28 Moose Pond Drive
Grand Marais, MN, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Chik Wauk Lodge ( Superior National Forest Heritage Site #09-02-738)

Statement of Significance: Chik Wauk Lodge, built in present form in 1933 near the northern terminus of the Gunflint Trail in Cook County Minnesota, meets National Register Criteria A for its local significance in the area of Entertainment/Recreation. The lodge is a direct reflection of a unique historical pattern of fishing-resort outdoor recreation that flourished in the Border Lakes Country of northeastern Minnesota, in and around the lakes and streams of the Superior National Forest, from the 1920s to the early 1960s. Discussion ofa similar historic context is found in the National Park Service report entitled, "'‘Historic Context for Tourism and Recreational Development in the Minnesota Northern Border Lakes from the 1880s through the 1950s” (National Park Service, 1999). The rough-cut stone lodge building was once the centerpiece of a large Gunflint Trail resort complex, which offered to tourists: lodging in rustic-style cabins, cooked meals as well as access to above-average fishing and northern Minnesota scenery. The lodge served as a store, resort office, restaurant, and lounge area for resort guests. Since the lodge has not been significantly altered or moved from its original site and the surrounding landscape and socioeconomic patterns of the upper Gunflint Trail have changed little, the building retains all seven aspects of integrity to a substantial degree. Gunflint Trail History The first section of the current Gunflint Trail was a tote road built in the 1870’s that meandered over streams and along the base of the low mountains from Grand Marais to Rove Lake on the Canadian border- a distance of23 miles. Henry Mayhew built a trading post at the lake after he finished work on the tote road. As a County Commissioner, Mayhew persuaded the rest of the Cook County Board of Commissioners to make the Rove Lake Road a county road and to fund continual widening and other enhancements. Mayhew not only ran the trading post, but he was an avid prospector for precious minerals. It was the discovery of silver in the Thunder Bay area and the prospect of gold, silver, copper and other precious minerals that drove Mayhew and others to seek viable transportation routes into the region for the establishment of test mines. Despite numerous attempts, none of these mines ever produced precious metals. An 1850 mineral survey found iron ore in the area just west of Gunflint Lake. As a result, the Paulson Mine was developed from 1891-1893 to explore the possibility of extracting iron ore from these deposits. The tote road was extended to the area south of Gunflint Lake so that supplies could be brought into the mine. Almost immediately after the mine opened, a financial panic and the discovery and development of a much higher grade of ore on the Mesabi Iron Range caused the mine to be permanently closed. In addition to mining, the timber industry also had a hand in the improvement of the Gunflint Trail. During the 1890s, or the beginning of what is known as the Big-Pine Logging Era (1895-1930), the General Logging Company began cutting red and white pine stands in the Gunflint Trail area along the shores of several lakes including. Poplar, Hungry Jack, Clearwater, Daniels, and Rose (Heinman, 1996). The Gunflint Trail was improved in order to transport crews and supplies to these large logging operations, (Raff, 1981). The first tourist cabins were built in 1912 at Greenwood Lake, closely followed by Clearwater Lake in 1916, and as new sections of the road were improved, first for horse and wagon travel and then for the new motor car, more and more of the lakes in the region could be opened to tourists and cabin-builders. Following the route of the old tote road, the county and federal governments slowly widened and improved the road north to Poplar, then to the Cross River, then to Seagull Lake by 1929. By the end of the 1920s the following lodges and outfitters operated along the Gunflint Trail: Bearskin Lodge on East Bearskin Lake, Clearwater Lodge on Clearwater Lake, Gateway Lodge on Hungry Jack Lake, the YMCA’s Camp Menogyn on West Bearskin Lake, Rockwood Lodge on Poplar Lake, Borderland Lodge on Gunflint Lake, Gunflint Lodge on Gunflint Lake, Loon Lake Lodge on Loon Lake, Windigo Point on Seagull Lake and Seagull Lodge on Seagull Lake. In the 1930’s, Nor’wester Lodge on Poplar Lake, Old Northwoods Lodge on Poplar Lake, Heston’s on Gunflint, Tuscarora on Round Lake, Wildwood Lodge on Seagull, Swanson’s Lodge on Hungry Jack, Saganaga Fishing Camp and Chik Wauk Lodge on Saganaga were also in operation.