Thursday, March 27, 2008

Hungry Jack Lodge Destroyed by Fire


The large log lodge at Hungry Jack Resort was consumed by fire yesterday. The fire start early afternoon and by the time the Gunflint Fire Department arrived the building could not be saved. Luckily no one was injured. Cause of the fire is still unknown.

This is the third time Hungry Jack's main lodge building has been destroyed by fire. The original building a rustic-log cabin build by the resorts first owner Jesse Gapen burned to the ground in 1931. Gapen had this building replace by the summer of 1932 with the help Bob Zimmerman and a crew of some forty men working throughout the winter. At the time it was competed it was the largest log structure in the Midwest. In December of 1972 shortly after Jerry Parsons had purchased the lodge, it was destroyed by fire.

Parsons then purchased, a log no longer in use, Minnesota DNR building in Grand Marais. With the help of Archie Kirk Jr. and crew, the building was taken apart and moved from Grand Marais to Hungry Jack . The moving and reconstruction of this third log lodge was completed by mid December of 1993.

Forest Parsons who had taken over the resort following his fathers death in December of 2006 was devastated but like his father whose log lodge building burnt to the ground shortly after he purchased the business, Forest is expected to rebuild.

3 Comments:

At 11:09 AM, Blogger BANADAD SK TRAIL SNOW AND TRAIL CONDITIONS said...

Lee Zopff, Leo Lake Resident, stated, "I listened to Dan Bauman on WTIP at 10 to 10 and Forest and his girlfriend lived in the lodge and lost everything. The fire department were able to cut away by the office and get out the computer and some files. It is just such a shame. They had 2 pumps getting water to the pumper truck and 7 hoses. One door was open so it went really fast. Fortunately they didn't try to go in so no injuries."

 
At 5:40 AM, Blogger BANADAD SK TRAIL SNOW AND TRAIL CONDITIONS said...

According to a normally reliable source, the Hungry Jack Lodge fire was cause by a unattended burning candle in the Lodge’s basement living quarters bathroom.

 
At 4:00 PM, Blogger friend-of-a-friend said...

Unfortunatly you will need to find a new point of reference, gunflint. As per the inspector, the cause of the blaze is unknown and cannot be determined. I would assume that if a candle had started the fire, an inspector would have been able to come to that conclusion.
Thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by this tragedy.

 

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