BWCA Oldest family owned outfitter-canoe lodge? Boundary Waters Listening Point - General Discussion
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01/20/2013 08:42AM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
There are a lot of good new outfitters and also outfitters with same name that have changed ownership. That is fine. Sometimes a little new blood is good.

I was just wondering from the Gunflint side and the Ely side, which outfitter or lodge whose main business is the canoe clientele is the oldest same family-run businesses?
 
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Savage Voyageur
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01/20/2013 09:10AM  
Good question PINETREE. I have no idea who this would be. I have been canoeing for about 33 years in the BWCA. The first outfitter that I used in 1979 was Way of the Wilderness on the end of the Gunflint trail. As I remember Bud's son also helps run the operation.
 
blutofish1
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01/20/2013 09:38AM  
LaTourell's has been around for quite sometime I believe.
 
walleye_hunter
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01/20/2013 09:39AM  
1933 rings a bell has the year that Justine Kerfoot purchased Gunflint Lodge. I'm sure Mocha can correct me if I'm off by a few years. Chippewa Inn on the Canadian side of Saganaga and at one time Saganagons has been in the Powell family since its existence I believe. I'm not sure what year they were established.
 
01/20/2013 10:28AM  
How long for Sawbill?
 
serenityseeker
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01/20/2013 10:49AM  
quote boonie: "How long for Sawbill?"


The website says that Sawbill outfitters was started in 1957 by Frank and Mary Alice Hansen.
 
billconner
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01/20/2013 10:59AM  
I believe Bob Olson worked for CCO from around 1950 while Bill Rom owned it, and bought it from Bill Rom around 1975 and still owned by Olsons and his grandson works there now.
 
01/20/2013 11:48AM  
Not a Canoe or outfitter(while kind of) the Sommers boy scout canoe base and YMCA Camp Menogyn must date pre-50s' also.
 
DanCooke
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01/20/2013 01:12PM  
Not sure, but Norwester may beat Gunflint Lodge? Brandts still own and run it. http://www.norwesterlodge.com/history.html
 
01/20/2013 01:26PM  
walleye_hunter, got me digging thru old photos.

Chippewa Inn, May 1983.

butthead
 
Savage Voyageur
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01/20/2013 02:04PM  
LaTourells has been in business for 65 years. I think Jeep started it and now Bob his wife runs it.
 
walleye_hunter
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01/20/2013 02:05PM  
quote butthead: "walleye_hunter, got me digging thru old photos.

Chippewa Inn, May 1983.


butthead"

I used to spend one night at Chippewa Inn each week during the canoe trips I guided. I don't ever remember beating Dorothy Powell at a game of cribbage.
 
01/20/2013 06:25PM  
nor'wester lodge early 1930's alis & carl brandt, 1967 carl & luana brandt.
gunflint lodge and northwoods outfitters 1929 justine & her mom bought gunflint, 1968 bruce (justine's son) and sue take over and it's still in the family.
Taste of the Gunflint Trail cook book
this book includes the history of any resort or outfitter on the gunflint trail. not sure if Ely or the area over there has anything similar.
 
01/20/2013 08:05PM  
quote mocha: "nor'wester lodge early 1930's alis & carl brandt, 1967 carl & luana brandt.
gunflint lodge and northwoods outfitters 1929 justine & her mom bought gunflint, 1968 bruce (justine's son) and sue take over and it's still in the family.
Taste of the Gunflint Trail cook book
this book includes the history of any resort or outfitter on the gunflint trail. not sure if Ely or the area over there has anything similar."


Thanks.
 
01/21/2013 09:08AM  
I'm not sure how many years he owned it prior to 1973, but Dan Waters and 'Canadian Waters' was in business then. It seems like I heard he was outfitting well back into the 60's.
 
Stumpy
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01/21/2013 12:29PM  
quote overthehill: "I'm not sure how many years he owned it prior to 1973, but Dan Waters and 'Canadian Waters' was in business then. It seems like I heard he was outfitting well back into the 60's. "


True
 
Stumpy
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01/21/2013 12:32PM  
quote Savage Voyageur: "LaTourells has been in business for 65 years. I think Jeep started it and now Bob his wife runs it. "

While Jeep has run the mechanized portage, at Prairie, for a long time, I don't think they've been outfitting as long. I think back in the day he was part owner of Wilderness Outfitters. (not sure though, about "owner" though)
 
Stumpy
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01/21/2013 12:38PM  
In the Ely area, I think Canadian Waters (with Dan Waters still being there), wins it. Looking through an early 70s Ely brochure, I can't find another outfitter, that has not changed hands.

In that old brochure, there are 40 lodges listed and only 13 outfitters. Many of the lodges are gone now (many bought out with tax money) and many that I remember well. While working at CBO, we managed to stop, eat & drink at quite a few of them.

As for the longest family owned lodge, I don't know.
 
01/21/2013 01:04PM  
I think Northwind Lodge/Red Rock Outfitting east of Ely has been family owned for three generations. I don't know what year it was started. There is a log cabin on an island on Jasper Lake that was built by the founder.
 
01/21/2013 04:29PM  
Cliff Wold's Outfitting Co. Area Wilderness (BWCAW) and Quetico Provincial Park canoe trippers since 1961.
The same family,I don't know?
 
01/21/2013 04:46PM  
Red Rock Wilderness Outfitting canoes trips since 1976 along with guiding fishing trips from canoes around Ely.

I think? As mentioned above I thought it was longer. The above was in their advertisement.
 
Stumpy
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01/21/2013 10:04PM  
quote PINETREE: "Cliff Wold's Outfitting Co. Area Wilderness (BWCAW) and Quetico Provincial Park canoe trippers since 1961.
The same family,I don't know?"

Was oldest in continuance, but Cliff died & it was sold.
 
01/23/2013 04:31PM  
Camp Widjiwagan was founded in 1929 by Julian Kirby with the permission of the YMCA as an all-boys wilderness camp. In 1947 it held its first sessions for girls.
When the YMCA purchased Camp Du Nord in 1961 and Camp Northland in 1981, Camp Widjiwagan helped set them up as YMCA centers on Burntside Lake.
 
eagle93
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01/24/2013 02:19PM  
Northern Tier is the BSA's oldest national High Adventure program, outfitting scouting groups for canoe trips since the summer of 1923. The Charles L Sommers Base has been home to the program since 1941. Trips were originally started by the council in Hibbing and it grew from there.
 
01/24/2013 02:52PM  
quote eagle93: "Northern Tier is the BSA's oldest national High Adventure program, outfitting scouting groups for canoe trips since the summer of 1923. The Charles L Sommers Base has been home to the program since 1941. Trips were originally started by the council in Hibbing and it grew from there."


You see from some of the older canoe outfitters and outfitters-guides in the 40's thru the 60's getting their feet wet from the Sommers camp.
 
straighthairedcurly
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03/19/2019 12:08PM  
PINETREE: "Not a Canoe or outfitter(while kind of) the Sommers boy scout canoe base and YMCA Camp Menogyn must date pre-50s' also."


Camp Menogyn was founded in 1922 by O.R. "Dad" Tripp. It started on the eastern end of West Bearskin Lake and I believe an original cabin from it still exists (owned privately now). The camp moved to its current location midway down West Bearskin in the late 1940's and still uses some of the original log buildings built for the move, though it has grown a lot.
 
Selfsuffi
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03/19/2019 12:52PM  
Stumpy: "
quote Savage Voyageur: "LaTourells has been in business for 65 years. I think Jeep started it and now Bob his wife runs it. "

While Jeep has run the mechanized portage, at Prairie, for a long time, I don't think they've been outfitting as long. I think back in the day he was part owner of Wilderness Outfitters. (not sure though, about "owner" though)"


LaTourells website says over 65 years. The grandpa Hollis started it and then Jeep took over and now Bob and his wife and I think his sister works there too. I know when we were there last June we were talking about the original Lodge inside the BWCA before they moved everyone out.
 
03/19/2019 01:16PM  
straighthairedcurly: "
PINETREE: "Not a Canoe or outfitter(while kind of) the Sommers boy scout canoe base and YMCA Camp Menogyn must date pre-50s' also."

Camp Menogyn was founded in 1922 by O.R. "Dad" Tripp. It started on the eastern end of West Bearskin Lake and I believe an original cabin from it still exists (owned privately now). The camp moved to its current location midway down West Bearskin in the late 1940's and still uses some of the original log buildings built for the move, though it has grown a lot."

Isn't some of it based on Hungry Jack lake now also?
 
03/19/2019 02:58PM  
When I was grabbing boats from the young folks at Clearwater he was mentioning something about that was the oldest something.
 
Great Melinko
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03/19/2019 06:58PM  
Zups Camp..80+ years.
 
straighthairedcurly
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03/19/2019 07:32PM  
Pinetree: "
straighthairedcurly: "
PINETREE: "Not a Canoe or outfitter(while kind of) the Sommers boy scout canoe base and YMCA Camp Menogyn must date pre-50s' also."

Camp Menogyn was founded in 1922 by O.R. "Dad" Tripp. It started on the eastern end of West Bearskin Lake and I believe an original cabin from it still exists (owned privately now). The camp moved to its current location midway down West Bearskin in the late 1940's and still uses some of the original log buildings built for the move, though it has grown a lot."

Isn't some of it based on Hungry Jack lake now also?"


Menogyn is completely on West Bearskin. Main camp is not reachable by road. There is a landing on the south shore of W. Bearskin that is reachable by road. They have added a caretaker house and some other smaller structures at that landing which is on the same turn off from the Gunflint Trail as Hungry Jack Lodge, hence maybe the confusion.
 
03/19/2019 07:36PM  
nctry: "When I was grabbing boats from the young folks at Clearwater he was mentioning something about that was the oldest something. "
Clearwater

I know like the 50's and 60's they stored boats on Mountain and West Pike for guests to fish lake trout. Those lakes use to get tremendous fishing pressure.
 
03/19/2019 07:38PM  
straighthairedcurly: "
Pinetree: "
straighthairedcurly: "
PINETREE: "Not a Canoe or outfitter(while kind of) the Sommers boy scout canoe base and YMCA Camp Menogyn must date pre-50s' also."

Camp Menogyn was founded in 1922 by O.R. "Dad" Tripp. It started on the eastern end of West Bearskin Lake and I believe an original cabin from it still exists (owned privately now). The camp moved to its current location midway down West Bearskin in the late 1940's and still uses some of the original log buildings built for the move, though it has grown a lot."

Isn't some of it based on Hungry Jack lake now also?"



Menogyn is completely on West Bearskin. Main camp is not reachable by road. There is a landing on the south shore of W. Bearskin that is reachable by road. They have added a caretaker house and some other smaller structures at that landing which is on the same turn off from the Gunflint Trail as Hungry Jack Lodge, hence maybe the confusion."


That may be it. I would see them at the small public access on the West Side of Bearskin. They would come over from Hungry Jack lake, some of the workers. I know where the cabins are on West Bearskin. Seen many of guided summer trips guided by Young women from the YMCA and they knew what they were doing.
 
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