Held at the A. Paul & Carol Schaap Community Center
The meeting begins promptly at 1:30 p.m. with a brief overview of GTHS business. Following the business meeting, Joyce Leddy will speak about her family and growing up on the Gunflint Trail.
The Soderberg Family – Early days on the Gunflint Trail 1920s–1960s.
My mother Eva Soderberg Cleaver and her 2 older brothers, Carl and Floyd Soderberg, grew up in Sandstone, MN, but spent most of their lives having a love affair with the Gunflint Trail. During the 1920’s, there was a financial depression in the United States, and a young Carl and Floyd chose to spend the winter in a trapper’s cabin near Durfee Creek rather than become a burden to their parents. Both were rugged and loved hunting, cross-country skiing, trapping, and ice-fishing. To them this was not a hardship. At the end of that winter, they vowed to return and live full time on the Gunflint Trail, and later enticed my mother to have that dream as well!
During the 1930’s, Carl, Floyd, and my parents often camped on Flour and West Bearskin Lakes. In fact, my mother was camping on Flour Lake in 1940, about 8 weeks before I was born. During WWII, Carl was able to purchase land on Poplar Lake and built “Soderberg Cabins.” Although most of the structures are gone today, my cousin Carlene has shared many great stories with me about the fun and hardship about those years. In about 1945, my Uncle Floyd built the first cabin on Birch Lake which could only be accessed from the Old Gunflint Trail. In fact, when I was a 5-year-old child, I watched that cabin being built. In 1963, my parents George and Eva Soderberg Cleaver purchased Trail “Service “Center from George Flavell. I believe my father was the first owner to add restaurant fare to the bar. I still remember frying hamburgers in the kitchen!
Since 1940, I have witnessed many changes in Grand Marais and on the Gunflint Trail. I feel so privileged to have lived on Birch Lake when it was still part of the wilderness, and I’m grateful to have met many of the early Gunflint pioneers. Today my husband Tom and I continue to follow the Soderberg dream and live at least 6 months a year on Birch Lake.
Treats and conversation follow (thank you to the friends that provide the home-baked goodies each month). If you would like to bring some baked goodies or treats for the monthly meetings please contact Bonnie Schudy at 218-388-9915.
The Gunflint Trail Historical Society has four membership meetings available to all GTHS members. Membership meetings are held on the second Monday of June, July, August, and September.
The meeting can be viewed by Zoom or in person at the community center; a Zoom link will be sent via email the day before the meeting.