The Retread Ranger Station

Remember that early windsled we talked about a couple of days ago? The “Maybe,” built in 1941?

Well, it wasn’t exactly the first.

Washburn Times, February 3, 1921

Air Iceboat Goes Through The Ice

Lans Goodnough and Don Cameron’s air propelled iceboat is now lying peacefully at the bottom of the lake near the breakwater on the Ashland side of the bay as the result of having gone through the thin ice on Tuesday afternoon, and due to this accident Martin Larsen was given a drenching in the icy waters of Chequamegon Bay.

For some time the air-propelled iceboat, the invention of Don Cameron and Lans Goodnough has been plying between Ashland and Washburn as well as furnishing sport for the owners and their friends. On Tuesday afternoon Don Cameron and Martin Larsen went over to Ashland in the boat and upon their return to the city cut across the bay, taking the course near the end of the breakwater, little thinking that the ice would not be of sufficient thickness to hold the weight of the boat and its two passengers.

Just as the boat was passing around the breakwater the ice gave way and Cameron jumped out on one side of the boat while Larsen went out on the other side. Cameron landed on ice of sufficient strength to bear his weight while Larsen went through with the boat and was pulled in to the cold waters of the bay.

Martin Larsen is a good swimmer and an all-around athlete and he immediately started to climb back into the ice, but it kept breaking away and throwing him back into the water. Larson kept his head all the time and managed to push the broken cakes of ice under him until he could get hold of ice thick enough to bear his weight and crawl back to safety after being in the water for about 10 minutes.

Fascinating so far, jaw-dropping from here:

Aside from getting pretty wet, Larsen did not mind the experience a great deal and said if the ice had kept breaking that he would have made his way to shore before he would have given up, and Cameron is laughing yet over the experience.

This boat, which is propelled the same as an aeroplane, is a great machine, the power being furnished by a large Franklin engine. It is said to be able to make a speed of more than 90 mph and has made trips across the bay from here to Ashland in less than nine minutes.

Some folks reading this article might think of the sign on the wall of LaPointe’s great bar, Tom’s Burned-Down Cafe, reading, If you’re going to be stupid, you have to be tough. I know that I did, for a second. Then I realized how wrong I was– there’s nothing stupid about dreaming big.

Shine on, you crazy diamonds of the world.

And more ice stories:

Bayfield County Press, February 1, 1934

A Model T Ford truck, owned by Reuben Bissell of LaPointe, crashed through the ice on Monday, about a mile out from LaPointe. Rubin and George Bissell and Ed Loman were in the truck and were bringing a load of wood across to Bayfield. A number of wide cracks have resulted from our rapidly changing temperature during the last few days and into one of those cracks hidden by snow, the right wheels of the trucks slipped, throwing the truck on its right side in making it impossible for the men to get out except by breaking the windshield. They were wet to the waist getting out.

Efforts to get the truck out have so far been in vain and it is feared the truck will be lost.

And in a separate article on the same date:

Ted Bissell of LaPointe was nearly electrocuted on Wednesday, shortly after noon when trying to put a high tension wire over a windlass to be used in hoisting the truck of Reuben Bissell which is partly submerged. His wet boots cause to ground contact, and the current entered his left hand, burning it badly and rendering him unconscious. He was knocked to the ground in a stunned condition. The windlass is about 25 feet high.

Lots of unanswered questions on this one. Did they get the truck out? And what was the source of the electric current a mile offshore? No idea.

Bayfield County Press, January 31, 1908

Three Men on Way from Presque Isle Have Narrow Escape

What is perhaps one of the most thrilling experiences to occur near this city for some time, was that of three men were caught in the ice between this city and Presque Isle for three days the first of the week. The men left Presque Isle for this city in a sailboat last Friday and had clear sailing for several miles but finally encountered an ice floe which so completely packed in around their boat that they were unable to move it. The weather was mild and as the ice floes were chunks and an extremely poor condition, the men did not dare hazard a run over it in an endeavor to reach shore.

Having no food or fuel aboard the prospect facing them looked extremely discouraging but making the best of what was on hand they brought into service an old can which was used for bailing purposes, and for three days until Monday, they were confined in the open boat without food or shelter, and found it necessary to make a stove out of the bailing can and burned what spare clothing they hand with them in their endeavor to keep from freezing to death. But the cold wave Sunday night and Monday finally came to their relief and the ice formed more solidly and the men finally ventured out upon it and made their way to this city where they received shelter and clothing.

(The men) were employed in the lumbering business on Presque Isle and had quit their work. The left Tuesday morning for Duluth, and their names could not be learned.

There’s a job you don’t quit lightly.

Windsleds have played a vital role in the lives of Madeline Island’s year-round residents longer than most of us can remember. However, there was a time when they were quite the novelty:

Bayfield County Press, January 30, 1941

New Motor Sled Passes First Test

A new propeller-driven motor sled passed its first tests here last Tuesday afternoon with the complete satisfaction of the builder, Anton Lindquist and his son Arney, who have been working on the job for several months.

The trial run was made on the lake ice where trips were made to Bass and Oak Islands.

The craft, if it may be called that, is of tear-drop design and completely enclosed.  It is mounted low on four large runners similar to airplane skis.  Power of the “pusher” type is furnished by a water-cooled auto motor mounted at the rear above the passenger cabin.  The motor whirls a 6-foot air propeller.

The speed of this job is still unknown, according to Anton, who stated they only opened the throttle one-fourth and that was fast enough.  With a short run and little momentum the sled climbed right up the bank of the Bayfield fish dock slip and continued up the road past the cannery without difficulty, making both grades with ease.

The body is painted in red and silver and it has been christened “Maybe” with letters of good size.

According to Charles Nelson’s excellent On Thin Ice: Windsleds at Madeline Island, the Maybe was eventually purchased by Howard and James Russell and used in commercial passenger service for the 1945-46 season, after which it was replaced by the more capacious Maybe II.

For a trip on one of the Maybe’s modern descendants, watch this YouTube video:

Wind sleds keep Bayfield & Madeline Island connected

Lots of ice stories today:

Keeper’s Log, Outer Island Light Station, January 29, 1879

Wind SW, light, cloudy. Ther. 34 all day. The First Assistant started for Bayfield at 8 AM, but returned after going down about 3 miles and reported the ice broken. I went to see for myself and find the ice all out between this and Cat Island; also between this and Presque Isle (Stockton Island) and between the latter and Michigan. Could see ice between North Twin and Cat, also between Cat and Presque Isle. The Second Assistant is virtually cut off.

Bayfield County Press, January 29, 1931

Ice Is Treacherous

The mild weather which has prevailed for the most part of this winter has not allowed the ice to freeze to its usual thickness on Chequamegon bay. Currents and wind cause the ice to break up and shift in various places and any morning may find open water in large areas where the night before was a solid field of ice.

The ice between Sand Island and the mainland has not been of sufficient thickness for passage between the island and shore except for one day, Saturday of last week. The next day the ice all went out in the channel and on Monday Ben Noreng came from Sand Island to Sandy Bay on the mainland in his gas boat. That was the first communication Sand Island residents had had with the mainland for six weeks.

Bayfield County Press, January 29, 1931

Car, Motorcycle Go Through Ice In Bay

Erickson Dodge Car Sinks Near Booth Dock Saturday. Russell Motorcycle Hits Open Water Monday

Saturday afternoon of last week while five boys were riding in the Martin Erickson Dodge touring car on the ice just east of the Booth Fisheries dock, the car struck thin ice over a crack and plunged to the bottom in twenty feet of water.

The car almost jumped the crack in the ice and the impact of the front wheels against the solid ice on the far side threw the boys free from the open car and on to the solid ice so that none of them got wet or were hurt. Those in the car were Melvin Erickson, Edwin Erickson, Walter Richard, George Hebert and Lawrence Grant.

Monday a grappling hook was fastened to the front end of the sunken car and lines run from that under the ice to the shore. By means of a block and tackle and a team the car was pulled in to shore as far as possible under the ice. When the windshield struck the ice and the car could be pulled no further, the ice was cut away in a lane in front of the car and the team was able to pull it ashore, apparently none the worse for its two day immersion.

“By means of a block and tackle and a team.” In other words, they used horses to pull the car out.

Monday afternoon saw the second narrow escape on the ice near here when a motorcycle driven by Emil Erickson of LaPointe struck open water on the LaPointe-Bayfield ice road about a quarter of a mile from the Bayfield Fish Company dock, and sank to the bottom in a hundred feet of water.

Young Erickson was coming to Bayfield on the Howard Russell motorcycle, which is equipped with a side car but luckily there was no one in the sidecar at the time of the accident. Erickson was coming quite fast and did not see the crack and open water in time to be able to stop and because of the fact that he was on glare ice at the time he was unable to turn the machine and thus avoid the open water. He did attempt to turn, but saw that he would then go into the water hole sideways.

Rather than do that he speeded up again and tried to jump across the crack. A bump in the ice at the edge of the crack threw the motorcycle into the air and then back into the water. Striking that bump broke off a large chunk of ice, which turned over in the water just as Erickson was sinking. He grabbed the floating ice and worked himself to the edge of the solid ice which held while he crawled to safety.

He walked to the shore and was able to return to LaPointe that afternoon after drying his clothes and getting himself warm here.

Daily Press, January 29, 1971

The ice highway to Madeline Island apparently is not completely safe.

On Friday evening as a truck was on its way to the mainland between five and 5:30 p.m. they passed over a spot that felt shaky. They stomped and walked back to find a crack in the ice and pieces of loose ice floating around.

Clarence Pratt was traveling ahead of the truck on a snowmobile. He went back to see why the truck had stopped. He then proceeded to the island and notified Harry Nelson. The men picked up some balsam trees and went out and marked the danger spot, as this opening was right on the already marked road.

The Gary Industries truck was being driven by Jimmy Johns and the passengers were Charles Pratt and Ray Gonia.

They consider themselves “very lucky” and a spokesman for the group said, “We all plan to go to church next Sunday.”

It’s always something.

Perhaps this one? Note: granddaughter included to indicate scale.

Washburn Times, January 24, 1924

Big Booze Haul Made in Lakeshore Cave

Twenty barrels of mash, a 100-gallon still and over fifty gallons of moonshine whiskey were secured by state prohibition officials Coats and Crozier on Monday evening of this week when they raided a cave on the lake shore two miles west of Washburn, and one Ed Ferguson, said to be the owner of the outfit, was placed under arrest and brought before municipal Judge George A. Calder on Tuesday of this week where he pled guilty to possession of the moonshine and outfit and was bound over to the Circuit Court under $500 bond.

The prohibition agents were tipped off to the location of this cave and made their way out of Washburn Monday evening at about six o’clock. They found the cave which had the front of it boarded up to exclude the wind and cold, and upon entering discovered a complete moonshine outfit. The place was deserted at the time.

Entering the cave the prohibition men lighted the oil burners and made the place comfortable and warm and sat down to await developments.

About 10:30 that evening they heard the footsteps of men on the snow outside and as they opened the door the raiding party threw a strong searchlight upon the party and invited them into the cave. Four men sheepishly filed in and unloaded the supplies for the business. Three of the men were from Washburn, while Ferguson is also quite well-known here.

Upon being questioned Ferguson stated to the officials that he was the owner of the outfit and that the others had only been engaged to assist him in hauling in the supplies. They were released.

The long wait had frozen up the officer’s car and they could not start it, but a Chevrolet car, which the men had used to bring in their supplies was brought into use and towed the other car, loaded down with supplies, to the county jail in the city, when they arrived shortly after midnight.

The outfit is said to be one of the biggest and best ever secured in this vicinity and the haul of moonshine and mash was also said to be a big one.

Bayfield County Press, January 24, 1897

TO CUT THE PINE

THE BURNED TIMBER ON THE RESERVATION
TO BE CUT THIS WINTER

Bids to be Taken for the Pine Next Month
Sawmill Will Be Erected

Chief Buffalo to Have Charge of the Work

Word was received here the first of this week by Chief Buffalo that the burned timber on the Red Cliff reservation would be cut this winter.

There is about 8,000,000 feet of timber through which the forest fires swept last summer which will be put in right away. The pine will be bid off next month to the highest bidder. Several large lumbering concerns are contemplating the buying of the pine, and the successful bidder will erect a sawmill on the reservation.

And I’m sure the “large lumbering concerns” treated the Indians fairly, and made sure the Tribe got appropriate compensation for their timber. Right.

Chief Buffalo will superintend the cutting of the burned timber. Operations have already commenced. Four large camps will be put in with an average of fifty men in each camp.

This is obviously not the same Chief Buffalo who traveled to Washington to speak with President Fillmore in 1852, then signed the Treaty of LaPointe two years later. He was in his nineties at the time, and while a healthy lifestyle can work wonders, let’s not expect miracles.

And speaking of Red Cliff,

Bayfield Press, January 23, 1878.

George LaGrew, a fisherman of Buffalo Bay, came near to losing his life yesterday while out on the ice, which the northwest wind was rapidly breaking up, trying to save his nets, the ice broke up, letting him down into the water. A boat was sent to his relief and picked him up.

Winter fishing- one heck of a way to make a living.

Bayfield County Press, January 22, 1931

Les Parker, Charles Parker and Edgar Parker, who are fishing on Michigan Island, were in Bayfield over the weekend walking in over the ice. They were taken back Sunday by Woodrow Baldwin in his Ford car. The rear wheels of the car went through a crack in the ice just as they left the shore by the Booth Fisheries dock, but it was got back onto the ice with out any trouble.

That’s fifteen miles, folks.

Not only would this trek give the Parker brothers access to open water outside the archipelago, but Les Parker was Assistant Keeper at the Michigan Island lighthouse, so the three men would have had a warm place to sleep at day’s end. According to Edna Lane Sauer, daughter of keeper Ed Lane,

“Leslie lived in the shed next to the end of the tram tracks, but cooked in the old Lighthouse building once (we) moved into the new brick quarters.”

Kind of reminds you of a Monopoly house, doesn’t it?

Some rough moments, 58 years apart. First we have Wilfred and Allison Boutin, Lake Superior fishermen. They were just outside the Apostles setting nets in their canvas-covered boat, which is rough enough this time of year. Then their motor quit, and things got serious. Here’s a few details from the Bayfield County Press, Jan. 21, 1932:

Boutin Brothers Safe After Five Days Drifting On The Open Lake

…All that night and until 8 o’clock Thursday morning the boys were on the stalled engine before getting it to run again. When it did start day found their boat had iced down until the canvas cover and wooden part and of the water was covered with six inches of ice. According to Wilford “she was slowly rolling like a drunken sailor and we had some time getting the ice off her with a hammer and a small piece of pipe.”

They were about 25 miles out on the open lake when they headed back into the teeth of the gale toward Michigan Island with her engine working once more. After a two-hour run, and just as the island was coming into view, their gas gave out and the engine died once more.

During Thursday and part of that night the storm continued to drift the boat toward Ontanogan. Sometime during the night the wind shifted and started them back over the track they had just made to bring them in sight of Michigan Island Friday afternoon. Once again a change of wind took them back to mineral point near Ontanogan.

This game was kept up by the wind for five days, driving them several hundred miles back and forth between the Michigan shore and the Apostle Islands, but never close enough to either to be anything but a tantalizing disappointment until Monday morning when they hit the beach at Union Bay.

Next, we have a pair of skiers who had a bad night. From the NPS incident report, Jan. 21, 1990:

(Subject) ….W.P. reported that she and (subject) V.H. departed Red Cliff Marina at 1200 hours on January 21, 1990. They set out on foot and hiked to the Oak Island sandspit, arriving there at about 1400 hours. They ate lunch there and decided to head back as the weather was deteriorating, with blowing snow restricting visibility. At 1430 they left Oak for Hermit Island, planning to hike south and on to the west shoreline of Basswood Island. Once at Basswood, they intended to hike to the dock and then go west across the ice to Red Cliff Marina.

They apparently got turned around and instead of heading southeast began moving northwest, and actually doubled back upon their original route. The visibility at this time was near zero, but varied enough so they could occasionally see land forms on each side of them. They kept going northwest, still disoriented, and they came upon the dock at Oak Island. They weren’t sure which dock they saw, and thought it was a dock on the mainland. This was about 1615 hours.

…Darkness set in, and they realized they would have to stop since they didn’t have lights and could not see the ice conditions. At about 1830 they stopped at a campsite marking the site as number 6, which was actually site 6 on Oak Island. They built a crude shelter out of limbs and a fallen tree and tried to sleep, but kept waking up to rewarm themselves. They had no matches so could not build a fire. They also spelled out SOS in the snow with sticks. W.P. said they stood on the shore and used her compass, but couldn’t get oriented.

At first light the next morning, about 0730, they began to hike the trail across the island, which they thought would bring them out to a dock. At this time, they began to realize they were on Oak Island since the visibility had greatly improved. They walked the trail, which was difficult because of knee deep snow, and at one point between site number 3 and the dock, they saw the search plane fly low over them twice. They tried jumping, waving their arms, throwing their packs in the air, and W.P. took off her jacket to reveal a yellow colored shirt she had on, to no avail.

And so on. Happy ending eventually, which is especially good since otherwise there would have been way more paperwork. Right, Larry Johnson?

What’s going on one hundred and one years ago this week?

Bayfield County Press, January 20, 1911

Sand Island Notes

Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Bonde, who came down from Sand Island this week, went down to Minneapolis.

Louis Moe returned Wednesday to his home on Sand Island after spending several days in the city.

Mr. and Mrs. Burt P. Hill came down from Sand Island the first of the week and are guests at the home of S. L. Boutin.

We already know Burt Hill and Louis Moe, respected and beloved island stalwarts. Edwin Bonde is a different kettle of lake trout entirely– a real estate speculator who snapped up as much of the island as he could, then resold it for a profit to his fellow Norwegian immigrants– didn’t matter whether the land was fit for cultivation or not. Some of the buyers made out okay, some like the Bjorn family ended up with swampland in exchange for their savings. Bonde eventually ended up in the pokey on account of his shady dealings.