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Ncwsietter #92 April. 1991 Page 5 Cecil Gideon's daughter Elizabeth McDonald tells this about her father and mother: "Before the State Game Lodge was finished, prominent Eastern vacationers flocked in, wanting meats and lodging. Tfuts it was that the builders (the Gideons) turned into hosts, or proprietors, as they were called then. They were so popular that they remained there for twenty seven years. In that span of time. Mother handled the Game Lodge while Dad took the "Dudes" on horseback trips, overnight camping, buffcdo round-ups and such. Dad loved the lulls from the moment he saw them, and the best way t ctm tell you about his accomplishments is to simply list them. He designed the intricate "Pig-TaiT bridges, which government engineers said could notposs^ be dome. There was an area on the "Iron Mounttun Ro^" where it was not possUde to put in a road that would "lift" a traveler from a lower elevation to a higher one without oddity miles and miles of highway. Everybody said it could not be d^ until Senator Peter Norbeck suggested that Dad try his hand at it. Andsohedrew the plans for a series of log circles or bridges. They stood for twenty years without repair. Later, steel was added for reinforcement _built the State Game Lodge, which is now a National Historic Site. The central part cf the lodge is very much like it was in 1919-1920... designal and built the studio for a very eccentric and famous sculptor. Gutton Borghun... Dad and Senator Norbeck mapped out the Iron Mountain Road where there are three tunnels, all cf which offer a view of Mount Rushmore as you drive thrtutgh... .and built the most breathing summer home for the Peter Norbecks. Its serentiy and beauty defy description. Named "Valhalla" by the Norbedts, the btdkdng has beat donated to the State Game and Fish Commission." 0TL PI F ?i ^ Monroe Nystrom was an expert mason. He and helper George Smith did stone and stucco work about the same time as Gideon was building homes. Willard Stubbs also worked with Nystrom. Beside the Orono'Town Hall and the Bederwood School, he did the pillars and gates, which were then in ftshkMi, at the Joseph Clu^rman place, east end of Fox Street, the stone gates at Brackett's Point, and Slone work for Dunwoodys and Carj^nters. One of the special things he built was the foot bridge on the George Draper Dayton Estate. Mr. Dayton promptly changed the name to Boulder Bridge Farm in li^t of the architectun^y marvelous boulcter foot bridge enhancing the entrance to the estate's private lagoon Smithtown Bay. (Willard Stubbs said. "Monroe Nystrom could look at a pile of and see whm each stone would fit in whatever he was working on.") (cont page 9)Ml t —