The Mystery of Eagle Nest Lodge in Eagle Nest New Mexico

The Mystery of Eagle Nest Lodge - Page 2

Eagle Nest Lodge 1935 Postcard

The History of Eagle Nest Lodge

From a kind reader by the name of Ann Tyer Walker, we were able to get a lot of history of the old lodge. One day while Ann, from Santa Rosa, California, was browsing the internet in 2004, she stumbled across our story and began to unlock the mystery of the Eagle Nest Lodge. Ann is the daughter of the man who built and ran the lodge for almost two decades. Ann, who only lived at the lodge until the age of two, gave us what little information that she knew, while her husband Doug scanned and sent us dozens of photographs. Then the real sleuthing began. Ann followed up with her cousin Shelton Tyer, Jr. from Ardmore, Oklahoma who actually worked at the old lodge in the 1930s. Now, at the age of 86, Shelton remembers the hard work his Uncle Bill made him do while at the Eagle Nest Lodge.

In July, 2005, we heard directly from the Evelyn Gant, Walter Gant's daughter-in-law, as well as Dale Gant, the grandson of Walter Gant. Now the facts are completely in and the mystery is solved.

It all began with a gentleman by the name of Walter Gant, an oil man from Oklahoma. Walter Gant owned the property on the lake and had been involved with Ann's father, William B. "Bill" Tyer, from Ardmore, Oklahoma in other business ventures. When Gant decided to build the lodge on the prime real estate overlooking the lake, he hired Ann's father to oversee the building and running of the business.

When Tyer arrived in Eagle Nest in 1927, he lived in a cabin on the property and began hiring construction people. As the construction of the lodge began, he oversaw the many details of building what would soon become Eagle Nest's first luxury resort. The marvelous old doors at the lodge were completely made by hand in Oklahoma City by Walter's father and carried to Eagle Nest in a Cord touring care, one door at a time.

When it was completed the Eagle Nest Lodge included the main building that featured a large lounge where guests could sit and relax on one side of a three-sided fireplace, or have a drink at a large round wooden bar on another side of the stone hearth. Across from the lounge was a restaurant and coffee shop where home cooking was served up to the many guests of the lodge.

Upstairs, the main building provided 12 rooms for weary travelers. Next to the main building was the Casa Loma (House on the Hill), which provided even more rooms for the lodge, considered large for its time. In front of the lodge was a large ornamental fish pond and near the lodge -- stables and a corral. Beyond the Casa Loma Building was the Caretaker's House where Mr. Tyer lived. Featuring fishing and hunting expeditions, as well as horse-back riding, the guests had many amenities to entertain them.

William B. "Bill" Tyer in 1927, photo courtesy

Ann Tyer Walker.

As the popularity of the Eagle Nest Lodge increased, the lodge added a guest annex across from the lodge that provided five studio units with their own bathrooms, kitchenettes and what appears now to be garages or stables beneath the rooms, on the lower level. Along the back of the annex, sat a wide deck where the guests could sit and leisurely view the lake before them.

They also connected the main building to the Casa Loma via a walkway/lounge they called the Loafer's Lounge.

Soon after the lodge opened, Bill Tyer's nephew Shelton Tyer, Jr. from Ardmore, Oklahoma, began to spend summers with his uncle. "Uncle Buddy," as the family called him, soon put young Shelton to work "earning his keep." Though Shelton has nothing but fond memories of his uncle and the Eagle Nest Lodge, he laughs when he talks about how hard his uncle made him work, as the young man was not used to such strenuous labor. Working from sun-up to sun-down doing all manner of chores, from bell hopping, to washing dishes, to wrangling the horses, "Uncle Buddy" kept him busy.

Of his uncle, Shelton says that, though Bill Tyer had him working hard, he was also a great teacher, making sure that the chores were performed correctly. Shelton also has great memories of horseback riding, fishing and hiking while spending summers at the lodge.

Shelton lived in the "bunkhouse" on the lower level of the Guest Annex, which they called the "Apartment Building" at the time. It is this area that appears that it was later used as garages or stables. Upstairs there were five apartments for additional guests. One of his many jobs was to keep the heater going in the Guest Annex building. Besides serving as a bunkhouse, other areas of the lower level were utilized for storage for ice, coal and various supplies for the lodge.

The Guest Annex, built later, at first appeared to us to have stables underneath. Instead, we found out that the lower level initially served as a bunkhouse. Photo courtesy Ann Tyer Walker.

In the early 1930's Bill Tyer met a woman named Hazel Kay who had come out from Colorado City, Texas one summer to visit her sister in Ute Park. Through the grapevine, Tyer had heard that Hazel was in the area, and when a waitress quit suddenly, he contacted Hazel's sister to see if Hazel might be interested in working for a couple of weeks. As an additional incentive, Bill told Hazel that working at the lodge would be a good place to meet single wealthy oilmen from Oklahoma. Hazel accepted and filled in for a couple of weeks as a waitress. In fact, she enjoyed working at the lodge so much, that she hired on again the next summer. Long story short, Hazel didn't fall in love with a rich oilman from Oklahoma -- she fell in love with Bill Tyer. In April, 1934 the couple drove to Belen, New Mexico to get married. After their return to the lodge, the newlyweds operated the resort together for many years. Entertaining the many guests of the lodge, they were also often visited by the lodge's owner, Walter Gant and his wife Evah, for fishing and hunting expeditions.

In August of 1940, Walter Gant's son Jack, along with his wife Evelyn ran the lodge when Bill Tyer had surgery and Hazel wanted to join him. At that time, the guests included Dr. Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, editor of the National Geographic Magazine, and his wife Elsie Bell Grosvenor. Elsie was the daughter of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone. The couple became friends with the Grosvenors and stayed with them in their home in Bethesda, Maryland when Jack was stationed there during World War II.

When Bill Tyer recovered from his surgery, he and Hazel resumed the running of the lodge. Two years later when Bill was 58 and his wife Hazel was 38, they gave birth to their only child, Ann, in 1942. Though Bill and Hazel had a fine time living and working at the lodge, just two years after Ann's birth they returned to Bill's home in Ardmore, Oklahoma to be closer to his family. Though Hazel loved it at the lodge, she felt the area was too remote and the winters too severe to live there with a toddler.

At the time the Tyers returned to Oklahoma, the nation was immersed in World War II. Rationing of gas, tires and food was the norm and vacation travelers were far and few between in the midst of the war effort. When the Tyers returned to Oklahoma, the beautiful lodge closed down never to be opened as a commercial resort again.

Bill and Ann Tyer in 1942, photo courtesy Ann Tyer Walker.

The lodge was then utilized by Walter, his wife Eva, and their four children as a vacation resort for many years. Though all of the family continued to visit, Walter's grandson, Dale has told us he stayed at the lodge every summer for two months from 1951 until 1961 when he went off to college. When Eva died in 1953, Walter remarried a woman named Mamie and the couple continued to utilize the lodge as a vacation home, along with the rest of the family members. As Walter Gant's children and grandchildren enjoyed the lodge and its scenic amenities, no strong drink or gambling was condoned. In fact, according to family members, the lodge was never utilized as a gambling casino, despite the many rumors to the contrary.

During these years, Walter's son Jack and his wife Evelyn became friends with other prominent family members of the Moreno Valley including Tal and Jannine Neal and the Gallaghers.

From the 1950s until his death in the late 1970s, another one of Walter's sons lived at the lodge off and on. Afterwards, another of Walter's grandsons lived there for several years. Before long, the lodge soon fell into disrepair. The property and the surrounding land was put up for sale; however due to the condition of the lodge and potential renovation or demolition costs, the property sat vacant for years.

As the old buildings sat idle, continuing to deteriorate, vandals and vagrants made use of the place, further reducing its beauty and damaging the structures.

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