Poplar Lake History - continues

Trail Center: The Flavell Family Years – 1948-1963

2010-10-27T11:56:00.000-07:00

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

Rolf Hugenvik, Poplar Lake Summer Home- 1925-2009

2009-02-27T03:56:00.001-08:00

Ina Hugenvik- Rolf Hugenvik (Huggie) was born in 1925 and served in the Army during WWII. While stationed in the Philippines, he saw a picture in a Sunday news magazine of a northern lake with blue sky and pointy evergreen trees. He wrote his mother that he would like to have a cabin some day on a lake like that. Fast forward to 1948: His parents happened to know Doc Remple’s wife and somehow made it to the Gunflint Trail to visit her. Doc showed Huggie the lots he had for sale, completely wooded over with downed trees, brush and raspberry bushes but with plenty of those pointy trees as well as a big pine or two. Huggie could see there was an island in front of the lot and possibly a view to the east and so he thought this would be a good location, if he could get it cleared enough to erect a simple shack for hunting and fishing. Later Remple sent a note that a professor from Iowa was interested in buying some land but Huggie and his mother, Dora, had first choice. Dora sent the money, $800.00 for 200 feet of shoreline at $4.00 a foot. A lot of money in 1948. His sister, Ninnia, bought the adjoining lot to the west for, I think, $5.00 a foot because it was lower and closer to the water. The professor from Iowa (Keitha Herron’s father) bought a different lot west of the Huggenvik spot.

The rest is known history. The following year, with no experience in building anything except a car, Huggie started clearing space enough to erect a simple 16’ x 30’ cabin, buying supplies wherever he could get them, carrying them through the woods on his back or rowing them over in Remple’s boat. He had minimal tools - hammer, handsaw, drawknife, but no ladder. He eventually made a ladder out of small logs. A friend, Al Anderson, from Northfield, helped occasionally and Dora came up to cook. Eventually the mosquitoes were so bad that Huggie sent her home.

The following year he built a similar cabin for his sister Ninnia, on the lot she and Bob, her husband, had purchased. The cabin was furnished with leftovers from home, stuff that was no longer needed or wanted at his parent’s house, or he built emergency items such as a bed, shelves, a booth for eating by the big window looking into the woods. An oil drum-like stove provided heat and a two burner white gas stove was used for cooking. No refrigerator. No running water unless you consider running to the lake with a bucket to be that convenient. Bath time? Go jump in the lake.

Sixty years later, after many additions, renovations, changes, additional small buildings and more land behind the original lot, Huggie decided his quilt (his term for the cabin and site) was finished and turned over the responsibility for it to his four children who had been co-owners for many years.

Huggie was diagnosed with glimo blastome, an inoperable, incurable brain tumor in July of 2008 and died at his Green Valley home January 26, 2009.

Meteorite Impact Evidence near Gunflint Lake

2008-11-02T06:08:00.000-08:00

From: "Mark Jirsa" <jirsa001@umn.edu>
To: <gta@boreal.org>
Sent: Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:55:34 -0500
Subject: Meteorite

I'm writing to tell you about some web content that might interest your
resort clients and their guests. During the Ham Lake Fire in 2007, I
discovered some unusual rock layers near Gunflint Lake that hold evidence of
one of the worlds largest and oldest meteorite impact events. Although the
deposits were first identified in Thunder Bay in 2005, this is the first
discovery in rock outcrops in Minnesota. The meteorite hit near Sudbury
Ontario 1,850 million years ago, and spread ash and debris, probably around
the globe. The impact was likely a "globe-killer," though there wasn't much
organic life to kill during that early time of Earth history. The
meteorite was so large and was moving at such a tremendous velocity that it
vaporized on impact, so no actual meteorite pieces exist near the Gunflint
Trail, or anywhere else.

Visit the Minnesota Geological Survey website ( <http://www.geo.umn.edu/mgs>
http://www.geo.umn.edu/mgs) and click on the left menu "NEW--Minnesota's
evidence of an Ancient Meteorite Impact"

A slightly expanded version, also for the lay audience, appears in the
December 2008 edition of ASTRONOMY MAGAZINE

If you or any of the resort operators and guests have questions, feel free
to contact me. I am happy to share information about where the rock
exposures are, what they look like, and how they formed. Scientific study
of these outcrops and others in the Lake Superior region is on-going.
Because they are in the Superior National Forest, and for the sake of
preserving scientific value, I discourage collection of rock
samples---photos say 1000 words though!

Mark

A Brief History of Kloek's Island- Poplar Lake

2008-08-31T09:19:00.000-07:00

Jim Kloek-The history of the Kloek family on Poplar Lake began in October of 1937 when my parents, Dell and Mernie Kloek, spent their honeymoon at Rockwood Lodge. The cabin they rented is still there, and still being rented. After the war ended, they returned to Poplar Lake, and in 1947 purchased from the owner of Northwoods Lodge a rustic cabin at what is now 7991 Gunflint Trail. (At the time the lodge owner was gradually reducing the size of Northwoods by selling off cabins at each end of his property.)

Poplar Lake was very different in the late 1940’s. There was no electric service on most of the Gunflint Trail. If you wanted electricity, you needed to have your own generator. The Gunflint Trail was paved only as far as Swamper Lake; the remainder was gravel. The cabin lights and stove were powered by propane, and we had an honest-to-goodness ice box. We would buy blocks of ice from Carl Brandt, Sr. at what was then Balsam Grove Lodge. He would cut ice from the lake in the winter and store it in an ice house which would last all summer. After a few years, our family’s purchase of a Servel propane fired refrigerator was a significant upgrade. The cabin had no running water, and my brother and I were in charge of hauling 5 gallon buckets of water up from the lake when needed.

My parents quickly introduced others to the Gunflint experience. In 1948 his brother, Ken Kloek, Sr., bought the cabin next door (now 7997 Gunflint Trail) from Ben Katzenmeier. Ben had two lots, so he moved to the westward of the two and built a new cabin at what is now 8005 Gunflint Trail (currently the Moe cabin). Ken’s original cabin was quite similar to ours. Eventually he built a more modern cabin on the same lot, and tore down the old one. Ken’s family still own and maintain the cabin, and my cousin, Ken, Jr. has a lot more stories to tell of those early days.

The Young family lived in our neighborhood in Minneapolis (Morningside) and attended the same church we did. They visited our cabin, and subsequently bought their island from the Grewe family. The Jolly family, who were related to my father, also visited, and now own a cabin at 80 Fireplace Point.

Summer life on Poplar Lake in the 1950’s was a great experience for a kid. Many of the cabins were owned by families with children, so there was always a lot of activity. Swimming and water skiing in the afternoon were popular. It seemed like there was always a gathering at someone’s dock if the weather was good. In addition to my brother and I there were Ken (Jr), Judy, and Linda Kloek; Ann, Mary, John, and Marcy Waugh; Ted, Tim, and Nancy Young; Sue and Arnold Swenson; the seven Bridgeman siblings (more about the Bridgemans later), and sometimes Carl Brandt, Jr. At times we had as many as three boats pulling water skiers.

My family also took portage trips. This was before the BWCAW was created, and many of the original docks and signs that the CCC had built on the portages were still in place. In 1954 the Minneapolis Star sent a reporter and a photographer to accompany us on a camping trip to Winchell Lake. The result was full page feature story in the newspaper about a family enjoying the Minnesota wilderness. We still have a reprint of the article and prints of all the photographs the photographer took.

By the middle of the 1950’s electric lines were being run up the Gunflint Trail, and plans were in place to finish paving the entire road. Two islands in Poplar Lake came up for sale, and my father bought them both in 1956. He sold the smaller of the two to Truman Smith (whose son Doug was the same Boy Scout troop as I was), and in 1957 built the cabin which we still have today.

At the time my father was managing the Bridgeman Ice Cream store in downtown Minneapolis. He had two bus boys working for him that were also training at Dunwoody Institute to be carpenters. He hired them to build the cabin, and sent my brother and I with them to help. At the time, my brother was 17 and I was 12. In two weeks, the four of us roughed in the cabin. My job was to bring the lumber and all the other materials from the shore out to the island in a boat (actually two boats lashed together for a more stable platform), while the other three built the cabin. They did it completely by hand since there was no electric service to the island. When we were done, we had a completed box: a plywood floor, four walls, a roof, windows and doors. The inside was completely unfinished.

The cabin features seven very large windows in the front and side walls, and they are a story in themselves. The entire front wall of the Bridgeman store my father managed was glass, from sidewalk to ceiling. This was very thick architectural glass, but even then, from time to time, it would break. When the glass people would come to replace it, my father would have them cut large, square pieces of the waste glass, and store them in the basement of the store. He had a picture in his mind of the cabin he wanted to build one day, and by 1957 he had collected enough glass for the windows he wanted. The panes of glass were moved from downtown Minneapolis to Poplar Lake in a trailer towed behind our car, and then moved out the island via boat. They all made it without breakage. Then we made a mistake. We leaned one of the panes against a small tree while we were getting ready to install it. It was a windy day, the tree swayed, and the glass cracked. We had to make a sheepish call to my father back in the Cities. Fortunately he had a spare pane, and was able to drive it up to us over the weekend, so we could finish. As of this writing in 2008 the original windows are still in place, having held up to 51 years of rain, wind, snow, and bird strikes.

Over the rest of the summer of 1957 and early 1958 we finished enough of the inside of the new cabin to move in. We sold the original cabin to Bill and Phoebe Bridgeman in 1958. The original cabin continued to be owned by the Bridgeman family until August, 2008 when Dan and Paul Bridgeman had it torn down to begin construction of a modern cabin.

The new cabin on our island was still rustic - no electricity, no telephone. One improvement, however, was running water. We built a log tower behind the cabin and put a large water tank at its top. This tank was filled by a water pump powered by a lawn mower engine at the lake shore. It was my job to “pump up the tank”. The water tower would then provide us running water until in was empty, at which time my mother would tell me to go pump it up again. So we had faucets that ran, and a flushing toilet, but still no hot water.

Over the course of the next 15 years the inside of the cabin was gradually finished off. In 1961, a second building was started. My father and I built a pole shed behind the cabin to keep lumber and other supplies covered in the winter. This was a simple shed built of logs, with a roof but no sides. As usual, finishing this was a last minute affair. On Labor Day, we still had to nail on the roofing. We had to leave that afternoon because I started school the next day. I remember very well my father and I nailing on roofing, while listening to the Twins game on a portable radio. My mother was fretting because it was getting late, and continually asking when we would be done. Oh, did I mention all this was going on in the middle of a snow storm? Weather on Poplar Lake is never dull.

The next big changes to the cabin took place in the mid-1970s. My father retired and he and my mother began to spend their entire summers on the island. Electricity and telephone service were run to the island with underwater cables. With the help of Ted Young, the pole shed was enclosed and finished inside to become a bunk and tool shed. The cabin was enlarged with the addition of a bedroom and a utility room which held, for the first time, a hot water heater. Luxury had arrived on the island when a shower was installed and connected to the hot water line. Electric appliances replaced the old propane stove, refrigerator, and lights.

Another improvement after their retirement was the purchase of a lot at 46 Voyageurs Point to serve as a parking area and boat dock. My father and John Kurkowski built a small boathouse on the lot to store the boat for the winter.

My parents continued to spend their summers together on the island through the summer of 1997. It was a long and happy retirement for them, and they had many visits from friends, relatives, and grandchildren. In 1998, my father passed away. For the next three summers my mother was able to be on the island for part or most of the summer with other family members staying with her.

My wife Lynne and I are now spending our summers at the cabin. When my father passed away we were living and working in Rochester, New York, so our visits were limited to three weeks each summer. But by 2006 we were both semi-retired so we moved to Anoka, Minnesota to be closer to the island. We have spent the last three summers enjoying the lake and all the usual Gunflint Trail activities, and catching up on a lot of the continuous maintenance that a cabin requires. We are about to the point where we are going to start making some improvements, so stay tuned.

Growning Up on Youngs Island

2008-08-22T03:37:00.001-07:00

Nancy Olmem-My family purchased our Poplar Lake Island cabin on Memorial weekend in 1952. Neighbors of ours in Minneapolis, Del and Mernie Kloek, had a cabin for sale on Poplar Lake and invited us to check out their cabin. It was not what my parents were looking for, but after looking at many properties they were shown the island. It was love at first sight and became our new summer residence.

That summer we spent some time on the island, but did not know that it would be the last time that our family of five would be together on a vacation. The following fall my dad suffered a stroke and died. It could have ended our trips north, but the following summer and many summers after, my mother loaded my two older brother, me and our collie dog into into our car and headed north. We were fortunate in many ways. After my dad died Dar Noyes who was owner of Rockwood Lodge and our Realtor, held the mortgage and called my mom and told her that there would be no interest and if she had trouble making the $15.00 any month, not to worry. Mother’s boss also felt that it was important for us as a family to go to the island so she was given two months off every year.

I was very young, 5 years old when we bought the island, and have wonderful memories. There were many other children who had cabins or resorts on the lake and also there were many resort guests with kids close to our ages. We spend our days playing in the woods, hiking, picking berries, swimming and doing many other outdoor activities. We were inside only on rainy days. As we got older, water skiing and surf boarding (behind a boat was also added to out list of activities. During high school I worked as a cabin girl at Balsam Grove Lodge (now known as Norwester).

As I entered adulthood, my love for the Gunflint and for the island continued to grow. In my early twenties I married Terry Olmem who also liked the area and the island. In the early years of our marriage, it was difficult to go north for long periods of time, but our love never lessened. When it was possible, we exposed our three children (Andy, Sheila and Matt) to the island. Now that we are older we are able to spend more time on the island and enjoy having the kids visit us. Andy, our oldest, is the fondest of island living and Sheila’s husband, Matt Lichty, also enjoys it. Our Matt live too far away to spend much time.

Summers for me are now mostly spent on the island. I am north as much as time allows and enjoy my alone time and family time on the island. People often look at me like I am crazy when they find out that I stay out there by myself. Yes, I need to take a boat hauling necessities back and forth, I do not have the modern conveniences and there often are animals that I share the island with; but that is what makes island living so special. If I want to be alone I stay home. If I want to be with people, I go to shore. It is my decision and I love it!

There are many stories that I have about life up the trail. When I was very young I can remember almost burning Rockwood Lodge down. The Noyes (the owners) went to town and left Sandy, their teenage daughter, in charge of the lodge. Sandy left the lodge for a while leaving Janet, her younger sister, and me in charge. Neither of us were even close to being teenagers. We got bored and decided to light the cigarette in mouth of the moose that was mounted above the main fireplace. We discovered that if we blew on the cigarette, the end would glow red. Everything was going well until the moose’s whiskers caught fire. We threw water and 7-up on the moose and were able to avoid the moose and the lodge from going up in flames.

A favorite story about a former resident has to be about Phoebe Bridgeman. The Bridgeman’s had 7 children of their own and had a very small cabin on Poplar. The Bridgeman’s were very generous and also let their children bring up friends to their wilderness retreat. I always felt that Phoebe and Bill’s philosophy was that there is always room for one, two, or three more. Yearly there was a lake picnic on Blueberry Island that was on the other side of the lake from their cabin. In order to get everyone to the picnic or any other place that they went as a family you would see a boat towing another boat both filled with people. Phoebe also realized that there were lots in her group and would come loaded with many dishes to pass.

Ollie O'Brien Greco- Red Pines Outpost

2008-08-21T12:23:00.000-07:00

The mid 1930's -the Gunflint Trail was a winding dirt road, electrical power and phone service along the trail was still decades away. Mainly loggers, CCC workers, and several resort families populated the area. It was during this era that Ollie O'Brien and her future husband, Jimmy Greco, purchased property on a remote point of land between Little Ollie and Poplar lakes, south of the inlet from Poplar into Little Ollie Lake. Located one half mile from the nearest road, their new property was accessible only by traveling across Poplar Lake.

Ollie and Jimmy spent the next few summers building a log cabin home on the property. Some seventy spruce logs for the cabin were cut near the building site. The logs then skidded to the site by a timber horse rented by Ollie and Jimmy from a local logging camp. The logging camp was most likely Sam Seppala's sawmill. Trail Center Lodge and Restaurant is now located on the site of this mill. As the cabin neared completion, it was christened Red Pine after a large Norway Pine located near the new building. With the cabin completed,
Ollie and Jimmy spent their summers there; returning to Chicago for the winter. In later years they moved to Red Pine year around.

Another two cabins were built in the 1950's and 60's which the Greco's rented out to friends of theirs from Chicago. The name of their rental business became Red Pine Outpost.

Ollie wrote about her experiences on Poplar Lake. Two of her articles appeared in Outdoors Magazine; " I wanted a Log Cabin." April 1939 and "Red Pine" July, 1939. Among Ollie's many other writings were the following written in August of 1935:

The greatest joy anyone can have is to learn to appreciate nature and learn to be comfortable in the world of nature. To live in a simple way--to learn to take care of oneself and be adequate-

Living in the out of doors brings health and strength of both body and character.

A deep sincere love of nature is the surest guarantee for true character building.

Many meet people socially for years and never recognize their true nature-- but live with them a week camping and nothing shows up so quickly as their character.

Olive died in April of 1973 and is buried in Grand Marais' Maple Hill Cemetery. Little Ollie Lake is named in her honor. Her beloved Red Pine Cabin and the majestic Norway Pine, by the cabin, still remain much as they were some seventy some years ago.

A collection of Ollie's poetry, much of which written at the Red Pines Cabin, was found after her death. This poetry has been reproduced and is available at Poplar Creek Guesthouse's office.
Ollie O'Brien Greco: 1887-1973

Sam Seppala- Saw Mill at Trail Center

2008-06-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

Born in Finland on July 24, 1900, Sam Seppala came to the United States as infant. He completed the third grade and began working in the logging business. By the time he was 20, he had a fleet of five trucks. Sam had camps in Buyck & Cousin, MN and hauled logs to Bailly's Mill in Virginia, MN.

In 1924 he married Mayme Holkho and on December 24, 1925 they had Gladys. The couple had three more children that died as babies and Mayme had several miscarriages. The family moved to the Grand Marais area in 1936, where Sam and his brother, David, started a camp at Pike Lake. In 1938, they brothers split up and the Seppalas moved up the Gunflint Trail to Poplar Lake at the site of what is now Trail Center Lodge.

The mill flourished, operating 24 hours a day with 100 men.

"My mom and aunts were cooks . . . always homemade bread and pies. They even made their own soap out of grease and lye. I remember all the crates of dried raisins, prunes, apricots and coconut (my favorite!).
There was a Cook, Cookie (helper) and Bull Cook, a man that did the heavy work -wood, water, dishes. There was a screen house where they kept meat, so they had trouble with bear. My mother used to can bear meat. When she served it, alot of people thought it was beef. They also cut their own ice from the lake.
The men played alot of cards in the evenings. Poker mostly. Or they would read or mend their clothes. Sometimes they would have dances in the Cook Shack. Someone would play an accordion. Of course, on pay day many went to town."

Times got tough and the mill camp closed the fall of 1940, although someone was always at the camp the winter of 1940.

"That winter, my dad and Hans Kesanen trapped with the Greco brothers to earn money. They also fished and hunted together. My father, Sam drowned on July 4, 1940 at the age of 39. He was in a canoe, with no life jacket, of course. He always wore wool pants, a red wool shirt and boots. Winter and summer. He wasn't a good swimmer.

There were four Kesanen brothers that worked for Sam: Hans, Elmer, Bob and Ray. Elmer was married to my mother's sister Mildred and they ran a restaurant in Grand Marais. So my mom went to work for them ($1 a day - 7 days a week). I babysat for their two children after school (10¢ an hour). In 1941 my mother married Hans and, because there wasn't any work, we moved to Idaho.
My father was very good to me. I went hunting and trapping with him. He drove me to Duluth once a week (Sundays) for dancing and skating lessons and I was in the Ice Follies in Duluth in 1939. This, of course, stopped after his death. The day after my father died, I had to learn to drive, as my mom didn't drive. I drve round and round the camp yard until I learned to shift. My Uncle Elmer helped me. I was 14 and my license cost 35¢.."

The store that is now Trail Center Lodge sat a little away from the camp, up near the Gunflint Trail. The store had supplies, a bar and two nickel slot machines. The Seppalas slept in a back bedroom while Gladys slept up in the loft.

Gladys Seppala Treuri- Sam Seppala's Daughter

Moe's Cabin

2008-06-19T04:50:00.000-07:00

It was during our annual trek to the Gunflint Trail that we stumbled upon the little red cabin on Poplar Lake. We were camping next to our cousins on Flour Lake as we had for the past 4 or 5 summers. Anyway, my dad decided to take the family for a "Sunday drive" north up the trail when we spotted the For Sale sign just before Rockwood Lodge. The year was 1964, and I was a 14 year old in love - with the northwoods.

The place was small - about 500 square feet - but cozily paneled in knotty pine, and a mere 30 feet from the lake. There was also an outbuilding - garage with attached laundry, which was dubbed "Molly's Washhouse", complete with a old-time wringer washer. Molly was Molly Katzenmeier. Ben, her husband, had passed away earlier that year, and Molly was reluctantly letting go of their precious cabin that Ben had built by hand from on-site lumber with his portable sawmill. I would later find to my amusement and, often, chagrin, that all the studs were cut to full dimension - actual 2X4's - which made some later remodeling quite challenging. But the place wasn't going to fall down anytime soon. Ben didn't skimp on nails, either.

At one time Ben had owned the lake frontage to the east, where Ken Kloek's cabin now sits. The story is that Ken was coveting some of that frontage and Ben finally agreed to sell it - if Ken and Meg would help insulate him his cabin, which was in process of going up. So the Kloeks hustled over and hung the newspaper insulation in the stud walls so they could get Ben finished pronto. The year was 1948 - we know this, because the newspapers in the wall all had that date. It made for some interesting reading during later remodeling projects!

The cabin had two tiny bedrooms, small kitchen, small 3 piece bath, and a combo living room/dining room with a view of the lake. Heating was (and still is) furnished by a classic old Round Oak pot-bellied stove. Everything was in miniature, but to me it seemed perfect. My dad thought so, too, and within a few weeks of telephone and mail negotiations, the cabin was ours. In 1969 we added a woodshed and a boathouse, and in later years, converterd the washhouse to a guest bedroom with a half bath, and enlarged the cabin bath while adding a shower. Then, in 1997, we (Mark and Martha), purchased the property from Mark's brother and sister, and made the big push to enlarge and update the cabin. But it almost didn't happen.

My mother had had Bob Johnston put in 3 pillar footings in front of the cabin in aniticipation of him building a screen porch. The permit was approved (this was back in the 1980's)even though the cabin would be another 12 feet closer to the lake. But for one reason or other, the porch never got built. Then in 1997, we applied for a variance to expand the cabin out to the pillars, but the board turned us down...or so we thought. Two weeks after Bob Johnston called to tell us the bad news,(he attended the board meeting) we received a mail notification that our permit had been APPROVED. Hmmmm. Well, long story short, we kept mum and showed up next spring at the courthouse with a contractor and building materials - and the approval letter - and what could they do? Well nothing except require us to put in a septic, which we gladly did.

So we added another 250 square feet across the front of the cabin, changed a few doors and windows, remodeled the kitchen, shored up the listing boathouse and converted the woodshed to an elegant catch-all, which my wife lovingly dubbed the "shithouse."

But what you really build with a northwoods cabin is a base for great memories: fishing the walleye hole with my dad, going to the bear-circus at the dump, my mom's famous donut parties, and scarfing down homemade blueberry pie. It just doesn't get much better than that.

Dorothy Young's Island

2008-06-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

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 Lots6& 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 archeologist, 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 1930's.

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 descendents. 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 what is 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.

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 motor did not work and the family ended up rowing.

Nancy and Dorothy Young inside cabin- about 1953

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 Olmems replaced many rotting timbers beneath the cabin and rebuilt the sagging dock.
.
In 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.

Echo Ridge

2008-06-18T06:37:00.000-07:00

Our property consists of 5.5 acres of land with 350 feet of lakeshore. The Gunflint Trail bisects the property, east to west, with approximately 1.5 acres on the south side of the trail, facing the lake. Nor’wester lodge is to our east, Windigo lodge is to our west.
The first deed recorded on our abstract shows George Signalness filed on June 26, 1891, paying the princely sum of $206.15. The property consisted of several thousand feet of lakeshore which was acquired in 1934 by Alice and Carl Brandt Sr. The Brandt’s divided the property into smaller parcels in the early 1940’s, selling to Victor Abrahamson, A. J. Eaton, Frank Arco and Richard & Earnest Heidenrick.

The Eaton parcel, 350 feet of lakeshore and 5.5 acres of land was sold to Arthur and Lucille Berndt in 1949, who sold to Robert and Nell Williams in 1955. The property was purchased by Arnold Longfellow in 1956 for $3,850 and named “Longfellow’s Hiawatha Resort”. It was run on a part-time basis until the new Gunflint Trail divided the property. Longfellow abandoned the resort shortly after that, listed it for sale several times, changed his mind several times, and (luckily for us) agreed to our offer in 1976.

I first inquired about the property in late fall of 1975 upon seeing an ad in the St Paul Pioneer Press. Rarely were northern Minnesota properties advertised in Twin Cities papers. My telephone call to United Farm Realty revealed their offering was zoned commercial and priced beyond our budget.

In May of 1976 I spoke by telephone with the United Farm agent in Grand Marais, Mr. Trygve Hanson, who was eager to show me some properties off the Gunflint Trail. Armed with a blank check and high expectations, I drove alone to Grand Marais to see what was available. Mr. Hanson took me to two places, one on West Bearskin Lake and one on Poplar Lake. Neither was appealing. Surprised to find these were the only properties being offered and already headed back to Grand Marais, I asked about the “abandoned resort” offered in the paper last fall. “Oh, would you like to see it?” Mr Hanson replied. (We have often wondered how well he did in the real estate business).

A quick turnaround had us back at Poplar Lake, having driven past the place on our way back towards town. After overcoming the initial shock of this truly abandoned mess, I surrendered my sanity, signed an earnest money contract, deposited $100 with the understanding the property would be held for 30 days pending inspection and approval of my business partner. My thoughts on the drive back to St Paul were focused on how to artfully present this opportunity to Joan, my compassionate, understanding, loving and adventurous wife. A coward dies a thousand deaths!

In June we met Mr. Hanson and began to explore the abandoned resort (fishing camp) consisting of six sleeping cabins, “main lodge”, ice house across the trail, pump house at lake, two outhouses and shed containing inoperative gas generators, water pump, suspended water tank and lots of parts (to what?) All the buildings had been broken into and ransacked. The windows were boarded up and the doors were padlocked. However, the lodge and cabins still contained beds, bedding, dishes, glassware, cutlery, towels, dry foodstuffs, some pieces of furniture, two gas ranges and a gas refrigerator. Cedar-strip boats, partly submerged, littered the shore. Electric wires drooped between the cabins. Copper tubing curved along an outside wall serving the kitchen sink. Each cabin had a wood burning stove, two burner gas plate, sink basin with drain through the floor, hand made bunk beds, shelf for dishes and a clothes rack. Several large brush piles were prominent. Garbage dumps containing a wide variety of interesting debris were conveniently situated proximate to the cabins. In the ice house across the road, and behind it, was a trove of discarded treasures.

After tramping the grounds and inspecting the insides of all the buildings, our real estate agent gave us the cabin keys and told us to drop them off at his office the next day. “Where can we find a place to get a martini” Joan inquired, fed up with crawling into dark, musty buildings and battling swarms of voracious mosquitoes. Told that Rockwood Lodge, owned then by Don Lobdell and Rick Whitney, was right down the road, we headed for the only spot within 30 miles that had on sale liquor. Civilization at last!

During the 6 hour drive to St Paul the next day, we debated the wisdom of purchasing a “work farm” 300 miles from home, with considerable anxiety directed towards the financial burden of a second mortgage. “Why do I want to drive this far when my dad has a place in Wisconsin we can get to in less than 2 hours” she asked. “Because it’s on the edge of the BWCA wilderness, with no cabins or roads on the other side of the lake” he replied. “The place is a disaster, it’s too far from St Paul, nobody will ever drive this far to visit us, we don’t know anybody up here” she cried. “That’s the beauty of it” he countered, “350 feet of lakeshore and 5.5 acres is a bonanza. Besides, what’s a little work. We’ll fix it up and then just sit back and relax”. “We can’t afford it” she said.
“We can’t afford to let it get away” he said. After much discussion we agreed to buy the place. The down payment was $7000, quite a bit more than we had in our savings account. The mortgage would be $16,500 at 8% interest for 17 years, payments a ghastly $150 per month. Taxes would be $192.07 in 1977. The stage was set to begin our transformation from city folks to “jackpine savages”, one of the best decisions we ever made.

We took possession on the 4th of July, 1976. Our two youngest children, Jeanne 13 and Steven 11, came with us on the first trip. Our two older daughters, Karen 18 and Kathy 17 were more interested in being left home alone. Karen had just graduated high school. Both had summer jobs, neither relished the idea of “working” at the new lake place.

After prying the boards off the windows of the lodge we discovered there was no electricity…none, anywhere. No pole, no meter, no lights. How could this be? Our real estate agent somehow neglected to mention it. Lesson #1 – Caveat Emptor. The sun was shining, mosquitoes by the millions, holes in the screens, broken panes of glass, lots of junk to haul somewhere, who to ask, where to go? After cleaning the main lodge and the two 1930 era gas ranges, Joan started work on the gas refrigerator in the kitchen. “You’ll never get that to run” I said. “Drive down to the place with the store and ask about a dump” she replied. The kids went with me to Trail Service Center where we met GayLynn Liebertz. After introductions she gave me directions to the spring between Leo Lake and Hungry Jack, and to the dump. The spring was our drinking water supply for many years, until we learned that water was available at the Forest Service campgrounds. The dump was one of the best things we discovered in all the years we’ve lived up here. Christened “Aspen Mercantile” by old timer Rolf Huggenvik, the dump served as both a depository for what we discarded and a source of useable materials we found valuable. Best of all, the dump provided entertainment…the bears!

We soon scheduled our trips to Aspen Lake in the evenings when the adult bruins and their off-spring came to dine. Often we had to vie with visitors from the resorts and other cabin owners to find a space at the edge of the dumping area. Our guests considered a ride to the dump (in the back of our pickup) the highlight of their visit. We mourn the advance of trash disposal technology.

The first summer was backbreaking and exciting. We started by gutting the pressed sawdust walls and Masonite ceilings in the lodge, exposing 2x4 studs and rafters, no insulation and piles of dried deposits left by legions of mice and bats. We painted, stained, replaced window panes and screens, burned brush and rotted boats, living by the light of the sun during the day and Coleman lanterns at night. After lengthy discussion with Arrowhead Electric regarding replacement of a pole and meter (Longfellows left without paying their final bill) we finally had electricity in late August. After meeting Carl and Luana Brandt at Nor’wester Lodge we were introduced to Emerson and Jeanette Morris. They spent their summers on the trail, living in their cabin adjacent to Nor’wester with sons Keith and Emerson Jr. When we told Emerson about the water pump in the shed and that we had no idea how it worked, he agreed to come over and take a look. Sections of pipe and couplings were in the pump house at the lake but one piece was missing. Emerson asked if I had seen it. Duh! I had used a short piece of pipe to pry some rocks, not realizing it was part of the pump assembly. Luckily the threads were not stripped. Lesson #2 – everything lying around probably has a use. When the pump and water line were connected and the pump running we heard screams from Joan. The copper tubing in the kitchen, installed in gentle loops with no petcock, had split in several places during previous winters, turning the kitchen into a walk-in shower!

Jeanne and Steve accompanied us on all our subsequent trips, helped with the work, built our first dock and even enlisted the aid of friends whose parents let them go “up north”. They all worked, swam, fished, and had a great time. But Karen and Kathy hadn’t seen the new place. Labor Day weekend saw us all headed north, pulling a borrowed trailer loaded with necessities, many donated by relatives who had things that would be “great for the lake”. Included in the trailer were: beds, bedding, lamps, appliances, tools, (we now had electricity) pop, beer, Weber kettle, charcoal and all the new clothing recently purchased to start school. Why would teenage girls bring almost every piece of clothing they owned you ask? You never had teenage girls! The groceries were in the trunk. We filled the car with gas in Duluth. The summer of 1976 was very dry and burning bans were in effect throughout the state. Joan and daughter Kathy smoked. As we approached Two Harbors I noticed in the rear view mirror what I thought was smoke. I asked Joan if there was a fire in the roadside ditch. She answered no. When I slowed to point out the big chicken statue on the left hand side of the highway, I saw flames leaping from the rear of the trailer. I put the car in the ditch, yelled for everybody to get out and away from the car and fumbled with the trailer hitch, finally getting it unhooked. The trailer was blazing. I moved the car and within minutes the police arrived, followed shortly by the local fire truck. The firefighters had the inferno out in record time. Luckily the tires on the trailer did not burn. After contacting the State Farm agent in town we picked up the blackened, dripping trailer and parked it in a secured area. With no hope of rescuing anything we proceeded to Grand Marais, much to the disgruntled dismay of the girls. They had nothing to wear!

Old clothes from friends at Kimball Creek and a stop at a local garage sale outfitted the teenagers in garb they wouldn’t be seen dead in at home. Less than a perfect beginning to their first look at the new lake place we had renamed “Echo Ridge”. How did the fire start? Possibly one of my smokers tossed a cigarette out the window and it landed in the trailer? Or perhaps someone in a passing car? An unsolved mystery since neither of my suspects ever confessed. The older girls survived the weekend, helped with the dirty work in their new, old clothes and accompanied us to Windigo where we all became friends of the Ekroot family and the Saint Bernard dogs.

On the trip home we picked up the trailer, unloaded all the burnt debris at the Two Harbor’s dump, salvaged some tools and, miraculously, a 14K gold necklace and several pairs of brand new earrings. I paid for the materials, helped rebuild the trailer and was allowed to use it many more times in the following years. Lesson #3 – be thankful for good friends.

In October we hosted Joan’s parents, two of her brothers (Ron and Jack), Jack’s wife Katie and their infant son Andy. I roofed for the first time in my life during their stay, wisely choosing to begin on the back side of the lodge where the wavy shingle lines were not obvious. It snowed! We had a turkey dinner and pretended it was Thanksgiving Day.

What we have experienced in the 31 years since buying our lake home is nothing short of wonderful. We learned early on that Echo Ridge is not too far for visitors from the cities to travel, and we had cabins and beds for them to sleep in. Although the lures we dangled were canoeing, fishing, hunting, wildlife (moose, bear, grouse, Windigo), great meals and occasional beverages, what we really angled for was a volunteer (low cost) workforce. This was willingly provided by our kids and their pals, good friends, and most notably the Lachenmayer clan, our main source of help; technical, physical, emotional and comical. Sweat labor was the most common form of summer entertainment, enhanced by the constant attack of black flies and mosquitoes. Summer started in May when the lake opened and ended in October with “Honeymoon Weekend”, the no-kids-allowed hiatus for grown-up siblings, where the only labor beyond cutting and splitting firewood was the futile efforts of the guys trying to best the girls in Trivial Pursuit.

We have enjoyed the visits of not only relatives and friends, but also former owners of our property and families who vacationed here before we bought it.

We’ve yet to achieve our original goal to stop working and just relax, but we don’t do as much every day as we did in the early years…our energy levels aren’t what they were. The Morris family became our close friends, sharing recipes, stories and even secret spots to pick blueberries. Jeannette became Joan’s “north shore mother”. Emerson and Keith did all the major renovations to our buildings; moving cabins, designing and remodeling interiors, building our garage and upgrading the outhouses, cutting off the end of the main lodge and creating a bathroom and kitchen with indoor plumbing.

Since his parents’ passing, Keith has continued to be our builder. Working with Bob Johnston and Bob Olson they recently converted the original generator shed into a laundry room. After 28 years using the machines at Nor’wester and Windigo, Joan finally has her own washer and dryer.

Adversity tempers the steel of north woods property owners. We have endured the onslaught of army worms and tent caterpillars, survived the wrath of the “Blowdown”, overcome a frozen septic system, lamented the diminishing population of walleyes, seen lake levels fall and wondered why the snow doesn’t. We have watched in horror as fires burned thousands of acres of our beloved forests, destroying homes and businesses. We count ourselves blessed that our property has been spared. We love it up here because it is a unique treasure. We have wonderful friends and neighbors who share our affection for all the things Cook County and the Gunflint Trail offer. Many of the property owners we have met or heard about during our years at Echo Ridge have stories to share that make ours pale in comparison. We are first generation land owners who stand in awe of the pioneers who developed this area and we are deeply indebted to them for their sacrifices.

Boundary Country Trekking

2008-06-18T06:31:00.000-07:00

Shortly after moving from Chicago to their family owned property, Youngs 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. Also Ted's canoe guiding services, which he began many years previously as a teenager, continued.

The Young's introduced dog sledding trips in 1978 under the name of Young's Dog Sled Freighting Service. During this period, winter customers on the Gunflint Trail were sparse. The dog sled business, like every other winter business in the area, was very limited. In fact there were so few people around, customers and residents, Ted would often dog sled right down the middle of the Gunflint Trail without fear of meeting any traffic. Finally in the early 1980's mainly due to the publicity generated by the Will Stieger's dog sled expedition to the North Pole and Alaska's Iditerod Dog Sled race Young's dog sledding business began to grow.

In conjunction with the dog sledding business, overnight accommodations were opened in a guestroom in Young's island home in 1981. During this time cross county skiing was beginning to develop on the Gunflint. The Banadad Ski Trail was opened and the Gunflint Trail's Lodge to Lodge Skiing Program began in 1982. That same year, Young Island became an overnight stop for skiers and in the summer the Island opened as a Bed and Breakfast- one of northern Minnesota's first Bed and Breakfasts.

During this period the Youngs joined the Gunflint Trail Association and the Minnesota Historic Bed and Breakfast and Association. They also helped to organize the Minnesota Bed and Breakfast Guild and were founding members of the Guild. The Guild was recently rename the Minnesota Bed and Breakfast Association

In 1984 the Youngs introduced yurt skiing to the Midwest. Their first yurt was located on Bedew Lake along the Banadad Ski Trail. This yurt was named in honor of a local Cook County character, E. J. Croft. With the help of a friend of the Youngs, Steve McCrady, another yurt was purchased the next year. This second yurt was first located near Meads Lake. A third yurt was added in 1990. Located on the Croft Yurt site, Olga's Yurt, as this third yurt was called, was named after a mythical character a guest created and wrote about in an entry in the Croft Yurt log on February 7, 1987. For the next two years other guests continued the "saga" of Olga in the log.

Boundary Country Trekking, Limited (BCT) was incorporated in 1986. The Corporation encompassed the Youngs three different business activities- Mid Trail Service, which continued as a construction and maintenance company and secondly, a lodging business, which included Young's Island B and B and the Yurts. The third activity was the company's developing Adventure Travel business which by then included cross country skiing, dog sledding and canoe guiding.

In the mid 1980's Steve Tucker, a Kansas outdoor professional, took over the company's dog sled program and became BCT's first employee. In 1988 the dogs and mushing gear were sold to Doug Seim a Grand Marais Musher and he took over the operation of the dog sled program. This relationship continued until 1990. That year BCT joined with Arleigh Jorgenson, another Grand Marais musher in a dog sled joint venture. This joint venture works as follows: Arleigh supplied the dogs, sleds, mushers and expertise. BCT promoted and scheduled the trips, and provided the lodging, meals and logistical support. This relationship continues to the present.

In 1989 the Youngs purchased a 34-acre parcel of land on Little Ollie Lake at the outlet of Poplar Creek from Consolidated Paper Company. The following year the Mead's Lake Yurt and a small cabin, that recently had been purchased, were moved onto this property. The yurt was renamed the Poplar Creek Yurt. The cabin, named the Little Ollie Lake Cabin, was quadrupled in size and modernized in 1991.

By 1987 the company required office space to accommodate its growing business activities- particularly the adventure travel portion of the business. Young Island B and B was closed and the guestroom converted to an office. The Gunflint's Lodge to Lodge skiing program was taken over by BCT in 1990. Soon additional adventure trips were added, beginning with the lodge to lodge hiking and skiing on the North Shore (1994), snowmobile adventures (1996), Mountain biking (1997) and a wilderness volunteer program in (1997).

With the growth of the Adventure travel sector of the business, the resulting need for additional office space and the difficulties of operating their business from Youngs Island, it was decided to construct a new office, living facilities and expand the company's lodging facilities on BCT's Little Ollie property. Thus in 1998 the planning for this new facility began to take shape.

However, when the July 4th BWCA Storm hit and made a tangled mess of BCT's Little Ollie Property, the planned constructions of the proposed new bed and breakfast had to be placed on hold and attention directed to clearing the hundreds of down trees on the property.

The storm clean up was completed during the summer of 2000 and construction on the proposed building began in August of that summer. The Poplar Creek Guesthouse Bed & Breakfast, as the building was named, officially opened for business on September 11, 2001, two days after 9/ll. The 3400 square foot structure houses two bed and breakfast rooms, a rental suite, the company office, and the owners living quarters.

With the opening of the Guesthouse, the company added Inn to Inn Hiking and Canoeing to their adventure travel offerings in the summer of 2002. This same year the St Louis and Lake Counties Regional Rail Road Authority licensed the company to market and operate a Lodge to Lodge Bicycling program on the Mesabi Trail between Grand Rapids and Ely Minnesota.

In 2004 Karla and Dale Miller- daughter and son-in-law purchase another yurt and leased it to BCT. Land was leased from the State of Minnesota on Hooker Lake, one mile for from the Guesthouse for this new yurt. Name the Tall Pines Yurt, it was opened for guest rental year round beginning in December of 2004. Also during this year BCT’s canoe business was expanded and more non-guide-outfitted canoe trips were offered.

CORPORATE INFORMATION

The company was incorporated as an "s" corporation in the State of Minnesota in 1986.

Company Address/Phone/Internet- as of January 1, 2003
Boundary Country Trekking
11 Little Ollie Rd
Grand Marais, MN 55604

Phone: 800-322-8327/218-388-9972 Fax: 218-388-2253

Internet: email: bct@boundarycountry.com
Adventure program-web site: www.boundarycountry.com,
Lodging web site: www.littleollielodge.com

Boundary Country Trekking is a member of the following Trade Association

Minnesota Bed and Breakfast Association- Board Member
North Shore Bed and Breakfast Association
Gunflint Trail Association- Board Member
Gunflint Scenic Byways Committee- Board Member
Grand Marais Chamber of Commerce
Cross Country Ski Areas Association

Boundary Country Trekking is licensed by and/or has Agreements with the following:

St Louis and Lake Counties Regional Rail Road Authority for Mesabi Trail® Bicycling Lodge to Lodge
USFS Gunflint Ranger District - Grooming and Trail Partners agreements for the Banadad Ski Trail; authorized Guide Packer and BWCA Cooperator; and lessee of USFS land for the Croft Yurt site.

Minnesota DNR- Trail Grant-in-Aid Program, Road Maintenance Agreement and lessee of DNR land for the Tall Pines Yurt Site.

Lutsen Tofte Tourism Association- Lodge to Lodge Skiing and Hiking agent