Mathilde “Billie” Peterson outside Tait Lake Lodge’s Sportsman’s Cabin.
Fourteen miles up the Caribou Trail is Tait Lake. The roads around the lake, Cap’s Trail and Billie’s Trail, were named for my aunt and uncle, Mathilde “Billie” Petersen and Martin “Cap” Petersen. They once owned the land upon which today’s Tait Lake residents have built their homes. The original Tait Lake Lodge, which Cap and Billie built, was their passion — this is their story.
I found a diary that Billie kept for a short period of time in 1955. She wrote, “Three years ago in the fall of 1952—although we had enough business to keep Cap and I going until late at night—averaging from 16 to 20 hours a day—we realized that the tourist business would never pay for the buildings and the upkeep of utilities and road, so Cap became employed at Taconite Project.”
Cap worked as a foreman, building homes for Reserve Mining in Silver Bay. This meant he was gone during the week. The day-to-day work of running the resort fell to Billie. Winters were particularly tough.
Each fall the above-ground pipes that fed water to the lodge had to be insulated. This was a long, tedious job. In Billie’s words, “The pipeline is 500 feet long. First I need the truck. If it’s below freezing I have to heat three gallons of water to pour into the radiator so the thing will start. Then drive down to the sawdust pile and load the truck. Now I carry the sawdust, via a bushel basket, to the pipeline—one bushel basket covers approximately two feet of line. How many miles I walk for this…”
The winter of 1955 was long and brutal. Between the first of November and Christmas Billie shoveled off the roofs of the cabins and the lodge three times. “Today I had to shovel snow off of the roof of the lodge. On the north side the ice is almost a foot thick on the eaves. Snow melts underneath and water backs up under the shingles and starts dripping through inside.” Everything became more difficult in the winter. Just to have electricity in the evening meant lighting the wood stove in the light plant to heat the oil in the diesel generator so it would start. At temperatures of 10 below or greater this could take over four hours.
Plowing the road was always an adventure.
The truck (an army surplus Dodge Power Wagon) and the plow were old and breakdowns were constant. Billie had to solve those problems herself because the road had to be cleared in order for Cap to get home.
“No county plow came in so I have to plow. First I must boil three gallons of water to start the truck. When the truck was started and ready to go it wouldn’t pull properly and I noticed the bolts were out of the connection with the plow to the truck.
This fixed, I started plowing but found the snow was so heavy I couldn’t possibly plow the four miles that the county hadn’t plowed yet. I plowed two miles and turned back only to have the truck quit just shortly before I got to the bridge. The fan belt was off and the connection to the distributor cap was broken so I drained it and went home.” Eventually they just left the car at the county road and hiked back and forth across the lake.
There were many days when Cap couldn’t get home.
“Only December 1st and we’ve had so much snow one feels the winter should almost be over. When it’s above zero I start a fire in the light plant so I can have a radio and at least in that way be connected with the outside world.”
The winter of 1955 was to be Cap and Billie’s last winter at Tait. From then on they either rented cabins on the shore or stayed in friends’ places who were away for the winter. Cap continued to work building homes for Reserve Mining and Billie was recertified as an RN and nursed in Grand Marais in the winters.
Early each spring, as soon as the road was driveable, she and Cap returned to the lake where Billie continued to run the resort while Cap was away during the week.
Jocelyn Thornton recalls “the life and legacy” of her aunt and uncle, Billie and Cap Peterson, original proprietors of the Tait Lake Lodge in Lutsen. The News-Herald will publish one of this series of eight reminiscences each month.
Do you have an old picture or a story from years gone by that you would like to share with Cook County News-Herald readers? Give us a call, or stop by our Grand Marais office. We’d love to hear your Historical Reflections. Call (218) 387-9100; e-mail starnews@boreal.org; or stop by our officeat 15 First Avenue West.
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