County High School were he graduated in 1962. He married Leslie Erickson of Tofte in 1965, and they have one daughter: Jill. He entered the Army after graduating from the University of Minnesota in 1966, and served five years including a tour of Viet Nam.

After 1962 Trail Center was sold to George and Eva Cleaver and later to the Liebertz family.

Jim and Eleanor Elza returned to Downers Grove, IL with their four younger children. They later retired in Hayward, WI.

George Flavell also moved to Hayward, WI in 1963. He worked in construction in the Hayward area where he lived the rest of his life.

After the family returned to Downers Grove, Ron Elza graduated from high school in 1965. H joined the Army and was assigned to the Big Red one in Viet Name. He was killed in action on reconnaissance patrol in 1967 and awarded the Bronze Star for valor. Many of the young men who lived and worked at Trail Service served their country, but Ron made the greatest sacrifice.

This is the story of some of the owners and their families that lived and worked at the Trail Service Center from 1948 to 1964. Although the buildings have changed and people have changed, fond memories of this little place on the Gunflint Trail never change.

James “Jim” Elza Jr., August 2008
Edited by Ted Young, August 27,2010