An Informal History of Gunflint Lodge...

Part 1

Gunflint Lodge has been in existence for over 75 years and we thought you might enjoy reading about some of the historical highlights of the lodge and the multiple generations of Kerfoots who have run it.

Mrs. Doris Blankenburg and her son, Russell started Gunflint Lodge in 1925. The Blankenburgs were originally from Chicago, and at that time owned a resort called Light House Lodge in northern Wisconsin. One summer some of the guests commented that the next summer they would be going up to a new area just opening up in northern Minnesota. The name of the area was the Gunflint Trail.

Russell decided to come to the Gunflint Trail area and look around. As a result of this trip, he urged his mother to buy a piece of land on Gunflint Lake, which was the end of the Trail at that time.

She bought Gunflint, but after a couple of years of operation, Mrs. Blankenburg felt that operating two resorts in two states stretched her too thin. She put Gunflint Lodge up for sale. One of Mrs. Blankenburg’s friends from Illinois was Mrs. Mae Spunner. Her husband, George, had given the Blankenburgs advice on the purchase of their Wisconsin resort. When Gunflint Lodge was put on the market, Mrs. Spunner expressed interest in purchasing it.

Mae Spunner brought her daughter, Justine, up with her to discuss the purchase of the resort with Dora Blankenburg. While the two women finalized the purchase of the resort, Justine took her first canoe trip with a college friend and a guide. The trip was down the Granite River to Saganaga Lake. At the time Justine had just finished her undergraduate work at Northwestern University and hoped to become a physician. While in school, Justine had agreed to come up during the summers and help her mother run the resort.
The two Spunner women purchased a very small lodge building with a store carrying supplies for the Indians and fishing tackle for the guests plus a dining room to serve meals. They also bought three log guest cabins, an owner’s cabin, and a small staff cabin. The resort had neither indoor plumbing nor electric service. Telephone service was also a dream for the future. At this point in time there were no canoe outfitters in the wilderness.

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