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.” (Read More)
Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts
Sam Seppala- Saw Mill at Trail Center
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.
Mayme, Gladys and Sam in front of Trail Center
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. (Read More)
Mayme, Gladys and Sam in front of Trail CenterIn 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. (Read More)
Boundary Country Trekking
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. (read more)
Old Northwoods Lodge
Old Northwoods Lodge sits on the site of the original Northwoods Lodge, one of the founding resorts on the Gunflnt Trail. In the early 1930s, Dr. Rempel, a Russian CCC Camp Director, owned and operated the Northwoods Lodge, a premier hunting and fishing destination for visitors from the Twin Cities, Milwaukee, and Chicago.
In 1937, fire claimed the first lodge, and another was built in its place the next year. The original native stone firepalce, which was part of the second lodge, still stands beside the new cedar log lodge. In the heyday of the 1940s and 1950s, there were 22 cabins at the Northwoods Lodge resort. In the late 1950s, the property changed hands, and E.H. Ruidl became the new owner.
When the lodge burned again in 1965, the resort folded.
Over the years, several of the outlying cabins and lakeshore were sold, and in 1990, when present owner Gale Quistad bought the property, there were seven cabins remaining and no lodge. "It looked like a ghost town from the movies," explains Gale. "It has been unattended for 25 years, and if I was going to open it up as a resort again, I had my work cut out for me." Gale worked for the telephone company for many years and remodeled a cabin at a time in the hours when he wasn't working. He completed and opened about one cabin a year for the next five years. Gale met Yelena Yevseyeva while vacationing in Russia, and sometime later they were married. Yelena immigrated to the United States and made her new home here on the Gunflint Trail. Now they two of them had a big project about to begin: it was finally time to build a new lodge.
In 1937, fire claimed the first lodge, and another was built in its place the next year. The original native stone firepalce, which was part of the second lodge, still stands beside the new cedar log lodge. In the heyday of the 1940s and 1950s, there were 22 cabins at the Northwoods Lodge resort. In the late 1950s, the property changed hands, and E.H. Ruidl became the new owner.
When the lodge burned again in 1965, the resort folded.
Over the years, several of the outlying cabins and lakeshore were sold, and in 1990, when present owner Gale Quistad bought the property, there were seven cabins remaining and no lodge. "It looked like a ghost town from the movies," explains Gale. "It has been unattended for 25 years, and if I was going to open it up as a resort again, I had my work cut out for me." Gale worked for the telephone company for many years and remodeled a cabin at a time in the hours when he wasn't working. He completed and opened about one cabin a year for the next five years. Gale met Yelena Yevseyeva while vacationing in Russia, and sometime later they were married. Yelena immigrated to the United States and made her new home here on the Gunflint Trail. Now they two of them had a big project about to begin: it was finally time to build a new lodge.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
