Gail Ely turns over keys to Inland Lakes after 75 years of family operations

Inland Lakes Dredge and Dockworks in Eagle River, a long-standing family-owned company since 1950, changed hands recently.

The business was sold by Gail Ely to new owners, Dale and Nicole Ray, early last month.

Built on more than seven decades of experience and hard work, Inland Lakes has become well-known in Eagle River and the greater Headwaters Country for its work installing permanent piers, as well as dredging and crane work, sheet piling and more.

And after 75 years in the family, Ely decided it was time to retire and let a younger cohort take the reins.

“We’re in our 70s now, it’s just a young man’s job basically, and Dale and his wife are young and have a lot of energy and ideas in it,” she said. “I wish them well and all the luck in the world.”

Dale has more than 20 years of general contracting experience, and the Rays also bring firsthand knowledge from maintaining their own wet boathouse.

Nicole mentioned her husband has 20-plus years of general contracting experience, and they will also bring their knowledge of owning and maintaining a wet boathouse into the new venture they are excited about.

“Just using all of that knowledge and bringing that to more of the marine construction side of things. It’s a new adventure and a new endeavor that’s very much an interest to us.”

Nicole said she also runs a manufacturing business in the Wausau area, so Dale will be more hands-on with the company.

Continuing a legacy

The Rays aren’t looking to make major changes to the company’s landscape; the new owners hope to continue the legacy of what has already been there.
Dale and Nicole bought the company with all the equipment included, but also upgraded some equipment to maintain the high standard set by the previous owners.

“I know we’re really just looking to maintain the quality standard and the legacy that they had built,” Nicole stated. “Considering Inland still has docks in many decades later, we’re making sure that we’re putting in the same kind of quality product. Just making sure that people are getting the product that they’ve been accustomed to from Inland Lakes. We’ve upgraded some of the equipment for the business, so just making sure that we have the right equipment for the right job.”

They are looking to possibly expand a bit on the services offered to their customers.

“We do plan to sort of expand and get back into more of a full marine construction business than just the dock focus,” explained Nicole. “We have a larger crew, so we’ll be looking to do more boat house repair and renovation. Also, any dredge or shoreline restoration work, too.”

History of Inland Lakes

Inland Lakes Dredge and Dock Works was a part of the Dailey family for 75 years.

Don and Gail’s parents, Virgil and Eleanor, started the business in 1950. Don, who passed away in 2013, worked with his dad for some time in high school before graduating in 1968 and going into the Army in Vietnam, and then returned to the business upon his return.

“When he came back (from the Army), he worked a little bit in other places and then came back and joined our dad with the business. I guess he had done some work for dad when he was in high school, too, and they were building permanent piers and doing boat house repairs,” Ely stated. “Up until [our dad] died, we worked in the wintertime off the Eagle River Chain, went to the Three Lakes Chain and then the chain Land O’ Lakes and the one up in the Phelps area.”

Dailey continued the business after his father’s passing in the mid-1980s, becoming vice president of the company. Ely said it was that way until her brother died in 2013. From there, their sister and brother-in-law came up from Florida to work in the summer, until they decided to sell.