Centennial Book 1893
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■- 1899 LAKE BEULAH YACHT CLUB Friends of Lake Beulah Yacht Club, One hundred years is a long time! Yet the Lake Beulah Yacht Club has survived and flourished since its founding in 1893. This Centennial publication is a chronicle in story and picture of the past one hundred years. We hope it brings back fond memories of times past at Lake Beulah and the Lake Beulah Yacht Club. Tom Derse, Commodore, 1993 TABLE OF CONTENTS Lake Beulah: Pioneer Days to the Present . .. 3 Lake Beulah Yacht Club: Blueprint to Structure . .54 Past Commodores at Ease ...................... 6 6 Lake Beulah Map , . .. ............................................... ■ 72 Lake Beulah Yacht Club: The Sailing Saga . .. .75 Sailing School: Teaching New Generations ............... 88 , Lake Beulah Sidestays . ...... .... 92 Lake Beulah Yacht Club: Trophy Triumphs . .. 94 Acknowledgements . .. .. 111 Lake Beulah: Pioneer Days to the Present. Not many centenarians are as In return for the land, John Kinzie sprightly as the Lake Beulah Yacht Club of Chicago, United States agent, agreed to which celebrates its 100th anniversary in make annual payments to the Indians in 1993. This vibrant organization looks back coin, guns, blankets and other necessities. with pride on decades of steady growth The Government also agreed to protect and meaningful accomplishments. them in occupancy of the soil they now held until 1835 and then transfer them to Notable among these are the en- other lands west of the Mississippi River. couragement of competitive sailing, good sportsmanship, and the opportunities for The territory thus acquired "extin- recreation and socializing for countless guished Indian title to 5,000,000 acres of families who have enjoyed membership land and included all of southeastern Wis- throughout the years. consin." Tribes were to remain in peace- able possession of the lands for two years Today’s mylar sails and fiber-glass until moving west. hulls are a far cry from the birchbark ca- noes of the early 19th century. What is However, the treaty was not signed hard to believe is the fact that before 1830 until late the following year, so evacuation there is no mention of any white man in was delayed until 1836. Before that date, what later would become Walworth Coun- the Government could give no clear title. ty- No records exist describing the LAND OF THE POTAWATOMIE region inland between the foot of Lake Michigan and the mouth of the Milwaukee The leading tribe in the territory River. This would suggest that it was un- was the Potawatomie who were curious known to the explorers of the 17th and about another culture and peaceful in 18th centuries. disposition. They were said to show "little deceit or treachery and, among their fel- TRANSFER BY TREATY low tribes, managed to cement friendships that remained unbroken." On September 26, 1833, the United States Government signed a treaty with Having migrated south from Green the Potawatomies, Chippewas and Ottawas Bay, their largest village at this time was by which those nations "ceded all lands Mukwonago, "the meeting place of the from the shores of Lake Michigan west- bears." The principal trail in the area start- ward to land ceded by the Winnebagos the ed at the head of Big Foot Lake (Geneva) year before. The northern boundary met and led through LaFayette and East Troy lands ceded by the Menomonees (north to Mukwonago. Known as Army Trail, it and east of the Milwaukee River) and the had been the "route taken by a regiment southern was defined by lands ceded by of soldiers on a march from Fort Dear- the same tribe in 1829 in northwestern born (Chicago) to Fort Howard (Green Illinois." Bay) in 1836." 3 Early records reveal that Mrs. John Sales were made to the highest Kinzie, the U.S. agent’s wife, crossed Wal- bidder on each tract, starting with the worth County in the fall of 1832 as she ac- Government’s minimum price of $1.25 per companied her husband to Fort Winne- acre. Agents were empowered to buy for bago (Portage). Her memoirs relate her non-attending neighbors and might bid as delight in seeing the waters of Lake Gene- high as $20. va. Her party is believed to be the first whites to view lake. If payment were not made that day, the same land was started the next day at As a result of early conflicts, Wis- the lowest rate and was usually sold at that consin passed from French to English to price without further bids from previous American possession. It was included in competitors. the old Northwest Territory until 1800 when it became part of Indian Territory. WHITE SETTLERS ARRIVE In 1809 the land was joined to the Illinois Territory, and in 1818 to the Michigan In 1838 Dr. James Tripp, a retired Territory. Army surgeon with an eye for engineering, purchased 151.79 acres from the Govern- On July 3, 1836, Wisconsin became ment and is presumed to be the first white part of a territory which included Wiscon- settler in this area. sin, Iowa, Minnesota and a part of the Dakotas. Walworth was one of the first A native New Yorker, Dr. Tripp counties approved during the same year. It had practiced medicine in Mobile, Ala- was named for Chancellor Reuben H. bama, for several years before returning Walworth of New York, an "outstanding home. After 15 years of practice in the character in temperance work and other East, Dr. Tripp decided to try farming in moral movements." Wisconsin Territory. Wisconsin became the 30th state on Although his stay here was brief, it May 29, 1848 with Nelson Dewey its first was long enough to build and lend his governor. Christopher Payne was the first name to a saw mill, Tripp’s Mill, adjacent settler in Walworth county in 1836. to Crooked Lake, the original name of Beulah. Tripp’s Lake, later known as Mill A land sale of 100 townships in Lake, was not connected at that time. southeastern Wisconsin was advertised by the land office at Milwaukee to begin No- In 1839 he and his wife, Rosepha, vember 19, 1838. Since most of the settlers moved farther west where they are credit- were unprepared to pay at that time they ed with founding the village of Whitewa- asked for and gained a delay until Febru- ter. Rosepha brought with her a "comfort- ary 18, 1839. able little fortune" and they became two of the largest property holders in the area. Sales began with Townships 1 to 10, ranging from Lake Michigan westward and There Dr. Tripp built a grist mill, amounted to 4 to 5 townships daily. The which proved more profitable than a saw lands of Walworth County were sold be- mill, and practiced medicine "only when tween February 25 and March 5. called on in critical cases." He represented 4 Mill wheel at the dam with Mill Lake in the background, circa 1896 the area in the 4th Territorial Assembly in which was seven feet beneath lake level (a 1841-44. fact recorded by Ripley’s "Believe It or Not") until it was reconstructed and raised Dr. Tripp died in 1844 at the age of to its present height. 49 leaving his estate to Rosepha providing that she "remain a widow." FARMING TAKES HOLD Tripp’s saw mill was bought and In 1845, 24-year-old Homer and 22- sold frequently over the years. In 1852 Sey- year-old Seymour Brooks made their way mour Brooks was the owner for a short from Ovid, N.Y., to Walworth County with period. In the early 1870’s, the mill was the area’s first threshing machine. They destroyed by fire, and for many years, only ran it in partnership the first season after the wheel remained. their arrival and developed a profitable business. A local resident maintains that the only access to the mill in the early days After selling the machine to Sey- was over a bridge from Beulah’s East mour, Homer returned to New York Shore to the Island. During the 1850’s, the where he purchased 2000 Merino ewes mill owner built the road, now a part of and drove them back to East Troy, a County Trunk J, to make the mill more three-month operation. Their father sent accessible. them a Durham bull and three heifers which proved to be the first blooded cattle Huge rocks and wagon loads of dirt in Walworth County and perhaps in Wis- were hauled by oxen to build the road consin. 5 Crowley Spring, Mill I^ike Homer purchased 160 acres in the The larger island in his possession, Upper Lake region in 1848 and, in 1882, later acquired by the Jesuit Order of the was said to own 218 acres valued at $60 Missouri Province, consisted of 29 acres. per acre. Both brothers were successful in This was sold initially to H. H. Rogers of farming and raising stock and Seymour East Troy, who built the first summer had a bent for business as well. resort hotel on the lake in 1882 and oper- ated it unsuccessfully for three years. In In 1846, Seymour became an em- July, 1885, it was sold to Marquette Col- ployee of Edward Ball, a New York mer- lege for $11,500 through the efforts of a chant who had opened a store in East Milwaukee caterer, James Conroy, who Troy. After clerking for three years, he acted as an agent in the transaction. became a partner for eight more years until 1855 when the building was destroyed A second deed dated September by fire at a loss of $14,000.