Chapter 8

First Resorts: Teal Lake Lodge

It seems that Tim Ross was born to run a resort. Tim, who with his wife, Prudence, runs Ross' Teal Lake Lodge east of Hayward, is the third-generation Ross to own the resort. But the Ross tradition of providing hospitality goes way, way back.

“An ancestor, Major Ossian Ross, opened the first inn in Illinois territory in 1823,” Ross told me as we sat in the combination home and office that overlooks Teal Lake while the four resident Labrador retrievers ambled in and out through the front door, left open to let in the unseasonably warm air. “A real character, he went on to build the first hotel and multistoried building in Illinois in 1827.”1 Abraham Lincoln was a noteworthy recipient of early Ross hospitality.

Ross descendents eventually found their way to northern Wisconsin, joining in the growing resort industry there. Tim Ross's grandfather, Walter Ross, was a partner in the Pike Lake Resort near Fifield until he decided to purchase his own resort in 1921.

He found a suitable property on Teal Lake, twenty-one miles by horse and wagon from the nearest train depot in Hayward.

The existing resort Walter Ross purchased had originated as a satellite fishing camp for Cornick's resort based on nearby Spider Lake in 1904 and consisted of a main lodge and dining room and several log cottages. The original buildings were the first permanent structures to be built on Teal Lake. The dining room and kitchen in the main lodge as well as two cottages still exist.

“It was the first resort in the area,” said Ross. “Like many of the early resorts, the original owner basically ‘squatted’ on land owned by the logging companies.”² Walter Ross began improving the resort, building a lounge in 1923.

A promotional brochure from that year sounds irresistible:

You are in Virgin Timber on the banks of a beautiful lake. Log cottages, clean, screened, well furnished, comfortable beds. Meals include the best of meats, also your own fish and game when wanted, fresh vegetables, fruits; cream from our own herd of cows. We have a deep well of cold drinking water. Evinrude motors can be furnished. Several well stocked Trout Streams nearby.3

The brochure's intended target was the typical resort guest of the day, an upper-middle-class or wealthy professional with enough money to spend on what was then considered the elite vacation.

“In the very early days the sports would come up just to fish, mostly for musky,” Ross said. “The musky was the elite fish then, held in very high esteem. The clientele at that time was professional level, men with money. They would come up on the trains from Chicago or Minneapolis, and a vacation could last a month. In the 1920s and '30s they often would arrive with a whole staff, complete with chauffeur.”⁴

From the early days of Teal Lake Lodge the vacation to the northwoods was a family affair, and the resort became more than just a place to catch fish. Other advantages of a northwoods vacation, such as the health benefits for allergy sufferers, were promoted as well. The 1923 brochure suggests that women and children might enjoy picking wild berries.

The only way to get to Teal Lake for many years was by railroad—the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie (better known simply as the Soo)—to Stone Lake and then by horse and wagon to the resort. Ross's grandfather improved on the situation by acquiring one of the first automobiles in the area, which could transport guests while the wagon team followed behind with gear and supplies.

“Our auto will meet you and you will find the drive of twenty-three miles over excellent roads a real pleasure,” stated the 1923 brochure.

Ross holds his share of personal memories of Teal Lake.

“Until I was eight years old I just spent the summers there,” said Ross. “As a kid I remember getting on the train in Chicago where we lived and falling asleep, and waking up in a bed at the resort. Then in 1948 Dad took over the resort and we moved there.”⁵

Ross fondly remembers the resort's fishing guides: “We had five guides, two that guided for crappies and walleye, and the rest strictly musky. They lived right at the resort in the guides' shack during the season; in the winter they did other things. Most of the guides were old lumberjacks, in their sixties and seventies when I was a kid. They had known the resort from the early days.”6

Ross learned to fish from legendary area guides such as the Metcalf brothers and Emory “Muskrat” Turnbell and his son Bud. All are gone now, except for Bud Turnbell, who is in his eighties and still lives in the area. Two Teal Lake guides, Paul Quail and Ken Eck, are now memorialized in the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward.

“I used a Pflueger Supreme reel,” Ross said. “That's what I grew up with. I put myself through college by guiding in the summers.”

Guides continued to reside at the resort until the 1960s. “With better transportation in the area, the guides began to live at home with their families,” said Ross. However, even today the resort is happy to book a guide for guests.

Tim Ross left the resort to attend prep school and then college. A stint in the army and other employment followed, but he returned in 1978 to take the Teal Lake reins over from his father, Nelson Ross.

As each generation had done before him, he has adapted to the times and made some changes. A big outdoor swimming pool came first. An eighteen-hole golf course was added in the early 1990s.

Despite all the changes made through the years, the flavor of the original resort remains strong. Guests still use parts of the main lodge and dining areas built in 1907. Also, two of the original cabins from 1907 remain on the property. One can accommodate fourteen people. “That cabin is still used by guests,” said Ross. “It's one of our most popular cabins.”

“Tradition is more than important to us, it's vital,” said Ross. “It is our way of life, what we do.” The Ross tradition at Teal Lake is secured for the future, as the Ross's daughter Victoria, the fourth generation, is actively involved with management of the resort.