American Fly Fisher Detnil fi-om (I ~(IOT~~TLIT
a- H 1 11 New Ed,b;L
New Priorities
ON DECEMBER5, 1989. twenty- exhibits to museums and outdoor ex- three of the Museum's trustees positions around the country last year, met at the St. Francis Yacht Club and I expect that we may well surpass in San Francisco for AMFF's an- that total by mid-summer 1990. Our nual business meeting, where the commitment of taking the Museum to mootl was upbeat and enthusias- people across the country remains as
tic. I suspect that all who at- stronp0 as ever. tentled the meeting felt we had turned In order to make this program of ex- a corner and were ready to embark on pansion a reality, we formed an ener- an exhilarating period of g1-owth and in- getic and motivated Development creased professionalisn~at the Museum. Committee in San Francisco. This com- We have provided our readers with mittee met in Boston on February 8, some of the highlights of the meeting in 1990, where it was resolved that it would the "Museum News" section of this issue, "Plan, organize, implement and success- but one item of special significance has fully complete a capital drive to fund the emerged. It was resolved that AMFF proposed renovation of the Museum would expand its Manchester facilities . . . ." Consequently, "The Campaign for and generally make the Museum a more the American Museum of Fly Fishing: interesting and attractive place to visit. Preserving A Rich Heritage For Future This means that we intend to renovate Generations" will be launched in the and expand the Museum's interior coming months. Our goal is a fully com- spaces in order to create additional pub- puterized, professionally managed ed- lic exhibition areas, an audio/visual ucational institution that is capable of room, a "Touch and Feel" area for our addressing the needs and expectations young visitors, and more. Does this of a growing and sophisticated audience. mean that AMFF is cutting.1 back on its We feel this goal is attainable, for the traveling exhibits program? Not at all; leadership of this museum is strong and in fact, now that we have a new profes- vitally aware of the challenges it faces as sional curator, we feel that we will prob- we move into a new decade. ably expand the program. We sent nine D.S.J. of ning
Preserving a Rich Heritage for Future Generations SPRING1990 VOLUME16 NUMBERI 1'RUSTEES Fnstcr Ham RoI) Slirchrll \Villiam B.trrett \V;~ll;tcrJ. Slurr;tv 111 Rruce I[. Begin N';IYIIC!i~~rdhc,~-g P;IIII Bnl~nger I.c.ig11 11. l'crkiti\ 1-ewis M. BII~~ICIIIll R~III~l'c,rkins 19th Century American Reels from Robert R. Buckrn;t*ter AII;III K. I'II~IJ~~ ROY I.III, r. 0.Slilc\ Pollartl A Treasury of Reels ...... 2 l'etrr (:orI~in SUSIIIA. I'opLin Charles K. I.:i ON HE COVER: T/lr ncl~nrssof Ihr collections rf the Anzrrlcc~nMzcsrlrvrl of Fly F/\/~ir~g01~ rrfl~cIrd 171 fhe~e191/1 and 20th crnl/c~Ametlcrcn STAFF reels, pnrt of tllr 800-plzcs leek held by the Mzueztnl. Pl~oto 7%rAwpnr,1,, I;l, F,.~brr.is puhlishcrl four tlmes a ,,r.tr h%thr Museum .,I P.O. U<,x 12. M:!nrheatrr. Vermont 0525.1. Puhlicd~bndatrs arc wntcr. sprtng, sunmlcr. and fall. !vl.lcmlx.rrhiprlucs inrludr the cost nf a one-\car rul~scription(Y'II) rncl .trr lax dr TAFF SPRING 1990 1 Bob O'Shaughnessy I 19th Centuryfl American Reels from A Treasury of Reels by Jim Brown Frankly, I knew next to nothing rounded by fly reels, and early on Z catalogued United States, 1838-1940, and was just about fly reels before joining the staff quite a few: the old and the new, the glittering finishing another, A Treasury of Reels. of the American Museum of Fly Fish- members of the aristocracy, and those humble Both Jim's book and manuscript were often ing in 1987. The purpose orfunction reels of uncertain pedigree. I soon came to used in-house by our staff as important ref- of a fly reel? Why, just to hold line, think of the Museum's reels as our crown erence tools. But that manuscript was some- of course. Or so I thought at the time. jewels, for there are probably no other objects thing very special, and it was clear that once Then I learned that far from a minor in our collections that lend themselves so well published, this was going to be a book to be actor, a reel serves a number of functions, to disblav.1, reckoned with, for not only had Jim written not the least of which is that of an active Frequent questions from Museum visitors a brilliant history of the fly reel, he had also partner to the rod and the angler infighting prompted me to survey the literature on the completed the herculean task of compiling a fish once it's been hooked. I learned, too, subject, and I found the writing of reel experts museum-catalog entries on all of the 800-plus that reels are designedfor use on specijic game such as John Orrelle, David Beazley, and reels in AMFF's collection. Jish, both fresh- and salt-water varieties, and Steven Vernon to be pleasurable as well as We are pleased to publish herein selected for use under specijic conditions. This ex- enlightening. And then I discovered the writ- excerpts on the early history of American fly plained the hundreds of types and models in ing of another authority, Jim Brown. Jim had reels from Jim Brown's A Treasury of existence. already published a superb little gem of a book Reels. Once at the Museum, Z was literally sur- entitled Fishing Reel Patents of the D.S.J. 2 TAFF SPRING 1990 DURINGTHE EARLY PART of the nine- of the American Museum of Fly Fishing, teenth century there is very little indig- for example, is a New York-style salmon enous ~mericanliterature on angling. or saltwater reel engraved "G. C. Fur- The New York reel is a large brass or One of the earliest and most useful vol- man made 1826 Rebuilt 1838." In gen- German-silver saltwater reel capable of umes from this period is Jerome V.C. eral, though, it was not until the late holding a hundred to three hundred Smith's Natztral Histoy of the Fishes of I 830s that commercial reelmaking began yards of heavy cotton line and usually Massachzcsetts (lags), which includes a in America on a significant scale. This measuring about two and a half inches long essay entitled "Trout, Interspersed seems to have taken place nearly simul- to four and a half inches in diameter. It with Remarks on the Theory and Prac- taneously in the North and in the South was typically a double multiplier with a tice of Angling." and to have resulted in the development balance handle. In its earliest form it had In this essay Smith describes the trout of two distinctive styles of reels, known neither a click nor drag mechanism, but tackle in use at the time, which includes respectively as the New York reel and was sometimes fitted with a leather a twelve-and-a-half-foot hickory Hy rod the Kentucky reel. thumb pad that the angler could use to of thirteen to fourteen ounces and a The United States continued to im- apply pressure to a running fish. Its multiplying reel carrying about thirty port much of its fishing tackle during principle use was for casting squid and yards of woven silk ancl hair line. For a this period. In 1830, for instance, only cut bait to striped bass along the Atlantic larger fish, such as the landlocked two individuals are listed in the fishing- coast. salmon of Maine's Sebago Lake, a stout tackle trade in New York City, as far as The balance handles on these reels salmon rod is recommended along with I can determine: Thomas W. Horsfield, were at first straight and dowel-like in a single-action brass reel capal~leof at qo Fulton Street, and John Lentner, appearance, having on one end a pear- holding eighty to a hundred yards of at 39 Nassau Street. John Conroy, who shaped knob of rosewood or walnut and line. We get the impression that Hy-fish- claimed to be establishecl by 1830, is not on the opposite end a ball-shaped coun- ing for trout was well established in the explicitly listed in the fishing-tackle terweight. For this reason they are now 183os, but that salmon fishing with the trade in local directories until 1838: al- sometimes referred to by collectors as fly was still something of' a novelty in though he is listed as a machinist as early simply ball-handle reek. Later, balance America.' as 1825. Likewise, T. and J. Bate (the handles were often serpentine or S- Surprisingly, Smith also describes Hy- forerunners of William Mills and Son) shaped, with flattened counterweights fishing for sea trout (sea-run brook who advertised that they were estab- ancl black hard-rubber knobs. The chief trout-the brown trout was not yet in- lished by 1822, are not listed in New purpose of the balance handle seems to troduced) and the occasional striped York City dil-ectories until 1832, and have been that it permitted longer casts bass in the Cape Cod estuaries near the their listings indicate they were princi- by contributing to spoon momentum. It Child's and Mashapee rivers. This ap- pally importing needles at this time.' may also have resulted in more even pi- pears to be one of the earliest references Writing in 1833, Smith notes that the vot wear. to saltwater fly-fishing, and as Smith most knowledgeable fly fishermen "im- No one knows who first originated the makes no claim for being the originator, port the best tackle from England, for idea of the counterbalanced handle, or it seems likely that the sport of saltwater it is not to be bought in all its variety in even if it was a British or American in- Hy-fishing predates him. A team of this country."' vention, but John Conroy, of New York bright and showy Hies was used, a red City, clearly did the most to popularize fly being particularly effective. Some- its use. Conroy's 1838 advertisement in times flies were used in combination with the Spirit of the Times for his "multiplying bait.' reels with balanced cranks" is the earliest Certainly reels were being made in written reference to counterbalanced America at this time. While there is some handles that is known.i Similarly, Ed- understandable skepticism, as we have ward Vom Hofe, also of New York City, noted earlier, regarding Dr. James Hen- probably cannot be credited as the in- shalls's opinion that George Snyder of Paris, Kentucky, made the "first multi- plying reel in the world" in 18 10, there seems good reason to believe that Sny- der's Clay reel, engraved "G.S. Feb 1, 182 1 ," is authentic-and further, that New York reelmakers were also active during the same period. In the collection "Snyder's Clay Reel" from James A. Henshall's Book of the Black Bass (Robert Clarke Company: Cincinnati, 1904). Opposite: An assemblage of 19th and 20t/a centrq reels from the collect~ons01 the American Museum of Flv Fishing. I Thomas J. Conr Photograph courtesy ~oi0'~haug/~7;bssy, 65 Fulton Street, New York, y\ \! Exposure Place Ltd., Boston, MA. qF~~~MA& Fine Fishing Taclrle Above: Thzi Conrov Multi- *NU L. plying Reel with balanced Right: Thomas J. Conroy, a detcmdant of CAMPING COODS. crank was advertised in the John Conroy zuho popularized the use of tlzr My New Illustrated netnil Catalogue end Ilnndhook for Spurtarnen, cuntniniog Hlnte "lllzutrated Catalogue of counterbalanced reel handle zn the 18305, and Direction8 for Fishing and Camping, 1s r~owrondy. I'riee 25 eeota. Customeramay Fine Fkhing Tackle manu- was stzll selling "Fine Fzshzng Tackle" in deduct nmount paid for cntnlo~uofrom them the early 1890s. This advert~sementa$- Iird purcbose if it amounts to $1.00 or more. factured by Abbie &f Imbrie" ZSSZLC /\ ESTABLISHED 1630. (Nrw York, 1882). fieared in the "Iuly - 19, 1890 of The American Angler. I TAFF SPRING 1990 3 ventor of the S-shaped cotlnterbalanced handle, but it is a style he is often iden- Brloru: L)rlnil /?om (I B. F. Merk €3 tified with, for he used it almost without Sons ad7~r?lr.cr1~1enlwi~rch apprrc?erl exception on all his reels throughout a ua thr Jtrnr, 1916, lccur of Field long career. & Stream. Rzght: An Amerzcnn An oil painting in the Toledo Museum clac\lc, (I "Fmrrkfull Rrel," p?o- of Art by Junius Brutus Stearns, clated drtcrrl by Benjanrrn C. M21(1111 of 1853 and entitled "Still Life with 'l'ro~tt Frtlrtkfolt, Kenlzrrky, from Jamrt and Fishing Tackle," shows a good catch A. Hrn\fln[l'\ Book of the Black of brook trout next to a rod with New B'I~Y(Robert Clr~rkaCompn?~y. York reel, fly book, ant1 Hies. We can Ci?rcin?zat~,1881). probably assume that the New York reel was used for freshwater fishing, includ- ing fly-casting, prior to Stearns's paint- ing, but New York reelsmiths were required to adapt their standard prod- uct for this use. First, New York reels were too large THE MILAM, and heavy fix most fres11wate1- fishing, Genuine Frankfort, Ky., Fishing Reel so it was necessary to scale them clown Mnnufaclnr~dby H. 0. MILLV E; RUN. Frankfort, h) in size. Models measuring a mere two Caraloglle free. Sfna for oue. inches in diameter-sometimes less- were introduced. Second, the offset han- dle of the New York multipliers was A prriod B.C. Mlltm €3 Son n~lr~z,artzrernrnt probably an inconvenience to many Hy urfl~rfi~~pprnrr(l 111 The Amer~canAngler fishers. This was less of' a problenl in rrlotlels o and oo, which were one and a on Sn/zcrd(l.y,Jzcly 19, 1890. bait-casting, where a weighted bait was half'inches and one antl a quarter inches cast from ;inti retrieved directly to the in diameter respectively. While Ken- reel, but in fly-fishing it is the weight of tucky reelmakers were not generally Let your reel t)e clot too large and a mul- the line that is cast, antl loose coils ol'line known for the manufact~lreof single- tiplier, without a check or t~alanceto the are often held by the angler both prep- action reels, at least one maker, J.L. Sage crank, for the first will annoy you besides aratory to casting ant1 after retrieving. of Lexington, Kentucky, is believed to being of no use, and the last make your As most Hy fishermen have learned, a have built a click reel fi)r black bass fly- reel turn fitstel- than you think."' loose loop of fly line has an ;~lmostun- fishing as early as 1848.~ But Henshall was particularly vociferous canny tendency to tangle on any projec- Our understanding of the early his- in denouncing the counterbalanced tion near at hand, including prominent tory of Kentucky reels rests heavily on handle: reel handles. This may account fi~rsome an article first published by Dr. James of the single-action New York ball-han- Henshall in the December goo issue of The halancetl-handle is a delusion ant1 a dle reels, in which the handle is mounted Ortlirrg magazine, entitled "Evolution of snitre. There is no real adv;tntage in it. In at the center of the sideplate, where it is the Kentucky Reel.""l.his study was re- so light a piece of nlachinery as a fishing less inclined to be in the way. These are p~tblishedin the 1904 and 1923 revised reel, a balance handle adtls nothing to its efficiency. while it is open to several oh- usually smaller-size reels, and it seems eclitions of his Book (f thr Black Bats and jections, the most serious of which is the likely that they were made with the fly has been reprinted numerous times greater possibility of fouling the line as fisher in mind. since. In adclition to providing much compared with the simple crank-handle. ttseful background about the early Ken- It is popularly supposed to aid in the tucky reelmakers, Henshall attributes a smooth and rapid revolution of the spool; variety of inventions to this school, in- but if the reel is constrt~ctedin a work- The Kentucky I-eel, on the other hand, clutling the Jeweletl bearings and com- manlike manner, such aid is reduced to a was originally designed for freshwater pensating pivot caps of George Snyder, minimum. It is one of those theories that use. It is typically a cluadruple n~itltiplier the protected crankshaft (i.e., having a is not borne out in practice. It was never designed hy a practical angler." with a crank handle, made of' brass or collar) ant1 sliding click and drag buttons German silver, averaging about two of J. F. Meek, and the use of spiral or Examining a group of New York and inches or less in diameter, ant1 capable helical gearing by B.F. Meek. Unfi)rtu- Kentucky reels, one can hardly hil to of holding about eighty yards of' fine, nately, it is difficult to authenticate these notice the comparative simplicity, even braided silk line. These reels were prob- advances precisely, as most of the early primitiveness of the former. This has led ably first used to cast minnows for black Kentucky reelmakers did not patent some collectors to draw the conclusion bass in the streams near Frankfort, Ken- their inventions. that New York reels are generally older tucky, where J. F. and B. F. Meek estab- Dr. Henshall was an obdurate holder than Kentucky reels and may in some lished a reelmaking firm in I 899." Soon, of an opinion once he had expressed it. way have served as prototypes for early larger models with the capacity for heav- He never did fully retract his contention Kentucky reelsmiths. 1 tend to doubt this ier linen lines were added for lake and that George Snyder invented the mul- conclusion. It seems to me that each style saltwater use; smaller models, terminat- tiplying reel, even though evidence to tleveloped independently and at about ing with the tiny model no. I, measuring the contrary became available to him in the same time from a common ancestor, one and five-eighths inches in diameter, his later years." He was also steadfastly the British multiplier. were produced for trout anglers and fly opposed to counterbalanced handles The British multiplier of the I 830s was fishermen. Not long afterward, Benja- throughout his writing. He was not typically a small brass treble multiplier min C. Milam, operating under the alone in this. The influential George used for trout fishing. New York reel- Meek and Milam mark, extended the Washington Bethune, who edited the smiths reduced the gear ratio to 2: 1 and size range of Kentucky reels even SLII-- first American edition of Walton's Com- built a multiplier that was generally ther by introducing the ultra-small ple~~lAnglrr in 1847, also recommended: larger and more rugged for saltwater 4 TAFF SPRING 1990 Srz~rtnldrtnrlrrl Jig~oerfrom W~llrn?tt hurst renewed his patent (this was per- Rrllrngtz~r~l',"Frrtrmg-R~rl" potent o/ mitted in the early years of the patent A~ig~r.st9, 1859. (Urrz1rd S/(L~CSP(i/r7i/ system); reels built from this date until O/fice, Lrtlrr\ Pnlrnt No. 24,987.) 1880 bear the renewal date in addition to the standard markings. The 1873date has tended to confuse collectors, as it is often crudely stamped and is easy to mis- goods to keep the peace with local sup- read as I 878 or I 879 pliers, for he was also a proprietor of The Billinghurst reel was the fourth 'I'he Angler's Depot, a well-equipped fishing reel patented in the United States fishing-tackle shop at 103 Fulton Street and the first American single-action reel in New York City. But reading between to receive a patent that could be used by the lines, it seems clear that American the Hy fisher. The first American fishing- n~ultipliers,both New York and Ken- reel patent was granted to Arunah Tif- tucky, had mostly superseded the old- fany of Gibson, Pennsylvania, who re- fi~shionedBritish multiplier by this time. ceived U.S. patent no. 354 on July 26, American manufacturers were still lag- 1838. It resembled an elaborate cleat, ging behind, however, in the production with rollers, to be attached to a boat or of' light single-action reels that would dock where heavy lines or nets might have been most suitable fi)r the Hy fisher. fray without a friction-reducing device. During the 185os, American Hy fishers The next two patents, John A. Baily, of m;~yhave used small New York or Ken- Jersey City, New Jersey, August 5, 1856, tucky reels, or they could have used Brit- no. 15,446, and Edward Deacon, of ish single-action reels, including the Brooklyn, New York, February lo, I 857, popular Birniinghams or the more ex- no. I 6,626, were New York balance-han- pensive raised-check-plate reels. Al- dle reels that were both assigned to John though it is probable that Conroy (and Warrin of New York City." perhaps other New York makers) was Billinghurst was fully aware of the tluplicating these British single-action reels on the market at the time he in- fishing. Kentucky reelmakers, Ily con- reels, many feel that credit for the first troduced his design, and he was not shy trast, continued to use the smaller reel Arnrrtcnn Hy reel design belongs to Wil- about pointing out the competition's fix freshwater fishing hut increased the liam Billinghurst. shortcomings. His patent describes mul- gear ratio to 4: I, which enabled a quick tiplying reels as heavy, bulky, overcom- and effi~rtlessretrieve of' the bait. 'I'he plicatetl, and expensive to manufacture. earliest New York reelniakers were nia- William Billinghurst (I807 to I 880) was His- - reel. on the other hand. had none chinists and mechanics, and their reels one of'the most famous gunsmiths of his of these hisadvantages, and it recovered have an almost industrial spareness. l'er- day. From the late 1840s to about the line as rapidly as a multiplier and more haps, too, many of these early New York time of the Civil War, Billinghurst pro- rapidly than other single-action reels: reels were used by commercial fisher- duced muzzle-loading riHes f'~-oma large Another important feature consists in the men rather than sportsmen-under shop in Rochester, New York, which enl- such circunistances, tlependability and rapidity with which the line can be wound, ployetl as niany as eight or nine men. thus enabling us to dispense with compli- affixdability would have far outweighed Following the Civil War, when compe- aesthetic considerations. 'I'he earliest catetl and expensive gearing for that pur- tition from factory-made arms gradually pose. In the cornmon form of' reel, without Kentucky reelmakers were frequently began to force many of the country's gearing, each turn of the handle does not jewelers or watchmakers, and their ap- smaller gunsmiths out of business, Bil- at first take up more than three-quarters preciation fi)r highly det21iled ant1 or- linghurst was able to continue opera- of an inch of line. In a reel of the same namented work was soon incorporated tions, based on a fine reputation- size as that shown in the drawings hereto into their reels. This gave their reels ;I particularly for his target rifles and also annexed the first turn of the handle takes up more than seven inches of' line, or sophisticated, artistic look that is gen- as the manufacturer of the Billinghurst erally absent from the majority of' New nearly ten times the amount taken up by fishing reel. one turn of the common reel-handle." York reels. Billinghurst's reel was patented on August 9,1859 (pat. no. 24,987). His first The majority of Birmingham reels reels were made of brass wire and cast- (all, as far as I know) had narrow-di- ings, assembled in such a manner as to ameter spindles, which meant that the By the middle of'the nineteenth century, allow air to dry the silk Hy lines that were initial recovery of line was very slow. Bil- the number of American sportsmen :uitl in use at the time. Their unique ap- linghurst's reel, with its much wider the size of the American tackle trade had pearance has prompted some collectors core, may have been the first to correct increased substantially. In the Avrrrircr?t to refer to them as hirdcng~reels. Billing- this ~~roblem.It is also possible that Bil- Anglrrs Gztidr, John J. Brown notes that, hurst's design featured a folding handle linghurst was the first to introduce the although the majority of'light trout ant1 that allowed the reel to be carried in the concept of extra ventilation for reels. It perch reels holding from twenty to fifty angler's pocket or kit. By the I 87os, Bil- seems incredible that the Birmingham yards of line are still ilsually importetl linghurst was nickle plating some of his reel, which had been manufactured for from England, "The reels used in bass reels. He also produced a linlited num- twenty-five years or more prior to the or salmon fishing are man~rf'act~tretlal- ber of' nickel-silver models that com- Billinghurst patent, did not incorporate together in this country" and ". . . with mantled a higher price and were sideplate perforations into a few models, the exception of artificial Baits, all arti- sometimes offeretl as prizes in casting but this seems to be the case-at least I cles of tackle made in this country are tournaments. His reels were stamped have not encountered any reels of this equal, it' not superior to those in En- with a neat circular mark that read: "Bil- type that can be positively dated as pre- gland."" Brown may have been exag- linghurst's patent, Rochester, N.Y. 1859 I 860. gerating the high quality of' American Aug 9." In August 1873. Billing But the unique feature of Billing- TAFF SPRING I<)()O 5 hurst's reel is that it is mounted on its side rather than upright, as were most conventional fly reels. Why Billinghurst decided to break with tradition in this way is a mystery, but we do know that his was the first in a long line of side- mount designs that became very popular in America during the late nineteenth century. Alonzo Fowler, Charles Clin- ton, Albert Pettingill, August Meissel- bach, and Elmer Sellers are only a few of the American reelmakers who fell un- der Billinghurst's influence and pro- duced side-mount fly reels. Strangely enough, this style of reel never found favor in Britain." The Billinghurst was never really known as a free-running reel. It was cer- tainly no match for a New York or Ken- The famed Oruis 1874 Patent tucky multiplier when casting directly Reel as it appeared in a circa from the reel, yet American fly fishers 1885 C. F. Orr~isCompany catalog. of the 1860s and 1870s found that it met their need for a lightweight and venti- lated single-action reel that was narrow enough to take up line quickly. These features in combination helped to estab- and the spindle, which was hollow, was lish it as America's first fly-reel design. clearly visible on the backplate. The Detailed figures from Silas B. Terry's Even so, the side-mount fly reels, which spindle was extra-perforated (not just a "Improvement in Fishing Reels" patent of evolved from the Billinghurst, slowly single perforation for line tie), which ac- November 14, 1871. (United States Patent lost their commercial appeal toward the cording to the theory of the patent, al- Office, Letters Patent, No. 121,020). end of the nineteenth century, and the lowed moisture from the line to seep horizontally mounted fly reel survives into the core of the spindle and exit today only in the modern automatic. through the opening in the backplate. The growing preference for conven- This idea sounded better than it worked challenged the Orvis reel in popularity, tionally mounted fly reels can be attrib- in practice, however, and this feature and both have tended to be overlooked uted at least in part to the introduction was dropped in subsequent versions of by historians. To begin with, the patent and immense popularity of the Orvis- the design. drawings for the Ross and Terry reels patent reel. The first model of an Orvis reel was are misleading. In the case of Ross's pat- solidly riveted together, although the ent, the drawing shows a long-spooled crank handle was removable, as it was reel that looks more like a casting reel on all the Orvis-patent reels. It came in than a fly reel. In Terry's patent, his im- a handsome black-walnut case with a provements are shown on a multiplier. Most tackle collectors recognize the Or- hinged lid and sold for $5 in 1875. In Terry advertised single-action reels as vis 1874 trout reel immediately. Its order to remain competitive on the early as 1872." His single-action reels highly perforated sideplates and ex- tackle market of the late nineteenth cen- were very conventional products in the tremely narrow spool are not easily mis- tury, the price of the Orvis reel was grad- Birmingham style: crank-handle reels taken, even from a distance. Patented by ually reduced, and a cardboard box was that were narrow but had solid, unper- Charles F. Orvis of Manchester, Ver- substituted for the original hardwood forated sideplates. They all featured his mont, on May 12,1874, this reel was mar- case. The reel was made of nickel-plated distinctive sheet-metal foot, which is keted until about 1915-period of some brass and a click was added. The Orvis usually stamped with the 1871 patent forty years. The Orvis reel may not be design underwent a continual develop- date. the first American fly reel, but it was one ment, which resulted in a number of dis- Ross's 1869 patent reel was just as rev- of the most popular, and it is now widely tinct models. Chief among these was a olutionary as the Terry reel was con- recognized as a benchmark of American wider version for bass fishing, but there servative. Unfortunately, its rarity has reel design. It is often referred to as the were a variety of more subtle alterations helped to obscure this fact and its im- first modern American fly reel, because that have also been identified by collec- portance generally, as historians and col- in addition to being narrow and venti- tors." It is believed that all the 1874 pat- lectors alike have usually assumed that lated, it was an upright or conventionally ent reels were built for Orvis by it was never made or was made in such mounted reel. As one writer aptly puts Manhattan Brass and Manufacturing limited numbers that none survived. Re- it: "if the Billinghurst reel is considered Company of New York City. cently, however, an example of Ross's the 'grandfather' of fly reels, the Orvis reel was discovered. This reel is an up- reel would certainly represent the 'fa- right, single-action reel with narrow ther.' "'" spool and ventilated sideplates-fea- The earliest Orvis trout reels were tures which in combination were made of nickel silver, had no click, and The Orvis 1874 patent reel was not the thought to have been first introduced by were signed on the bottom of the foot first upright American fly-reel design. It the Orvis 1874 patent reel. Ross's reel is with hand-engraved markings that read: was preceded by James J. Ross's patent believed to have been built for a short "C.F. Orvis maker Manchester, Vt. pat- of October 12, 1869 (no. 95,839), and Si- time, between 1869 and 1871.'' ented May 12, I 874." There was no sig- las Terry's patent of November 14, 187 1 The Ross-patent reel also exhibits a nature cap on the back of the first model, (no. 121,020). Neither reel ever seriously unique spool in which the arbor was addition to his gunsmith business and cessed side plate to contain the click soon thereafter on a full-time basis. mechanism and a click mechanism in Working in Bangor, Maine, he estab- which the pawl and spring are screwed lished marketing ties with Bradford and to metal blocks so they can be removed Anthony of Boston, then later with Ab- for repairs. The patent also describes a bey and Imbrie of New York City. By frame with a formed rim "within which 1877 Leonard took on a partner, James the handle travels, thus preventing the H. Kidder, who ran a retail outlet for entanglement of the line.'2 One of the Leonard's products at 19 Beaver Street earliest references to protective rims on in New York City. But this arrangement a fly reel. It is a design advance that has did not work out, and in the following been so widely copied over the years that year Kidder sold his interest in Leon- it is now nearly taken for granted on any ard's business to William Mills and Son, crank-handle-style reel. also of New York City. In 1881 Hiram The 1880s brought a proliferation of Leonard moved his shop from Bangor new designs for American fly reels. By to Central Valley, New York, where he my count, nearly seventy new patents for established the Leonard Rod Company. fishing reels were granted during this This period advertisement for H.L. Mills eventually became sole owner of ten-year span. Some of the more inno- Leonard's Patent Click Reel with raised the Leonard Rod Company and re- vative fly-reel patents centered on ef- pillars appeared in an early William mained so until 1973. The company had forts to design a practical multiplying fly Mills C9 Son catalog. several owners during the 1970s and reel, these included: James B. D'A Boul- 1980s, but it was finally dissolved in 1985. ton's planetary gear fly reel (1882),Fred- Throughout its history, the Leonard erick Malleson's multiplying fly reel Rod Company was known for premium- (188?;), and Abraham Coates's variable- grade split-bamboo fly rods, and the use fly reel, which could be used as either built of a series of rods that connect the Leonard name on almost any item of a single-action or multiplying reel (1888). front and back spool walls. This pro- fishing tackle became synonomous with But perhaps one of the most lasting de- vided a large core that encouraged ade- top quality. velopments of this time was the auto- quate ventilation of the line and enabled The Leonard raised-pillar reel was matic fly reel. a quick retrieve. This idea, a good one, patented by Francis J. Philbrook on June was copied by Julius Vom Hofe, August 12, 1877 (no. 191,813)~and the rights Meisselbach, and many other reelmak- were assigned to Hiram Leonard at the ers during the late 1800s when Ross's time the patent was granted. As an ac- The automatic fly reel is certainly one of patent expired. complished gunsmith, Leonard cer- the most maligned reels ever invented. Finally, the Ross reel is a raised-pillar tainly possessed the skills to fabricate the It has often been criticized for its exces- design. This means that the cross bars- raised-pillar reel himself, but the avail- sive weight, overcomplexity, and ten- or pillars-which hold the reel together, able evidence suggests that the earliest dency to break down. The early are raised above the round sideplates (in reels were built by Philbrook, in part- automatics were mostly horizontally this case, these are the spool walls). The nership with Edward F. Payne. Unfor- mounted reels, which was another strike advantage of this arrangement is that it tunately, there are no directory listings against them in many anglers' eyes. But creates a comparatively lightweight reel for the years 1877 to I 878 to fully sub- after more than a hundred years of of small diameter that can carry the stantiate this conclusion, but Bangor city being scorned and ridiculed, the auto- maximum amount of line. Many collec- directories list the firm of Philbrook and matic reel is still being manufactured tors, unaware of the Ross patent, have Payne from 1879 to 1884, first giving and sold, and it shows no sign of becom- assumed that the Leonard reel patented their trade as "fishing rod trimmings" ing obsolete. Many anglers today, par- by Francis J. Philbrook in 1877 was the and later as makers of "fishing reels." It ticularly those who frequently fish lakes first American raised-pillar design. In seems probable that Philbrook and and ponds, find that the one-handed fact, neither Ross nor Philbrook claimed Payne were supplying the raised-pillar ease of operation afforded by the au- raised pillars as their invention, which reel to Leonard. By 1900, or perhaps tomatic is-a great convenience that en- may suggest that this style of reel was earlier, the manufacture of the Leonard ables them to manage an outboard already being built prior to their ef- reel was transferred to the shop of Julius motor, retieve line quickly and effi- fort~.~~ Vom Hofe in New York City. Vom Hofe ciently, and keep excess line from tan- Given the brief production period and continued to build the Leonard reel un- gling on objects on the floor of a boat- the rarity of the Ross reel, we can prob- til the Second World War. A modified not a small order when you think about ably safely assume that this reel was not version of the Leonard reel is still pro- it. exactly a stunning commercial success. duced and sold by Volstro Manufactur- The first commercially successful au- James Ross returned to a career in car- ing Company of Trevose, Pennsylvania. tomatic fly reel was patented by Francis pentry, and only in his later years did The Leonard raised-pillar reel has A. Loomis on December 7, 1880 (no. he attain some modest degree of pros- long been a favorite with anglers. Its 235,157). Loomis lived in Onondaga, a perity as the superintendent of the Ross- sound contruction and classy good small town on the southern outskirts of patent refrigerator company. looks, along with the magic of the Leon- Syracuse, New York. In the following ard name, have also made it highly year, this patent was amended slightly prized by collectors. As the reel's raised- in the reissue patent of July 5, 1881 (reis- pillar design is its most obvious feature, sue no. 9,785); half the rights of this sec- many anglers and collectors natually as- ond patent were assigned to James S. Things were different for Hiram Leon- sumed that this was the "improvement" Plumb of Syracuse. The firm of Loomis, ard (183 1 to 1907). He gained worldwide of the 1877 patent. Although Philbrook Plumb, and Company, of Syracuse, New and lasting fame as one of the finest rod- does refer to the reel's "annular frame York, was formed at about this time. builders of his time." Leonard began with offsets" (i.e. raised pillars), the two Then for a brief few years, they man- rodmaking in the early 187os, at first in chief claims of the patent involve a re- ufactured and sold, both direct and TAFF SPRING 1990 7 through the trade, the Loomis and a similar lightweight pattern in alumi- changeable parts) were both established Plumb automatic reel. num. In 1888 Phillip Yawman improved well before the 188os, of course. Eli Loomis justified his new design in the the gearing of the automatic reel, mak- Whitney (1765 to 1825) is frequently 1880 patent as follows: ing it more effective and durable. Yaw- credited for his mass production of fire- man continued to develop the original arms with interchangeable parts as early Heretofore fishermen's reels have been so constructed as to require a crank for wind- Loomis design, with patents received on as 1801. This technology was certainly ing up or retrieving the line-a process so June 16, 1891 (no. 454,3 ig), for a rein- applied in varying degrees to the fishing- slow, even with the most elaborate "mul- forced brake lever, and August 1, 1899 tackle industry at an early date, but it tipliers," as to be especially vexatious and (no. 6~9,842)~for the now-famous key blossomed as a production strategy in wearisome to the fisherman. . . the crank- wind. the 1880s. Firms such as Thomas Chubb reel is also objectionable because the strain Yawman and Erbe was eventually ab- of Post Mills, Vermont; Enterprise Man- on reeling in the fish is uneven and irreg- sorbed by Horrocks-Ibbotsson Com- ufacturing Company (i.e., Pflueger) of ular, thus endangering its loss by the tear- pany of Utica, New York, shortly before Akron, Ohio; Andrew B. Hendryx ing out of the hook or by the breaking of 1915. The Yawman and Erbe reel con- Company of New Haven, Connecticut; the line. It is objectionable because of its slowness, enabling the fish to gain slack tinued to be produced by Horrocks-Ib- Julius Vom Hofe of Brooklyn, New line and thus es~ape.~" botsson for a time but eventually fell York; and A.F. Meisselbach and Brother victim to very strong competition by the of Newark, New Jersey, seem to have Others found the new design equally at- Martin Automatic Fishing Reel Com- burst upon the scene all at once with tractive. Reuben Wood (1822 to 1884), pany of Mohawk, New York. In fact, the large factories that churned out thou- the famous tournament caster and or- Martin Reel Company, as it is now sands upon thousands of inexpensive- ginator of the Reub Wood Fly, submit- known, continues to be one of the largest to-medium-priced reels for an ever- ted a testimonial to Loomis, Plumb, and manufacturers of automatic reels and is widening market. Company, which was reprinted in one one America's oldest surviving reel com- These large manufacturers prospered of their circulars. It read in part: "I have panies. It is believed to have been estab- on the volume, variety, and low cost of used your automatic reel- this season lished about the time of Herman their products. For example, the An- seven weeks in the Adirondacks, and Martin's first automatic-fishing-reel pat- drew B. Hendryx Company advertised pronounce it the best reel in the world." ent of July 26, 1892. at one point that it made "175 sizes and Of course, one has to wonder a little bit styles of fishing reels, in sizes from 25 to about this praise, as Wood operated a 400 yards capacity, at prices from 25 sporting goods store in Syracuse with his cents to $25.00 per reel."'= This amazing sons. He goes on to write, "I have sold range of goods included "Boys Reels," four dozen of them. . . ."2" so-called because they were simple, in- The Loomis and Plumb automatic was expensive riveted patterns mostly suited made in three sizes: thirty yards, fifty In addition to introducing automatics, to inexperienced anglers, as well as yards, and a hundred yards. It was also the 1880s brought other important really clever and well-executed designs offered in a variety of materials and fin- changes to the fishing-tackle industry, such as the Hendryx aluminum or ishes, including lacquered brass, nickel- not the least of which was a vigorous nickel-silver raised-pillar fly reel that in- plated brass, gray bronze, dark bronze, mass-production/mass-marketing ap- corporated many of the improvements and solid-gold bronze. It would appear proach to reelmaking. The twin princi- outlined in the numerous Hendryx pat- that the revolutionary design of Loomis ples of mass production (the division ents. and Plumb's reel created a sudden mar- and specialization of labor and the use Nearly all the major mass producers ket for the automatic, for within the year of machines to make standard inter- of tackle issued substantial and well-il- a rival company introduced its own au- lustrated catalogs of their products. tomatic reel. This was the firm of Tacklemakers have always advertised Barnum and Morehouse, also of Syra- their goods in one way or another. Shop cuse, formed by the partnership of Willis signs, trade cards, broadsheets, business Scott Barnum and Fred A. Morehouse. Their reel was based on the patents re- ceived by Franklin R. Smith on July 26, 1881 (no. zqq,828),andJune 20,1882 (no. ~59,935)~which featured an inter- changeable spool and also may have pro- vided optional use of either crank- handle or spring-lever line retrieve." Sometime during the mid-1 880s Loomis, Plumb and Company was sold and relocated to Rochester, New York. The new owners, Phillip H. Yawman and Paul Erbe, formed a manufacturing company that began to make and sell automatic reels based on the Loomis pat- ents. The first reels by Yawman and Erbe were identical to their predeces- sors' product and were even stamped with the same patent dates, though now marked with the Yawman and Erbe name. Perhaps in response to criticism Left: Francis Loomis patented the first automatic reel on December 7, 1880. A detail from about the excessive weight of automat- the original patent. (United States Patent Office, Letters Patent, No. 235,157.) Right: A ics, a new, lighter model made of hard period Loomis, Plumb C9 Co. advertisement which appeared in The American Angler, rubber was soon introduced, followed by April 29, 1882. directory listings, and advertisements ered), the Vorn Hofe shop turned out a the southern part of Manhattan, a few appended to the prefatory matter of an- limited number of very high-quality blocks from the East River and a short gling books were all commonly used reels." The thoughtful design and sheer distance from where the Hudson River methods of advertising during early beauty of these reels quickly helped to and East River join to form Upper Bay. times, and most continue to be used to- establish Vorn Hofe's reputation-so The Vorn Hofe reels of this period are day. With the introduction of magazines much so that many collectors today be- large brass multipliers, typical New York for sportsmen that began in the early lieve that Edward Vorn Hofe's reels are ball-handle reels, intended for saltwater nineteenth century, a vast amount of to America what Hardy reels are to Brit- use. tackle advertising was done by both ain-the undisputed classics of their age. By 1860 Frederick was officially joined manufacturers and retailers in this Unlike Hardy, which has been exten- in business by his second son, Julius (his source as well. Some of the earlier and sively studied, so little has been written first son, Frederick Jr., and third son, more important American periodicals of about Vorn Hofe that some background William, both became glass engravers), this type were the American Turf Register seems in order. The patriarch of the and reels at this time were marked with and Sporting Magazine (1829 to 1844), Vorn Hofe reel-making family was Fred- the now famous stamp "F. Vorn Hofe & Spirit of the Times (I83 I to 186I), Forest &3 erick Vorn Hofe (1806 to 1885). He was Son, maker." These reels were still pri- Stream (1873 to 1930)~and the American born in Altena, a province of West- marily in the New York ball-handle style, Angler (1881 to ig~o).~'While not down- phalia, Germany, and was educated for although there was now a larger range playing the significance of such early a military career but decided to become of sizes, including some beautifully di- magazine advertising, it does seem that a brass founder. According to one ac- minutive freshwater models that fea- mass marketing of tackle really hit its count, Vorn Hofe may have descended tured decorative scribing and fluting, stride with the manufacturer-specific from nobility and lived in the castle of removable bearing caps, and chamfered catalogs of the 1880s. The wholesale and the Counts von der Mark (now known head-cap edges. retail catalogs of Thomas Chubb, for in- as Altena Castle)." He married Wilhel- 1867 was a big year for Vorn Hofe: the stance, were often as thick as a telephone mina Lubling of Altena and had five family moved from Manhattan to 230 book for a small city and literally children, the most noteworthy for pres- Graham Avenue in Brooklyn; Julius re- crammed with illustrations and descrip- ent purposes being Julius (1837 to 1907) ceived the first of many reel patents on tions of new tackle.28 and Edward (1846 to 1920) who both November 26; and Edward, the young- eventually entered the fishing-tackle est Vorn Hofe son, started his own fish- trade. Due in part to the growing polit- ing-tackle business. Business was ical unrest in Europe at the time, Fred- apparently good in the years immedi- erick made plans to emigrate to ately following the Civil War, for the The tradition of handcrafted reels con- America, which he did at some time dur- Vorn Hofes prospered. tinued to flourish despite the rise and ing 1847 or 1848. He sent for his family F. Vorn Hofe and Son was now located expansion of the large reel factories. In shortly afterward, and they arrived in in a factory on South Fifth, corner of fact, perhaps the best-known reelmaker New York City in the fall of 1849 after Tenth, in Brooklyn, and began manu- of the era was Edward Vorn Hofe. In a voyage of twenty-three days from Ant- facturing on a large scale. They made 1880, Vorn Hofe ran a small New York ~erp.~' different grades and styles of reels for City shop that employed three men In 1857, Frederick Vorn Hofe began the trade (such as Bradford and An- working year-round, and with the aid of a business manufacturing fishing reels. thony of Boston) as well as under their a single horsepower engine (steam pow- He was living at 545 Pearl Street and did own mark. It seems clear that even prior not have a separate business address. to Frederick's retirement in 1882, Julius Two years later he was doing business had built his father's small reelmaking at 66 ~ultonStreet. Both locacons are in operation into a sizable business that em: ployed a dozen workers and had una- bashedly entered the age of mass prod~ction.~~ Edward Vorn Hofe lived in Brooklyn Left: A detail from an Enterprise Mfg. but worked in Manhattan. He estab- Co. advertisement (makers of Pjlueger lished a fishing-tackle shop near the Reels), which appeared in the July, family's old stand on Fulton Street and 1916, issue of Field & Stream. Below: maintained this business at various lo- An advertisement for the Andrew B. cations along Fulton Street for more Hendryx Co. which appeared in The than fifty years. It is unclear if Edward American Angler, July 19, 1990. was initially selling goods other than those of his own make, but in time he was operating a fully equipped retail store and large mail-order business that HEMDRYX represented an extensive line of prod- ucts by various manufacturers, includ- Makes Two Xundred and Thirty-seven differe~ltstyles of FISRINO REELS IU alzos rrom twenty live to three hundred ing his own reels and those of his older All slglesand si~enof Flush Handle, Rubber Plate and brother, Julius. XnltiplyerB are SCREWED REELS coustn~ctedaith in- Edward Vorn Hofe was primarily a terchsuyelrble parts the Hame as gull ur bewinfi Machine parta. Our REELS are made with improved automatic machinery. maker of saltwater reels. His catalogs operated by the beat akillnd labor and aro Superior in Construction and Finish. and are indl~plltnblythe listed more saltwater models than fresh- be~tllue cf REEL8 made. Prices froni 25 Cents to $16.00. All first-class water models, andjudging by their avail- dealers sell then, tiend for our Catalogoe. and we ability on the antique tackle market, his a111aaud auy kind of Heel by mail on receipt of price. saltwater reels are two or three times as THE ANDREW 6. HENDRYX GO., common as his freshwater reels. Vorn BEW HAVEN, - - - CONNECTICUT. Hofe was himself a saltwater fisherman - and has been described as an expert TAFF SPRING 1990 9 stri~ed-bassfisherman as well as "one of the'first and most successful tarpon fish- ermen." He's believed to have been the second angler to land a tarpon weighing more than 200 pounds on rod and reel- a 2 lo-pound fish caught at Captiva Pass, Right: Edward Vom Hofe's Florida, on April 30, 1898.:':' "Tobique" multiplying salmon The first Edward Vorn Hofe reels and pihe fly reel. This illus- were solid-nickel-silver striper reels. tration originally appeared in The earliest example known is the I 867 the "Edruard Vom Hqfe C3 Co. Timothy Y. Brown presentation reel in Fine Fishing Tackk Catalog the collection of The Angler's Club of of 1928." Below: An Edward New York. It was built during Edward Vom Hofe advertisemenl from Vorn Hofe's first year of business when The American Angler of he was a young man of twenty-one. July 5, 1890. Nickel silver does not contain any silver, of course; it is a silver-colored alloy com- posed primarily of copper, zinc, and nickel. It is harder and stronger than Edward Vom Hofe, brass (an alloy of copper and zinc), is 95 and 97 Fulton Street, New York. resistant to corrosion, and takes a high nANnPAcTonra or polish. Nickel silver is also called German FISHING TACKLE. silver. This has led some writers to sug- Establlshed 1867. gest that the Vorn Hofes either intro- Ynnnfao1,nrer of the celebrated VOM HOFE REEL. Inaloae 26 oenta In stamps for the most oompleta llluatratsd 128 page cahlogne pnbbhed. ThIn duced or pioneered the use of this metal amount may be deducted from the flrat pnrohaae of one dokand over. for reelmaking.3" As attractive as this ex- planation seems, it does not completely fit the facts. As early as 1841 William Schreiber, in his Sporting Manual, was writing of "German Silver" reels, and drag reel with offset handle for salmon; ENDNOTES this was more than fifteen years before and the Griswold (no. 496), a multiplying the Vorn Hofe reelmaking operation be- and adjustable drag reel with offset han- I Jerome V. C. Smith, Natural History of the dle for salmon and tarpon. Ftshrs of Mmsachwrtls, Embracing a Practical Essay The all-metal reels that were typical Edward Vom Hofe was the complete on An~ling,reprint of the 1833 ed. (New York: reelmaker, interested in all aspects of his Freshet Press, 1970). pp. 331, 348. of the 1860s and of Edward Vorn Hofe's "Notwithstanding the fact that the artificial fly early output were very heavy and began craft and constantly striving to improve has seldom been used by the frequenters of this to give way to new, lighter weight models his product. His patents of 1879, 1883, lake [Sebago Lake], it does not follow that the built with nickel-silver frames and black 1896, and 1902 are indicative of a lifelong practice of fly-fishing would not be attended with commitment to the science and tech- the same success, which attends the act as prac- hard-rubber sideplates. Hard rubber, ticed without exception upon the various waters also known as Ebonite, came into gen- nology of reel design. A close look at any in England and Scotland." eral use following Charles Goodyear's of his reels discloses a painstaking atten- Elsewhere, Smith speaks of fishing for Atlantic invention of vulcanization in 1839, but tion to detail in handcut, countersunk salmon on the Dennys River in Maine and notes screws, shouldered pillars, unique slid- that to take the salmon on a fly is ". . . an achieve- as far as I have been able to determine, ment which had been rarely attempted and prob- it was not used by reelmakers to any ex- ing oil caps, and the use of Tobin bronze ably never accomplished, unless by foreigners, tentuntil the 187os.:"'In 1872, Dr. Alonzo for bearings. But in the end, it is Vorn except in the single instance of one of our party, H. Fowler, a dentist from Ithaca, New Hofe's artistry that sets him apart. His who on a previous visit to this wild river, in a York, designed a reel made completely reels are dazzlingly elegant; the black more propitious season, had the good fortune to realize that object, which is said to constitute the of hard rubber, which was known as hard-rubber sideplates and richly con- apex of the angler's ambition." Fowler's Gem. It. was extremely fragile trasting nickel-silver frames and S- Ibid., p. 357 and was marketed for only a short time. shaped handle are the essence of a style "ongurorth's American Almanac, New-York Regis- Two years later, Charles F. Orvis men- that has had a far-reaching impact of ter, nnd Cily Directory (New York, 1825 to 1838).- '' Smith; op. cit. isee note 88.), p. 337. tioned the optional use of hard rubber American reel design. Its influence can " Mary Kefover Kelly, "Antique Reels," The for sideplates in his patent reel, but such be traced in the work of reelmakers such Amrriran Sporting Collector's Handbook, rev. ed.: ed., a reel was apparently never manufac- as Otto Zwarg (1899 to 1958)~Arthur Allan J. Liu, (Tulsa, OK: Winchester Press, 1982). tured. Edward Vorn Hofe introduced Walker (1897 to 1976), and Stanley Bog- pp. 245-246 yohn C. Conroy, who must be con- sidered America's first full-time professional tack- black hard-rubber sideplates on his reels dan (current). lemaker, opened his shop in New York City in at about this time. Vorn Hofe reels were made up to the 1830 and in 1838 was advertising his multiplying Edward Vorn Hofe's offering of fly time of the Second World War. Julius reels with balanced cranks in the Spirit of the reels eventually grew to seven basic Vorn Hofe was succeeded in business by Timr.i. William T.Porter, editor of the Spirit, and a devotee of Conroy's, implied in 1843 that the models: the Peerless (no. 355), a click his oldest son, Julius Jr. (187 I to 1939), idea orginated with Conroy. There is no proof of reel for trout and bass; the Perfection and Edward Vorn Hofe was also suc- this, but the Conroy ads are the first reference to (no. 360), an adjustable drag reel for ceeded by his oldest son, Edwin (1878 to balance cranks that I have seen." trout and bass; the Cascapedia (no. 413), ?). In the late fall of 1940, the Edward " Robert Page Lincoln, "The Kentucky Reel," Firld W Stream (March 1930). pp 26-27, 77-78. a click reel for salmon; the Restigouche Vorn Hofe Company was sold and 'James A. Henshall, "Evolution of the Ken- (no. 423), an adjustable drag reel for moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, tucky Reel," Book of the Black Bars (Cincinnati: salmon; the Tobique (no. 504), a multi- where it was established as a reel-making Robert Clarke Co., 1904)~p. 191. "Mr. J. L. Sage, plying and ad.justable drag reel for division of the Ocean City Manufactur- of Lexington. Ky. a veteran angler, who is still making 'Kentucky Reels,' presented me with a salmon in which the handle revolved on ing Company. It was dissolved within a click reel. and showed me his fly-rod and flies, all a center shaft; the Colonel Thompson few years because of wartime shortages made and used by him as long ago as 1848: so (no. 484), a multiplying and adjustable of materials. that fly-fishing for black bass was practiced as 10 TAFF SPRING 1990 early in Kentucky as in any other section of the design specifications and drawing for the Skinner cial success since no example has survived for country." For a good study of J. L. Sage, see: reel describe and show it with spike-mount fitting, study. Lacking a firm idea of the reel's design, we Frank M. Stewart, "Sage's Regal Reels: J. L. Sage, and lacking perforations, so it remains an open are unable to say whether it may have served as a Manufacturer of Fine Kentucky Fishing Reels," question whether the reel as catalogued and ex- prototype for the 1880 Loomis patent. Kentucky Happy Hunting Ground, vol. 40, no. 5 hibited is completely original. 'h Dana Collection at the New Haven Colony (September-October 1g84), pp. 12-14. '"ernon, op. cit. (see note 3.). p. 80. Historical Society, Nru~Hallen Old and New, vol. J. L. Sage excepted, available evidence suggests For a discussion of the evolution of the Orvis '2'33 P. 87. that those few Kentucky reelsmiths that did make reel, see Jim Brown, "Variations in the Orvis 1874 " Aust~nS. Hogan, American Sporting Periodicah single-action reels did not begin doing so until Trout Reel," Antzque Fishing Collectibles Newsletter, of Angling Inlerest: a selected check list and guide around the turn of the century or shortly there- vol. I, no.4 (May-June 1986), pp. 14-15. (Manchester. VT: The Museum of American Fly after. B. F. Meek and Sons of Louisville, Ken- Waterbuv Dzrectov, 1872, (Waterbury, CT: Fishing, 1973). tucky, and George W. Gayle and Son of S.N.: 1872) p. I 10. "The Terry Clock Co., Water- '' As an example of the point I'm trying to Frankfort, Kentucky, both manufactured high- bury, Conn., manufacturers of plain and orna- make regarding manufacturers' catalogs of the quality single-action fly reels. Meek produced the mental clocks. Terry's patent clocks made 1880s, my personal collection of fishing-tackle cat- model 44 Hy reel, a delectable little gem of a reel exclusively by this company. Also manufacturers alogs (held mostly in photocopy) contains more made of solid nickel silver, and Gayle, more of fish reels, plain, multiplying, click, drag and than 500 items, but only five, or less than one per- mindful of the weight of his reels, produced a combination multiplying reels, can be used with cent, can be positively dated as pre-1880, while simply elegant handmade nickel-silver and hard- click, or drag, or without, at option." nearly ten percent are from the 1880s alone. The rubber Hy reel, later reducing weight even further '"or a complete account, see Jim Brown, earliest catalog in the collection is by John Cheek, with a handmade model made almost entirely of 'Yames J. Ross's 1869 Patent Fly Reel," The Amen- the proprietor of the Golden Perch tackle shop of aluminum. All of these single-action Kentucky Hy can Fly Fisher, vol. 1 I, no. 2 (Spring 1984), pp. 14- London, dated 1841. (1 have seen references to reels were traditional in appearance, well crafted, '7. Cheek catalogs from the I 830s.) The earliest and, as one might expect, extremely smooth run- 20 While the raised-pillar pattern of Hy reel is American catalog in the collection is by Thomas ninp customarily thought of as distinctly American in H. Bate and Co. of New York City and is dated James A. Henshall, "Evolution of the Ken- style, it is entirely possible that it orginated in Brit- 1867. tucky Reel." Outing, vol. 37, no. 3 (December ain. The "One Man, One Rod . . . Exhibition," op. '"he 1880 Census of the United States, Sched- goo), pp. 288-293. cit. (see note 47.). p. 13, describes and illustrates a ule 3, Manufacturers "Edward Vom Hofe, Man- Ibid., p. 288. "The multiplying fishing reel small brass Birmingham reel with raised pillars, hattan." originated in Kentucky about the beginning of marked "Little patent" (catalog entry no.175), be- " Carl Wilhelm Schlegel, Schlegel's German-Amer- the nineteenth century. It has been asserted that lieved to have been made in 185 1. If this dating is zcan Families ~n the United States (New York: The it was made in England, but 1 have been unable correct, this would be significantly earlier than American Historical Society, 1917), VOI. 2, "Vom to find any reference to it, even in the oldest Brit- Ross's patent. In general, though, the raised-pillar Hofe," pp. 369-380. ish works on angling. . . about 1810, there existed reel was never as popular in Britain as it was in " U.S. Passenger List No. 1330. Arriving at New the Bourbon County Angling Club, of which the United States. York on the American Bark Kirkwood, Sept. 26, George Synder, of Paris, Ky, was the president: ''For an outstanding account of Hiram Leon- 1849: ". . . Mina Vom Hofe, Frederick [jr.], Julius, and he it was who made the first 'Kentucky Reel,' ard and Leonard rods, see Martin J. Keane, Clrrr- Wilhelm, Minna, Edward. . . ." which has since become so famous, and in my sic Rodr and Rodmakers (New York: Winchester New York Herald, Sept. 26, 1849: arrived "Bark opinion the first multiplying reel in the world." Press, 1976). pp. 29-49 Kirkwood, Martin, Antwerp, 23 days, in ballast to But in Book of the Black Bars (Cincinnati: Stewart Another fine study that includes a thoughtful Mason & Thompson and I 10 steerage passengers, Kidd, 1923)~pp. 217-218, Henshall makes the fol- treatment of the Leonard reel is Mary Kefover to W. Welsser. . . ." lowing remarks about the origin of the multiply- Kelly, "Early Leonard," The Amencan Fly Flsher, " The 1880 Census of the United States. Sched- ing reel: vol. 6, no. I (Spring 1979)~pp. 12-14, 24-28. ule 3. Manufacturers 'julius Vom Hofe, Brook- "In the last decade of the eighteenth century, " United States letters patent to Francis J. Phil- lyn." and the first decade of the nineteenth, there is brook, of Bangor, ME, assigned to Hiram L. '" F. Gray Griswold. The Tarpon (New York: mention of a brass multiplying reel or winch, Leonard, of same place, for an "Improvement in printed for the author, 1922), pp. 19, 33. which, so far as I can learn, occurs only in the fol- reels for fishing-lines," June 12, 1877 (no. 191,813), 3' A. J. Campbell, "The New York Reel." Sall lowing books: The art of Angling, by Best, 1787: p. I. Water Sportsman (November 1982). p. 43. Rural Sports, by Daniel, 1807; The Complete Angler's 23 United States letters patent to Francis A. "The improved New York reel, built from a Vade-Mecum, by Williamson, 1808. With these ex- Loomis, of Onondaga, NY, for an "Improvement better material and with the Hair of old-world ceptions, so far as I am aware, there is no men- in fishermen's reels." December 7, 1880 (no. craftsmanship, was a reality by 1856-57. In that tion of the multiplying reel in the numerous 233,257), ljnes 7-22. period, Frederick 'Fritz' Vonhof had established a books on angling published in England during Prlce list and recommendation circular of the storefront at 545 Pearl Street (on the waterfront the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Those Fisherman's Automatic Reel, circular no. 3., near Fulton). The neighboring shop was owned just alluded to were probably crude affairs, in as Loomis, Plumb, and Co., patentees and manufac- by Louis Vonhof, a 'smith,' and probably a much as they did not come into general use. . . . turers, Syracuse, NY, 1882, p. 8. brother. Frederick was listed in the 'New York Di- The originator and inventor, de facto, of the mul- 25 Netherton, op. cit. (see note 86.), p. 347. In a rectory' as a 'reelmaker,' and the new material tiplying reel as it exists to-day, was George Sny- brief biographical sketch of Willis Scott Barnum that he and Louis were working with became der, a watchmaker and silversmith, of Paris, (1835 to 1912)~Netherton writes: "Willis Barnum known as 'German silver.' " Kentucky. He began making them for himself was a remarkabale sportsman with many interests Louis Vom Hofe (1808 to 1880) was indeed the and angling friends in 1805." and many talents. He was the proprietor of the younger brother of Frederick, but his participa- lo Walton, op. cit. (see note 27.), pt. I, pp. I 16- Maple Bay Resort near Syracuse. At one time he tion in the fishing-tackle trade is far from estab- "7. was in the sporting goods business with Fred A. lished. Directories list his trade variously as smith, "James A. Henshall, Book of the Black Bass,igo4 Morehouse (Barnum and Morehouse). The city stitcher, capmaker, and jeweler, but never as a ed., p. 178 directory listed Barnum & Morehouse Sporting maker of fishing tackle or reels, It is clear from ''John J. Brown, The American Angler's Guide; or Goods, 18 East Genesee Street, Syracuse, New the Schreiner quotation, which follows in note Complete Fisher's Manual, for the Untled States . . ., York. The Syracuse Journal, April 2, 1881 printed I~z.,that nickel silver was known as German sil- 3rd ed. (New York: H. Long and Bro., 1849), p. an article, "A New Reel, the Invention of a ver prior to the 1850s and, in fact, was not a new Sportsman." The article stated that W.S. Barnum material at the time. The Chinese were making 24is John Warrin was the predecessor of Andrew had on display a model of an automatic reel that the alloy known as pai-t'ung as early as B.C. zoo, Clerk and Co., which in turn became Abbey and operated with a spring and simple wheels. It could and the compostition of the nickel-silver alloy was Imbrie in 1875. be operated by a crank or with the spring." [emphasis established in the West by 1776 It was being pro- l4 United States letters patent to William Billing- added] duced on a major commercial scale during the hurst of Rochester, NY, for "new and useful im- Concerning the suddenly favorable market for 1840s~when it was discovered that it formed a de- provements in fishing-reels." August 9, I 859 (no. automatic reels in the 188os, it should probably be sirable base for the new process of silver electro- 24, 87), pp. 1-2. noted that this was almost exclusively an Ameri- lating. I 9 For a more detailed study of side-mount fly can phenomenon. While some American automat- "William H. Schreiner, Schreiner's Sporting reels, see Jim Brown, "Side-Mount Fly Reels: ics were carried in British tackle catalogs, the Manual (Philadelphia: S. Douglas Wyeth, 1841), p. American Classics." The American Fly Fisher, vol. British never much favored this style of reel. In- 28. "The reel or winch is indispensable when play- 12, no. I (winter 1985), pp. 14-17. terestingly, Beazley, loc. cit. (see note 67.), points ing a heavy fish with delicate tackle, they are The "One Man, One Rod . . . Exhibition," op. out that the first automatic reel was most likely a made of brass or German silver, and vary in size, cit. (see note 47.). p. 14, lists one British side- British invention: "Ronalds [The Flyfishers Ento- to hold from twenty to a hundred yards of line." mount reel: catalog entry no. 182. This is Freder- mology, 1836, p. 241 mentioned a reel with a spi- "The only pre-1870 use of hard rubber that ick Skinner's Archimedian reel, which received ral spring which acts. . . upon the axis to wind up I've seen on a fishing reel is the grasp on the 1867 British registered design no. 1426 on April 25, the line: and this is presumably the Chesterman Timothy Y. Brown Presentation reel. This tends 1848. The description and accompanying illustra- self-winding reel that Shipley refers to in his A to confirm a belief that Edward Vom Hofe was tion show a side-mount reel with perforated side- True Treatise on the Art of Fly-Fishing, 1838 [p. 681." one of the earliest reelmakers to experiment with plates. I have been informed that the original The Chesterman reel was probably not a commer- hard rubber. TAFF SPRING 1990 11 PART I I" Photographer unknown No biographical or technical work- Pop was every inch the craftsman. He to which a host of cooperatiue au- was an artist in his determination to do thorities and collectors contribute the best of which he was capable . . . in the resolute performance of never taking their wealth of expertise and individ- a short cut, never being stingy with ma- ual observation-is ever completed. terials nor the number of hours necessary There is always that elusive missing to create the perfect rod. He was proud fragment of information or unreli- of his work. He understood that he was able data. In time, we hope others will add in the act of making a unique and personal additional pieces to the body of knowledge on item. His rods stood for him. The better Lyle Dickerson, his rods, rod-making proce- his rods, the better was his mastery. dures, and equipment. CHARLOTTE GOLCZYNSKI DICKERSON In this, theJirst of two installments, we have (DAUGHTER-IN-LAW) tried to gzve the reader insight into the tech- nology, jargon, nomenclature, and terminol- LYLELINDEN DICKERSON, a decathlon ogy used by the rodmaker who must be a Lyle was in the business of making a gold-medal winner in school, attended woodworker, machinist, metalworker, and better rod--completely hand done-by college on a scholarship and became a seamstress in his pursuit of the art and science himself. Anything else would have put teacher. Later he tried selling trucks, of "making rods." Any assistance, comments, him into another business. He admired stocks and bonds, and, finally, real estate critique, or information about Lyle Dickerson, the work of Payne and Leonard and ap- before losing his job when the Depres- preciated Paul Young. He told Bob Sum- sion hit. "If the Depression hadn't come his rodmaking, and those of his rods which mers (an outstanding rodmaker who still exist will be appreciated. worked with Paul Young and knew Dick- along, I would never have gone into rod- G.S.S., M.D. & J.W.S. erson and his work well) that he wanted making," he noted. none of the "spotted zebra" effect of the He returned to his mother's home in Young rods. He wanted his rods plain, Syracuse, New York, where, according clear, and light in color. to his daughter, "He saw his grandfath- He was considered a "loner," reflective, er's workshop and immediately recog- with intense concentration. He was often nized his calling as a craftsman. . . . He When my father completed his wood completely preoccupied with a task. . . . had a deep sense that his own future lay lathe, we could build rods every day but He worked long hours alone. With a green in following his own ideas and working Monday. On Monday my mother did the eye shade covering his eyes, he ended the with his hands." wash, and the lathe motor had to go back day winding the rods under the bright on the washing machine where it came lamp late at night. He built fly rods and tied his own flies from. GLENN DICKERSON JANE DICKERSON RUDOLPH as a boy growing up in the child's par- (SON) (DAUGHTER) adise of Bellaire, Michigan, in the north- 12 TAFF SPRING 1990 Opposite: Lyle L. Dickerson as photographed during the 1930s. Above: A Dickerson family pc wtrait, probably taken circa 191 0. Lyle and his mother are seated on right. Photos courtesy of the Dickerson family. west Lower Peninsula where he was born known Dickerson design of brown wraps L. L. Dickerson had indeed found his in 1891. Later Lyle would return to "re- tipped in black-without intermediate calling in rodmaking. Even an early rod, tire" there in 1956, only to build fly rods wraps. Lovely yellow-gold wraps tipped such as his 1933 "Model 86E," feels and for many years prior to his death in Bel- in black were used occasionally, such as casts right. Nevertheless, Dickerson laire in 198 l. on a wife's rod when Dickerson made a could hardly have supported his family He had been making rods for friends matched pair of rods for a couple, or for of three sons and a daughter when he and his brother, Fred, perhaps as early "Special" rods. A rare rod such as the sold only thirty-five finished rods-at as 1928, when he was thirty-seven years "Model 86161 1 Special," combined such $38 apiece-in the four years from 1931 old. His good friend, Charlie Hall, re- wraps with single, yellow-gold interme- until 1935 when the late Ray Bergman ported, "Lyle couldn't find a rod any- diate windings, a subtle reminder of began distributing Dickerson rods and where that suited him. That's what got Dickerson's earliest rods. business really picked up. With the as- him into making rods in the first place. Despite the capacity he demonstrated sistance of other distributors like Earl He told me that of all the rods he looked for such design, Dickerson seemed per- Leitz and the late Art Flick, sales began at, he preferred what Payne [E. F. Payne sonally drawn to function over form. to match the quality of the rods. The Rod Company] was doing. He felt they Within a few years he had substituted ledger shows an impressive high of over had done the best job of them all." shorter, plain ferrules for the originals, loo hand-made rods in 1946, with Dick- Dickerson's formal ledger records his which had two decorative rings, appar- erson's son Glenn and brother Fred first rod sale in January 1931. His ninth ently because the rings contributed helping out part time in what was oth- fully finished trout rod sold in April nothing structurally. - erwise an unusual one-man shop. Rods 193 1. His daughter observes, "When he Yet the same Depression which sold well until the mid-1950s. started out, he didn't have a goal in launched Dickerson's career made it dif- We do not know all the ways other mind. He didn't start out to be an es- ficult to sell rods. And even beyond the people may have contributed to Dick- tablished rod maker." hard times, Dickerson was still no sales- erson's operation. At the same time that Dickerson's rods evolved through the man. As George Griffiths, the founder Bergman's first order appeared in the early ig3os, into what became known as of Trout Unlimited, declared about his ledger in 1935, Dickerson's numbering "The Dickerson Rod, a Rodmaker's old friend, "He was too honest a man to system designating his rod models Rod." The 1931 rod, a "Model 8%' Dry be in the rod business." changed. His first few rods had been Fly Special," used black silk wrappings Describing several of the Dickerson numbered consecutively for each rod with maroon wraps on either side as rods he has owned, Griffiths showed no length, such as "Model 801" to designate both a signature wrap and, at least on such reticence in appraising Dickerson's his first eight-foot rod. Soon his rods this "Special" rod, as intermediate wraps work, "The Dickerson rods were the top were marked simply with their length between each guide. This style devel- rods in the country. It is like pointing and weight, such as "8% ft. 4% oz." By oped with modifications into the best- your finger to cast with them." 1933 some of the rods had markings like "86E" indicating the 8'6 length and the HEH silk line size. Whether originated by Dickerson or Bergman--or growing out of their col- laboration-the new and final system was a stroke of engineering precision, using length of rod and size of ferrule(s). For example, 761510 designated a 7'6 rod with a I 511 6 butt-section ferrule and a 10164" mid-section ferrule. Since the rod used two ferrules, it had three sec- tions. Dickerson never again changed this numbering system through the last rod he is known to have started, an un- finished 1975 "Model 8014," an 8'0" rod using a single 14/64" butt-section ferrule, thus a two-piece rod. The original Dickerson catalog was printed circa 1938, instead of indicating that Dickerson rods were sturdy enough to stand up "under severe use," a type- setting error substituted "under severe abuse," so Dickerson did not circulate it. His one catalog was issued in about 1946, listing and describing eleven rod models. Five of these used a heavier line than had been indicated for these models in the original catalog. It is not clear whether this was due to changed line standards or to the evolution of these rod tapers. The first collector of Dickerson rods was a prominent Detroit businessman, John Sweeney, Jr. He was a friend and a very good customer of Dickerson's as were Bill Rennie, Don Valley, the Pixley family, and others, though Sweeney may have been a critically important patron as well. Sweenev owned numerous Dick- erson rods anci gave them as gifts; he had one painted white to diminish the The artist in his element: Dickerson assembling a rod tip in 1974. The risk of breaking it while night fishing at Dickerson Collection of the American Museum of Fly Fishing. the Castalia Club in Ohio, and possessed a three-foot miniature rod complete with a Dickerson-made reel, a gift from Lyle. Dick Loebl, a friend and fishing partner, who tied an authentic size 20 Jock Scott salmon fly for the miniature unique, burled, pink rosewood reel-seat Tim Bedford, the old friend and cus- set, describes attending a Sweeney din- spacer was one of Dickerson's personal tomer to whom Dickerson passed on his ner party with Dickerson and receiving fishing rods. A medium-action rod, he rodmaking machinery before his death, a "Dickerson handmade" net, "One of a traded it to Dick Loebl for an even describes first being attracted to Dick- stack of nets for guests." They were lighter "Model go181 2" to make casting erson rods when fishing with Earl Leitz probably built by brother Fred, but were easier on his shoulder. Bob Summers because he could cast much further with likely designed in several styles by Lyle. describes another of Dickerson's per- them than with the rods he was using. After Sweeney's death, his rods were sonal rods, a "Model 8013," as "not a Bedford later used the Dickerson rod- given freely to family and friends; particularly fast rod." This description making equipment to build rods which twenty which still remained were of- fits the 1931 and 1933 rods as well. were even stronger than the fastest Dick- fered for sale for a total of $870 in 1972. Dick Loebl explains this disparity be- erson. So many rods for so little money seems tween Dickerson's reputation and his It appears to have been the two-piece remarkable, as the occasional Dicker- personal preference: "I think Dickerson rods made mostly after World War I1 sons which become available now com- designed his rods according to the needs on which the Dickerson reputation for mand prices equalled only by such long- of his clients." fast rods is largely based. One of the established collectables as Gillum and A number of Dickerson's friends and most numerous of these two-piece rods Garrison rods. customers did indeed insist on fast rods. is the "Model 8014,'' perhaps the single Like Gillum, Dickerson has been Distributor Earl Leitz says clearly, "I best-known of all the Dickerson models. known as a maker of fast-action rods. didn't want any rod that didn't have lots Yet the "Model 8014" was built to the Asked about this reputation, Dickerson's of backbone. Faster rods are especially specific needs of a customer. Joe Webb, daughter responds, "Actually he prob- good for distance casting." (Dickerson's M.D., a Bellaire friend of Dickerson's, ably didn't like fast rods as well." captured national casting champion- commented on the "Model 8014s" he has The "Model 901812" rod with its ships.) owned, "Dickerson would never have rods made too far west of the Hudson, seem to have contributed to a lack of appreciation even among bamboo-rod enthusiasts of the wide range of Dick- erson rod actions. By 1960 fiberglass rods were the cur- rent rage. Dickerson closed out his ledger, formally "retiring" at age 69. An increasing number of the rods he later made for friends and old customers, such as the "Model 701 1 ,"were wrapped without the black tipping. This change, which began in the mid-igtjos, remains puzzling, as is Dickerson's use in the 1970s of varied-colored wrapping, in- cluding olive brown or red, as though he was using whatever silk he had handy. Yet the last rods he is known to have completed, in 1972, were a unique "Model 7612" with each tip wound dif- ferently at the tip top to distinguish be- tween them, and a "Model 7010," the lightest seven-foot rod Dickerson ever made. He was still experimenting and completing innovative rods at age 81, having started his career entirely on his own over forty years earlier, unlike Jim Payne or that generation of Leonard's who had grown up in their fathers' rod- making shops. After his "retirement" he also became an accomplished grand- father clockbuilder and gemstone jew- elry maker. "The rods are a reflection of Pop," notes Glenn Dickerson, "Quite a guy." What kind of man was Lyle Dicker- son? Learning a great deal about the great rodmakers is challenging, because little in-depth information is available to researchers. For the most part, the rods Dickerson at work on his milling machine, 1974. The Dickerson Collection have to speak for the men. Yet scores of of the American Museum of Fly Fishing. conversations with Dickerson's cus- tomers, associates, and family present a consistent and convincing portrait of Dickerson throughout his adult life. He is remembered by acquaintances and in- made the rod so heavy and so powerful." models are often seen as prototypical timates with remarkable respect and af- The "Model 8014" was custom de- Dickerson designs, they are more rep- fection. signed to meet the requirements of Jerry resentative of Dickerson's willingness Hardly objective, but difficult not to Weber of the Hudson Department Store and ability to modify his style for spec- take to heart are these reflections of his family of Michigan. He fished the Au ialized customer needs. daughter, Jane (Dickerson) Rudolph, Sable River for long periods every sum- Light, supple rods like "Models 701 1," He had a great natural curiosity that was mer with his guides and ordered three "761 2," "801510," 'L86E,''and "go1 7 1 1" not thwarted by over-strict or over-restric- custom rods. Later, other customers re- offer a delightful liveliness in contrast tive parents. In Bellaire he was free to quested duplicates of these special rods with the faster, more powerful models. roam and make friends with the towns- which were so effective on the Au Sable. Jim Payne made many fast rods like the people at every level. He learned from the craftsmen-hatted with the profession- The powerful "Model 8014 Guide" "Model 98," but was known to have com- als. and the still more powerful "Model 8015 plemented them with lighter rods like He read all the philosophers. He con- Guide Special," were even more spec- the "Model 97." The H. L. Leonard Rod cluded that it was all gobbledegook, dou- ialized rods built for Au Sable guides like Company made the fast "H" (for heavy) ble talk, and became impatient with it. He Norval Stephan. They were designed so series along with numerous, lighter read all the sciences-memorized his high the guide sitting in the stern of the rods. Unlike Payne and Leonard, Dick- school chemistry book cover to cover. unique Au Sable River boat could erson did not issue catalogs fully de- He ground his own lenses using instruc- quickly make pinpoint casts to rising scribing his rods. He was not located on tions from a Harvard professor. Later he trout without false casting. All the rods the East Coast where most fishing donated the telescope to the high school of this series were designed with tips that writers and trend-setting fishermen science department. were strong enough to pull hooked fish lived, and he made a comparatively She remembers his dry humor in de- out of the sweeper branches which line small number of rods. These factors, scribing the bland process of reproduc- the Au Sable banks. Though these and perhaps some prejudice against tion in fish with the female laying her Photographer unknown eggs and the male separately fertilizing A them, and his comment that this must r be the origin of the expression "Poor Fish." He was an intellectual being-loved music, especially opera and solo instru- ments. He loved the piano, tried to play, but never succeeded. He once went to Traverse City to buy a boat. He came home with a piano instead. His memory was keen. He contributed to the historical record of his home town. He was the first president of the Bellaire Historical Society. He was slight, but straight, agile. His speaking and singing voice was rich, clear, strong, but gentle. He never shouted, never used profanity. He admired Bob Summers' craftsman- ship. He liked Bob as a person. Though he admired Tim Bedford and his rods, his comments on Tim's first efforts at rod- building were, "Tim, you'd better go into the broomstick business." People were his hobby. This "loner" was a thoroughly social being. He made an impression on everyone he met. He ac- quired his friends carefully and kept them throughout the years. Though the "loner" tag fits, and his impatience showed at times, his network of friends, contacts, and acquaintances was vast. He was never demanding of others. He was good to his wife and family, but could give us neither time nor money. . . I miss him very much. Dickerson with son Glenn. Coftrtesy of the Dickerson family. Daughter-in-law Charlotte Golczynski Dickerson fills out the portrait in similar tones. He was an independent man. I cannot imagine him working for or with another Dickerson's son Burton describes him Dickerson and Garrison were a lot alike man. In fact, he had offers to enlarge and as in the vein of being engineers. But "Dick become a big rod manufacturer which he went into it deeper than anyone. He did immediately turned down. He knew his . . . very tough and opinionated, but everything. Garrison used other people's rods would suffer, and money was not his quiet. He didn't speak unless it was sought ferrules. goal. out. He was very self-assured. Dickerson rods hold up pretty well. Pop was not a humble man. I-Ie knew He fished but was never crazy about it. They were bought for working rods. his worth and spent his life perfecting At casting tournaments he performed in- products that would speak for him in the differently and didn't care. He got bored Yet Dickerson had no proteges, no world. He had a sense of history. He was with fish stories. young rodmakers to carry on h& work. not interested in making money. His goal In fact none of Dickerson's children or was to accomplish excellence through his Grandson Norm Dickerson sums him grandchildren have made a profession, craft. up: "He got done what he needed to or even an avocation, of rodbuilding, He did not suffer from a guilty consci- wlth what he had." though several have pursued careers in- ence nor even the routine guilt we all suf- Bob Summers calls him fer. It freed him to live with himself in volving art and craftsmanship, including such a natural comfort that if one did not . . . ingenious, a self-taught guy. There Glenn, who is an accomplished wood- understand him completely, they might wasn't anything he couldn't build when it worker, as was Dickerson's oldest son, have thought him arrogant. Neither was came to rods. It took a lot more ingenuity John, who is now deceased. We can only he the humble man his good manners to make the machinery than it does to speculate why rodmaking did not con- might have implied. He had great dignity. make a rod. He was probably the most tinue into the next generation as it did He never did harm to a living soul. He thorough of anyone. He did a lot of it from the challenge to do these things. And in rodmaking families like the Paynes, did the best he could at what he did, and Leonards, Edwards, Youngs, Powells, he was at peace with himself. he didn't do it to make a bunch of money. Pop was dear to me. I admired him, and Paul Young tried to get Dickerson to and others. I loved him. come to work for him and took him on Daughter Jane (Dickerson) Rudolph fishing trips. "Dick" said, ''I'll help you says that Lyle was close to his mother, His son Glenn emphasizes guys, but I won't come to work for you." but not to his father. The picture of "Dick was on the dry side and didn't Dickerson's family of origin (page 13) . . . his analytical mind. When he di- fish too much. He was a good engineer taken by Lyle on a timed exposure, rected his talents toward problem solving, and craftsman, an engineer and some- the problems never had a chance. what of an artist. Paul Young was probably might provide a clue. Dickerson's father, He wouldn't be led by anything or any- a better fisherman, but the small details who worked long hours and died young, one. But he willingly and happily flowed [of rodmaking] did not mean that much appears distant. Could Dickerson have with events, through which he lived, step to him. I think Jim Payne cosmetically been left somewhat deficient in what he by step and stage by stage. tried to be the most perfect of any of them. got from him and thus uncomfortable in providing for his sons? find our own," reports son Glenn. and materials and make something mag- When asked why they did not pursue Is it possible that Dickerson subtly nificent. The talent he had and the kind rodmaking, Dickerson's sons point to communicated that he would not have of man it took to be him-that comes their coming of age during World War been entirely at ease working intimately along once in a generation. You don't I1 when Lyle had suspended his rod- with the men in his family? Might this inherit it." making operations in favor of making possibly uneasy affection for them have Bob Summers compares Dickerson munitions gauges to aid the war effort. been channeled instead into Dickerson's with other rodmakers, "Why are these Both sons stress that their father would remarkable dediction to creating and rods worth the money people are paying have helped them, had they asked. Yet sharing such satisfying bamboo rods? for them? Because they were part of neither they nor his grandchildren ap- Certainly many of us have come to feel him.. . . He was the most real one of proached him. "He never asked any of affection for Lyle Dickerson through them all." us, nor did we discuss it, hint, or suggest our love of his work. Son Glenn, "Put a Few of us, indeed, few of the great that one of us would like to become a tool in his hand, and he could do it. That rodmakers, have accomplished so much, rodmaker. That was his niche. We would was what he was born to do: Take a tool or will be remembered so well. Extant Lyle L. Dickerson Rods LYLEDICKERSON'S TWO-VOLUME 193 1-60 shorter than the butt section on 4% of the the milling machine. Nearly all the shorter ledger lists 1,232 completed trout and salmon rods. Yet when the rods were assembled, their rods listed in the ledger-and many which fly rods. Others were designated "bass" or full length was correct. Thus one "Model were made later-have been located. Perhaps "bonefish" rods, or as "bait-casting" or "spin- 7012," for example, measured exactly 7'0" in so many still exist because they are newer and ning rods," or were sold "unfinished." At least length, even though the tip sections were a may not have been fished as hard as the a few rods must have been made prior to 193 I full inch shorter than the butt section. longer rods. and several rods dated during the 1931-60 3) Thetipsectionswere L/.iUlongerthanthe Only three rods under seven feet are re- period were not recorded in the ledger. Per- butt section on 18% of the rods. corded in the ledger. Inexplicably several haps these and some others were not re- 4) The butt section was at least V4" longer were described as six-foot rods, though all corded in error, or were made as gifts. than the other sections on 17% of the rods. three measured six and one-half feet in Dickerson might have completed as many as 5) The butt section was at least %" shorter length. Two have been located, one of which loo more rods at the urging of friends and than the other sections on 7% of the rods. is a two-piece "Model 661 1" which has been old customers from 1960 through 1972, many 6) The mid-section was at least %" longer donated to the American Museum of Fly of shorter lengths. It seems a reasonable es- than the other sections on 4% of the rods. Fishing by Tim Bedford, along with most of timate that Dickerson completed no more 7) The mid-section was at least '/I" shorter his collection. Fewer of the eight- to ten-foot than 1,350 trout and salmon fly rods. than the other sections on 7% of the rods. rods have shown up. Hopefully they are out Over catching fish and not holding up tomato Exhaustive attempts have been made None of these rods showed signs under plants, several years to contact all members of the magnification of having been repaired or re- Dickerson family, old friends, customers and For the most common models, the table Of course it is possible that a few below indicates how many rods were listed in their surviving as as muwumsl might have been repaired with such expertise the ledger as being made between 1931 and dealers, and collectors. All possible leads have as to be invisible-perhaps by Dickerson. Still, been turning up 299 these findings strongly suggest that not all 1960, and how many of each model have been trout and salmon rods in existence, original ~i~k~~~~~rods have all sections pre- found to exist today: their condition ranging from near new cisely the same length. Customers report that near shambles. The model number, inscribed Dickerson discouraged them from ordering year of completion, and the original owner's a new tip when an inch or two had been bra- Listed in name, if present, were recorded. Some rods ken off, apparently because he felt the rods Model ledger Located were persona"y inspected' but still cast well. Even his personal "Model 8013" be discussed Over the This had one broken tip, For Dickerson, intact 7012701 3 8* 8 15* information was then checked against lhe function seems to have taken precedence Dickerson ledger and, if necessary, with rod- over perfect form. 7612 29 8 makers knowledgeable about Dickerson, with Completing this research has been de- 7615107613 40 25 85 10 P"~~~~~Owners of the in question' and manding and lengthy, but enjoyable. largely 801510 with dealers who may have been 93 9 in because of the warmth and generosity of the 80161 20 6 its As One put it when remarkable Dickerson owners, Most have gOl3 120 30 asked if he was certain a rod he had "Id was treasured their Dickersons over decades and a Dickerson, "That's why I sold it!" gOl4 '03 27 taken loving care of them. Many rods have The "Dickerson Commemorative Series" of BOl4 Guide 2 8** become family heirlooms linkinggenerations rodsl made byJ' W' Schaaf' uses darker cane 8015 Guide 12 '3* of fishermen. The rods spoken of most glow- special than the and has desig- ingly, however, have been those which fish- g6171 150 14 nations on each rod section. Thus it has not erman fathers passed on to their daughters, been difficult to exclude them. 8615 23 7 Enough owners have, nevertheless, gener- 7 7 No questionable rod has been included. ously agreed to donate their rods to the major Only One has turned up' It ,9016 47 12 fly fishing museums that each now has a good 90181 was so unmistakably incorrect-the owner collection; though with over 150 Dickerson 69 19 901913 9 6 "lunteered that he had doubts-as to raise models to collect, there is room for further the question of whether the rod was an at- growth. * Most of these rods seem to have been made tempt at forgery' Or Only the work an un- Still, there is no way of knowing how many after 1960 for those old customers who wanted to skilled admirer. wonderful Dickerson rods have been de- try the popular, shorter rods despite Dickerson's Dickerson has the reputation for being a strayed or lost, or how many more ~i~k~~~~~~lack of enthusiasm for any fishing rod under precise rodmaker. Yet most of the fifty rods exist than have been located, ~h~~~ readers eight feet in length. Such rods cannot be checked personally inspected did not have all sections who have information about Dickerson or ex- against the ledger for authentication. ** It is not clear if more of these rods were made exactly the same length' The irregularities in- isting Dickerson rods can help answer these cluded: after or if many rods designated in the questions. ledger as "Model 8014" were actually labeled as 1) One tip section was at least 9%'' longer Most of the existing three-piece Dickersons "8014 (;uide." than the other on 28% of the rods. were made before World War 11, while most 2) The tip sections were from Vi" to 1" of the two-piece rods were made later using G.S.S., M.D. &J.W.S. TAFF SPRING 1990 17 Livingston Stone Pioneer Fisheries Scientist His Career in California by Frank E. Raymond In our last issue, John Monnett in- mans, which appeared in The Coz~ered RAILROAD ACCIDENT Wagon and was later reprinted in the troduced us to some of the angling An Engine and One Car Breaks Through history of Yellowstone Park. Contin- 1976 Shasta Historical Society yearbook, Stone reached San Francisco in late Au- the Trestle-Work Near the uing our western peregrinations, Elkhorn on the Union Pacific Frank E. Raymond, a zuriterlhisto- gust 1872. Mrs. Seamans writes: rian from California, examines an He traveled north to Red Bluff, the rail- Roadmaster Carey Killed-Narrow additional chapter of our rich west- road terminus, then by stage to the Pitt Escape of Others ern angling heritage, that of Livingston River ferry. From there he walked up the Wreck of the Celebrated California Stone's career as a pioneer fisheries scientist. river bank to the McCloud; two miles up Aquarium Car D.S.J. that stream to the old Indian campsite and fishing grounds, afterwards called Baird. Personal Experiences of the Survivors He and his two assistants reached this point August 30th and at once began IN THE EARLY i870s, when the culture of building a house, hatchery, tanks and a fish eggs by artificial means was in its Hun~e. After describing the tragic death of Trainmaster Carey and interviewing the infancy, Livingston Stone, Harvard Mrs. Seamans continues her story: graduate, native of Massachusetts with engineer, the reporter wrote: Plymouth Colony roots, and former Un- By the middle of September they began The aquarium car came next and went itarian minister, was proprietor of Cold collecting eggs, although the best of the down in the crash. It was occupied by Springs Trout Ponds in Charlestown, run was over. They took 50,000 eggs but Hon. Livingston Stone, United States Fish New Hampshire. Stone's expertise in the only 7,000 arrived in good shape in the Commissioner, and two assistants. Mr. East. then-new science of fish-egg culture led Stone described his part of the terrible scene to a Herald reporter, as follows: to his becoming editor of a fish culturist Skipping to the following year, 1873, column in a New York newspaper and Mrs. Seamans mistakenly states that a "Three of us were in the forward end then to his appointment to the post of railroad bridge over the Elkhorn River, of the car. It was fitted up expressly for Deputy U. S. Fish Commissioner. Utah, gave way, dumping Stone and his our use in this enterprise, and had in it In July 1872 Stone was sent to Cali- companions in their aquarium car into two tons of ice in cakes of two hundred fornia to collect Pacific chinook salmon the river. The railroad wreck actually pounds each, and a dozen or more tanks eggs and introduce them in eastern wa- occurred at Nebraska's Elkhorn River, weighing from one hundred to one thou- ters to make up for fast-disappearing just a few miles west of Omaha, on Sun- sand pounds each. We were just taking Atlantic salmon. The Pacific salmon did day, June 8, 1873. dinner. "I had reached out my hand for a cup not adapt to eastern waters but it was In the multiple headlines and lurid of tea when we felt a shake and a crash. Stone's 1872 trip to California that prose of the 1873 era, the Omalza Herald Then water began to come into the car marked the beginning of historic Baird of Tuesday, June lo, tells the story of and raise the ice and other articles in it. Hatchery on the McCloud River. the "Wreck of the Celebrated California "That was our salvation. If it had not According to an article by Alice L. Sea- Aquarium Car": been for the water we would have been Photographer unknown The fish were in excellent condition on their arrival at this city, and there is no doubt that the enterprise would have been a complete success but for this untimely accident. Additional details are provided by two rare documents in the collection of Joseph W. Cooper, Kentfield, Califor- nia: "United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries-Report to the Commis- sioner for I 873-4 and I 874-5" and "Gen- eral Report of Investigations on the McCloud River Drainage in 1938," by J. H. Wales, Bureau of Fish Conservation, California Division of Fish and Game. In his "Report to the Commissioner," Livingston Stone reported sending tel- egrams about the wreck to S. R. Throck- morton, chairman of the California fish- commissioners and to Hon. Spencer F. Baird, head of the U.S. Fish Commission at Washington. Baird instructed Stone to return east immediately with his as- sistants, and take a shipment of young shad to California under the auspices of the United States Fish Commission. Stone's trip west with forty thousand young shad packed in eight ten-gallon cans of water is detailed in the "Report to the Commissioner." Beginning on June 25, only seventeen days after the Nebraska train wreck, the trip culmi- nated on the Sacramento River at the village of Tehama. There at 9 p.m., July 2, 1873, the 35,000 shad from the Hud- son River, New York, "were deposited safely and in good order in the Sacra- mento River. . . . " Those shad have thrived in the Sac- ramento and other West Coast streams beyond all expectations. Today, 117 Liuzngston Stone, Haruard graduate, formrr Unztarzan Mtnzster, and founder of Bawd years later, the annual spawning run of Hatchery on Calafornia's McClozid Rzz~e?zn 1872. As Depzity U.S. Fzsh Cornmzsslonrr, shad provides exciting late spring fish- Stone spent 25 years as Superzntendent of Bawd Hatchely, I872 to 1897. ing, particularly for the fly fisherman. The peak of the shad run usually occurs close to Memorial Day, and one of the favorite fishing spots is located on the Sacramento River at Woodson Bridge ' crushed instantly. The car had to fill with ABOUT THE FISH State Recreation Area, just a short dis- water before it could sink, and that gave There were twelve varieties of fish in tance down stream from Tehama where us about five seconds to get out. We went the tank which had been taken from the the shad from New York's Hudson River out head first. One time. . . I felt the water Cold Springs Trout Ponds at Charles- were first planted in 1873. Will shad roe, closing up around my face. Then 1 town, New Hampshire, by Mr. Stone, who a gourmet treat for Bostonians, ever be- thought I was lost and fully expected to was in this enterprise acting for the fish come popular with Californians? drown there. Then I saw a gleam of commissioners of' California. They com- One intriguing aspect of Livingston light-the door opened-it was my only prised varieties which would have been Stone's I oo-page "Report on Operations chance and I took it. The water was deep, new to California waters, and the ship- far over our heads, and we three escaped wreck of the enterprise will be much re- in California in I 873" was the pioneer by swimming around the car and climbing gretted by the people of that State who ingenuity displayed by Stone and his two on the engine. The motion of the car also long to see again the fish that they were companions, W. H. Perrin and Myron helped,us or probably we would have not familiar with in boyish days in their old Green, who accompanied him on his been able to get out so quick." eastern homes. aquarium car trips from east to west. Eastman View Co. I It should be noted that Stone's Cali- fornia adventures began a scant four years after the driving of the Golden Spike at Promentory, Utah, on the Union Pacific Railroad which linked Omaha and San Francisco, May I o, I 869, and three years before General George Custer's ignominious defeat in June 1876 at the hands of the Sioux at the Battle of Little Big Horn. From a historical viewpoint, it is per- tinent to recall that the 1870s were long before the development of such conven- iences as thermostatically controlled temperatures, electrical refrigeration and heating appliances and, quite prob- ably, even the manufacture of artificial ice. The old-fashioned stone ice-house, where ice cut from a lake or river in winter was stored between layers of saw- dust during summer months, was still the norm. That is why Stone and his two assis- tants were faced with unusual problems of temperature control during the sec- ond aquarium car's journey from Cas- tleton-on-the-Hudson in New York to Sacramento. The cargo of young shad demanded a temperature range of 62" to 75' F., yet they would be traveling some three thousand miles with outside temperatures ranging from loo0 in Chi- cago to well below freezing after leaving Ogden, Utah. This demanded taking on many tons of ice as well as fresh water, some hot, some cold, at railroad stations en route. Stone requested that the train crew with the second aquarium car stop I at the site of the June 8'train wreck that The Baird Hatchey on Cali/mnia's McCloud Riuer. The original hntche? site now lies had dumped Stone and his cargo of fish and companions into the Elkhorn River. beneath the routers of Lake Shasta. (Note the leaping salmon.) Courtesy Shasta Stone wrote: Historical Society Collection. We left Omaha on the Union Pacific road at 3 o'clock on Saturday [theirjourney be- gan the previous Wednesday in New York] with the fish in excellent order. thus contributed more than any other Stone and his two assistants, Perrin and Through the courtesy of Mr. C. B. toward assisting the shad across safely to Green. Havens, the Union Pacific train-dis- that State. As the journey progressed across the patcher, I was permitted to stop the train Stone detailed the many changes of Rocky Mountains and then the Sierra at the Elkhorn River, where the aquar- Nevada, problems of temperature con- ium-car accident happened to take on a water required during the long trip reserve of river water at that point. . . . from east to west. During the first half trol in the vessels of shad fry also in- On arriving at the Elkhorn River, the of the trip the water was changed every creased. A stop was made at Ogden to train stopped, and we took on a full re- two hours and every hour during the last deliver five thousand shad for release serve of fifty gallons of the river water. half. That amounted to almost a thou- into the Jordan River near its outlet into The river was somewhat roily, and the sand changes during the seven-dayjour- the Great Salt Lake. Then the temper- temperature was 84" to X5', but the water ature of the shad containers dropped to tasted good and soft; and, by a singular ney. The labor, Stone said, was almost incessant, ". . . like walking a thousand 65", within 3" of the danger point. Stone coincidence, it proved to be the best for explained: the shad that we found on the road. miles in a thousand hours." The river that had swallowed up so un- The water-changing chore was split . . . Mr. Perrin, on discovering that there sparingly the car load of Calitbrnia fish into three eight-hour shifts, between was no stove in the Central Pacific express 20 TAFF SPRING 1990 LL The guesl house al the Bazrd Halcl~e~.Coztrlerv Shnslrr Hitlorzcal SOCIP!~COIIPCL~~?~. car, with admirable foresight went into the o'clock, the air in the car was cold, and About sunrise on the morning of Wednes- kitchen of the depot restaurant, and pro- growing colder. . . . At the first stopping- day, July 2, our last day, we crossed the cured permission to heat some water on place, I went forward to the engine, but summit of the Sierra Nevada, and began the stove, by which we obtained eight gal- found that at that place they changed en- descending the Pacific slope into Califor- lons of hot water and got a good start. . . . gines and also engineers. nia; the water in the cans now standing at . . . it being my night for sleep, I, having The new engineer hardly understood 65' to 66". At g o'clock we took on twenty been up the greater part of the night pre- the case, and was at first unwilling to do gallons of good water, with a temperature vious, retired, leaving Mr. Green to re- what 1 desired. The conductor, too, of 60". at Alta, C;alifornia, and arrived at main on duty till midnight, and Mr. Perrin seemed averse to any delay, and was not Sacramento City at half-past one Wednes- from midnight till daylight, when I was to very pliable; but after a statement of our day afternoon, with the shad as fresh and go on again. necessities they both consented, and I was lively as when they left the Hudson River Mr. Perrin and Mr. Green deserve the to go forward for hot water at the next a week before. It seemed like a miracle! entire credit of taking the shad through stop. This I did, and obtained hot water the critical night that followed, and for an heated in the way I have described . . . at After the shad were ceremoniously account of it I will quote from Mr. Perrin's 2:30 a.m. the temperature of the car was deposited in the Sacramento River on journal: about 5z0, and the water in the cans about the evening of Wednesday, July 2, I 873, 63', and of course, going down. . . . The the next stop was the camp on the Perrin's Journal: train stopped, and I ran forward, and McCIoud River, established the year be- after the engineer heard my case, he told fore. As we left Ogden on Monday evening, me that they were going to stop for water Now Stone and company would have it became evident that we should need hot in about twenty minutes, and then he much more to do than keeping a cargo would let me have another supply of warm water during the night . . . Mr. Stone of shad alive and healthy. They would made arrangements to heat water, if nec- water. About 3 a.m. the train stopped, and essary, in the postal car, where there was I went forward, and the engineer took out have the then-free-flowing McCloud to a stove, but after he went back to the sleep- the hot irons and heated the water, and I tame, a hatchery with flume and water- ing car, the man in charge of the mailcar was enabled to keep the water up to the wheel to build, plus a dwelling for the came to us and said that they were very right temperature until we reached crew, and the Wintu Indians to convince busy and did not see how they could have Toano, where I got another supply. that the white man should be permitted a fire in the car. So Mr. Green went into In this way I got through the night with- to take eggs from the salmon which had the engine-cab and persuaded the engi- out letting the temperature fall below 62"; traditionally been theirs for centuries. neer to heat some iron couplings in the of course, it kept me almost constantly at Stone wrote, after getting established work. furnace of the engine, and then put them at camp on August 6: when red hot into our pails filled with wa- ter. Mr. Stone concluded the report of Our camp now consists ofJohn G. Wood- . . . When Mr. Green woke me up at I 2 train travels with: bury, foreman; Myron Green, head fish- TAFF SPRING 1990 21 erman; Oliver Anderson, man of all work; for New Zealand; Boscobel, Wisconsin; If you want to know how the McCloud George Allen, carpenter; Benjamin Ea- New Hope, Pennsylvania; Providence, trout thrive in New York you can apply ton, steward; A. Leschinsky, fisherman; J. Rhode Island; Newcastle, Ontario, Can- to him, as I have supplied him with all Leschinsky, fisherman; Livingston Stone, ada; Cattaraugus County, New York; that he has got from that river. He took in charge; Indians, Lame Ben, Uncle some spawn from them this season. . . . John, One-Eyed Jim, and others. Bangor, Maine; Georgetown, Colorado; Rockford, Illinois; and Lynchburg, Vir- . . . I have watched the salmon and the Stone's report, which followed, con- trout during their spawning more than ginia. That totaled twenty-three differ- any other man in this part of the country, cerned construction of the hatchery and ent destinations to which salmon eggs as I have fished a great deal, and have the taking and shipping of the salmon had been shipped during 1873and 1874. been fishing longer than any one who eggs, packed between layers of moss Four million eggs were shipped in 1874. takes any interest in the matter. I came gathered from the springs at Mt. Shasta, Mr. Stone also recorded the shipment here in I 855; I have caught hundreds and the source of the Sacramento River. of a second aquarium car from Charles- probably thousands. That year, 1873, the crew gathered two town, New Hampshire, in 1874. This As has become evident from the above million salmon eggs which were shipped shipment, consigned to the California quotes from Campbell's letter, he was an east by railroad express. They went to Fish Commission, arrived in San Fran- early-day expert on the McCloud River Bloomsbury, New Jersey; Marietta, cisco in good shape, after a nine-day and its fish and was probably the first Pennsylvania; Seth Green in Rochester, journey. Stone can be credited with the person to offer the McCIoud River trout New York; Middletown, Connecticut; introduction of shad, striped bass, and an artificial fly. And, as J. H. Wales, for- Cold Springs Trout Ponds, Charles- catfish to California waters. merly of the California Department of town, New Hampshire; Winchester, Beginning in 1874 a change in the op- Fish and Game, wrote for The Covered Massachusetts; Bucksport, Maine; Salt eration of the McCloud River fishery be- Lake City, Utah; Niles, Michigan; plus a Wagon of the Shasta County Historical gan, marked by a growing emphasis on Society in 1946: shipment to Dr. W. A. Newell, in San the gathering of rainbow trout eggs and Francisco. some declining interest in salmon prop- We know that he shipped eggs as early as Stone also listed items shipped to the agation. 1874, and so far as the records go, these Smithsonian Institution in Washington: This change should be credited were the first rainbow trout eggs to leave salmon and trout and eggs; lizards (local the West Coast. Until that time this fish largely to Jeremiah Blizzard Campbell, was found nowhere else in the world and name, salamanders); grilse; tule mat- who lived eight miles upstream from Campbell may be called the father of rain- ting, material from which Indian baskets Baird at what was later named Campbell bow trout distribution. Since that time are made; hat or basket by McCloud In- Creek. Campbell was married to a Wintu eggs of these fish have been sent around dians; spear points, made of ankle bone woman, Mary Pu Chalokeme. They had the world and have, unlike the salmon, of deer, used by McCloud Indians for five children, including son Joseph who become established in many foreign lands spearing salmon; Manzanita berries and worked at the Baird Hatchery during as well as in a large part of the United flour made from them; a plume worn boyhood, when the facility was being re- States. . . . by Indian Dick, who murdered Mr. built after the disastrous flood of 1881. It is most fitting that Joseph Campbell Crooks, a white settler on the McCloud; should have been like his father, associ- Jeremiah Campbell wrote to Professor ated all his life with the McCloud River water ouzel's nest, and many other un- Spencer F. Baird, U.S. Commissioner of rainbow trout. This close association be- usual specimens. Fish and Fisheries, on May 6, 1881. His came most apparent when this writer ac- Stone told of the party's exploring the letter was published in the bulletin of the companied Mr. Cambell on a fishing trip. caves in the depths of Persephone Commission under the title: "Notes on The trout apparently considered it a spe- Mountain. They were guided on that ex- McCloud River, California . . . Based cial favor to find refuge in Mr. Campbell's ploration by Dr. Silverthorne, a long- Upon a Letter of J. B. Campbell. . ." creel. time resident of the area who lived with Sir: . . . Four miles above the fishery is the Joseph Campbell became a guide on his Wintu Indian wife on Cow Creek, trout-rearing establishment, of which Mr. the deluxe McCloud River Club. For seven miles from the hatchery camp. Myron Green is superintendent.. . . many years he had been guide, confi- Stone named the caverns Baird Caves, Three miles from the trout pond, on the dant, and counselor to members of the in honor of Dr. Spencer F. Baird, U.S. west side of the river, is a small farm be- club, and an honored guest at the club's Commissioner of Fisheries in Washing- longing to Henry Mirey. One mile above annual San Francisco dinner-an event ton. Today the caves are a major tourist Mirey's place is the home of the writer, that Campbell looked forward to with attraction and are known as Shasta Cav- consisting of a nice orchard and garden on the east side of the river, together with much pleasure. Joseph Campbell died in erns. The mammoth granite mountain 1946; his funeral was held in Redding in which the caves lie is reached by a a beautiful creek that does not vary more than 4 degrees during the winter, and on November 1, following traditional In- ferry across the McCloud arm of Shasta ranges from 53 to 57 degrees during the dian rites held the night before at his old Lake. Mount Persephone (more com- summer. Stillwater home. Joseph's father had monly known as Gray Rocks) can be con- died on January 25, 1920, at his home sidered an appropriate monument to Campbell then proceeds to describe the fish found in the McCloud: on Campbell Creek, where it entered the the now-gone Baird Hatchery, to the McCloud. Wintu Indians who worked there, and The fifth is the red-sided trout, or, as it is Mrs. Alice L. Seamans concludes her to Livingston Stone who befriended the called in New York, the rainbow trout. I tribute to Livingston Stone and the Wintu people and furnished them with will mention only its habits, as you have Baird Hatchery: salmon after eggs were processed and undoubtedly seen many of them. It feeds shipped to Eastern states. All vestiges of almost entirely on the bottom of the river, After leaving Baird [in 18971, Mr. Stone Old Baird are now beneath the waters but will take a fly through March, April, took charge of a hatchery at Cape Vincent, of Shasta Lake. and part of May, as the river is then lit- New York, where he remained for nine erally alive with insects.. . . years. He retired at the age of seventy, During the 1874 spawning season Any time you should desire further par- after forty years in the service of Ameri- Stone and crew continued to gather ticulars, send me a letter and I will answer can fish culture. salmon eggs and to ship them east. New it with pleasure. I have been writing to destinations for the eggs, in addition to Seth Green for over two years, and have Stone had spent twenty-five of those those listed previously, were: Anamosa, given him full particulars concerning the years at Baird, a place he had grown to Iowa; St. Paul, Minnesota; W. A. Newell, fish of this region and their habits. love. 22 TAFF SPRING 1990 The American Museum of Fly Fishing Post Office Box 42, Manchester, VT 05254. 802-362-3300 JOIN! BOOK REVIEW Membership Dues (per annum*) Associate* $25 Sustaining* $50 Izaak Walton: A New Bibliography, serious collector without a reliable Patron* $250 1653-1987 guide; the two guides most relied on Sponsor* $500 have been Peter Oliver's A New Chronicle by Rodolphe L. Coigney (James Cum- Corporate* $1000 , mins: New York, 1989.434 pages, hard- Of The Compleat Angler, published in cover, illustrated. $150.) 1936, and the 1970 volume The Compleat Life $1500 Angler 1653-1967 by Bernard Horne. Membership dues include the cost of a 1 IZAAKWALTON WAS PRIMARILY a bait NOW,nineteen later, comes Izaak subscription ($20) to The American Fly fisherman (maggots and grasshoppers Walton: A New Bibliography, 1653-1987, Fisher. Please send your application to being among his favorites); his cast-iron by Dr. Rodolphe L. Coigney, published the membership secretary and include I prose and the wooden dialogue among by James Cummins, New York, in 1989. your mailing address. The Museum is I his characters-Piscator, Venator and In his introduction to the book, A. J. a member of the American Association Auceps-fall on the ears of modern-day McClane writes, "Rudy Coigney has su- of Museums, the American Association readers with numbing dullness. In ad- perb credentials, not only in the medical of State and Local History, the New dition, he was an unblushing plagiarist, field (he was Director of the World England Association of Museums, the adopting the form of and much of the Health Organization) but as an invet- Vermont Museum and Gallery Alli- text from The Arte of Anglzng, written by erate angler and as a student of angling ance, and the International Association -. William Samuel and published in 1577, literature." McClane adds that he finds of Sports Museums and Halls of Fame. =iZZ some seventy-six years before the first the Coigney compendium more valua- We are a nonprofit, educational insti- . printing of The Compleal Angler in 1653. ble than either Oliver's or Horne's. tution chartered under the laws of the ='-+A7- As a fishing manual, it is of little value McClane also notes that the Coigney state of Vermont. Lz to present-day anglers, except perhaps collection may well be the largest collec- for Part 11, a dissertation on fly fishing tion of The Compleat Angler in the world, written by Walton's young friend and consisting of 800 volumes representing SUPPORT! fishing companion, Charles Cotton, 4 I 1 of the known 456 known editions, As an independent, nonprofit institu- which was added to the fifth edition in beginning with the first 1653 edition. tion, the American Museum of Fly I 676. Bound in plain brown sheepskin, it Fishing must rely on the generosity of How then to account for the fact that lacked Walton's name as author. public-spirited individuals for substan- The Compleat Angler is the third most re- In his listings, Coigney doesn't limit tial support. We ask that you give our printed book in English in publishing himself to simple cataloguing; he fur- institution serious consideration when history, topped only by the Bible and nishes details of interest to collectors. planning for gifts and bequests. Pilgrim's Progress? Since that first, 1653, Misprints, misspellings, typographical printing, no fewer than 456 editions errors, variations among specific edi- have been issued, plus uncounted for- tions, and other peculiarities are noted VISIT! eign translations. In its 337 years, at no and commented on. Descriptions of Summer hours (May 1 through time has the book been out of print. And bindings, illustrations and illustrators, October 31) are 10 to 4. Winter hours there is little likelihood that it ever will and volume sizes are among the valuable (November 1 through April 30) are be; new editions continue to roll off the ephemera included. Of special value to weekdays 10 to 4. presses regularly. collectors are the numerous photo- We are closed on major holidays. Why? Walton wrote several biogra- graphs of covers, title pages, and first phies, none of which have remained in pages of various editions, which include BACKISSUES! demand nor are much remembered. Yet foreign editions. The Compleat Angler is regarded as a clas- This may not be a book for the av- The following back issues of The sic of English literature-an honor to erage angler or casual collector, but it American Fly Fisher are available at $4 which no other book on sport can lay certainly would prove invaluable to se- per copy: claim. Though largely useless as an an- rious collectors, scholars and libraries. It Volume 5, Number 3 gling guide--even Cotton's contribu- is likely to remain the definitive guide to Volume 6, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 tions have been pretty well outdated- The Compleat Angler for the forseeable Volume 7, Numbers 3, 4 the secret of its success might lie in the future and, in time, surely will itself be- Volume 8, Number 3 words of Charles Lamb: "It will sweeten come a collector's item among Walton Volume 9, Numbers 1, 2, 3 a man's temper at any time he reads it." aficionados, who will recognize the debt Volume 10, Number 2 One of the effects of this Waltonian owed Dr. Coigney for the time, effort, Volume 1 1, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 interest has been to foster a fervor for and intelligence that went into the work. Volume 12, Number 1 collecting editions and copies of the An- JOE PISARRO Volume 13, Number 3 gler by bibliophiles throughout the Illustration from Canoe and Caarra by Thomas Sedpvick Volume 14, Numbers 1, 2 world. Of course, no one can become a Steel (OrangeJudd Co.. New York, 18.80). Volume 15, Numbers 1, 2 / Museum I Giftshop ON THE ROAI) to 11;ltional IIIIIS~LII~I;IC- in a renovateti "sugar house," which they cretlitation: We've adcled a full-time clesignetl ant1 restored then~selves,in professional curator anti a sunlnler in- Rupert, Vermont. They share their tern to our stal'f'. Our Development nineteen acres with their dog and two (:onlnlittee meets in Boston to prelxtre cats; Alanna tends a large garden in sea- a ~n;!jo~-fnnd-raising campaign, and we son, while lirn makes maple syrup each see great improvement in our all-im- spring. Both are involvetl in community ~x)rt;~ntdinnerhu~ction program. Five activities, especially the local volunteer new trustees.join our Musemn f';unily, :I fire tlepartn~ent. Our popular Museum Festivi~lWeekend is schetlulecl, Alan~la'sprimary duties at the Mu- t-shirts are made of 100'%, ant1 we watch ;IS AMFF's ex1iil)its ant1 seum will I)e collections nl;unagement (no pre-shrunk cotton in the USA. spe<:ial exhil~itio~isprogl-am flourishes. sn~alltask as anyone who has seen our Specify color (navy or cream), and What was it Kol)el-t Loi~isStevenson "new accessions" stol-age area will attest), size (S, M, L, XL). $10 each, plus said? "In the ,joy of' the actors lies the and assisting in the planning and imple- $1.50 postage and handling. sense of any action." mention of' several new Museum devel- oprnentloi~treachprograms. She arrives on the scene at an-importa~lttime in the Museum Welcomes Two Mr~seuni'shistory, and we're confident that she will be playing :I major role in New Staff Members many of' our exciting plans for the ren- These beautiful We take great ple;~si~rein announcing ovation of our spaces, new exhibits, and 10-oz. double the return of' Aliunn;~D. Fisher to our exp;~~lcled111-ogran1ing. Alanna's back old-fashioned Museum f:~~nily.Alanna, fi)~-merlythe tvhere her heal-t belongs, ant1 we could ., , glasses are made Museunl's Kegistrar f'rom 1985 to I 987. not I)e happier. of hefty 24% lead \V;IS rece~~tlyappointetl as the Museuni's 1- crystal and new <;l~rator/l)evelol)~~~entAssistant. 1 Although she has lived ant1 worketl in decplv c~tchcdwith the nii~seuni's log(>and slogan. $47.50 for a set of Vel-n~ontfor miuly years, Ala111la orig- four, plus $4 postage and inally hails I'ro111 the Mitlwest. She was handling. I~ornand raised on the northtvest side ol' Chicago ;uitl ;~tte~~tledAlver~lia High Scllool, ant1 Kosary <:allege, ill Kiver Forest, Illinois, where she g~itluatetl with a B.A. in Sociology. Alanna has wick experience in teach- ing, soci;~l work, :inti as a lil)~u-i:ul. 111 l';~ct,she once worketl f0r two years ;IS ;I lil)r;~ryassistant at the Intlian Institute of'.I'echnology in Kanpur, India. Nor is she a stranger to the wi~rldof fly lishing, D~~~~,llc~O,,r/)\ h;~vincworketl as assistant etlitor ;tntl Our pewter pin (left), manager of special sel-vices for Fly Fi.\lr- measures 1"h x 'L'w and features orfrrrrt magazine, iuitl as an ;IC~III~II~S~~.;I-AIIIOIIR i~ number of' recent "firsts" at our logo in silver on an olive-green tive assistant for Tlrc Ang11v's C~I~,tr(lrrr. the Musei~m,we now atid yet another: background. Our fully embroi- Alanna ant1 her hi~sl~anclJim now live our first Museum intern. Douglas dered patch (?1~/2"1ix 3"w), is silver Mc(:o~~ll)s,a graduate student in the and black on a Dartmouth Green Public ist tor; program at Kent State twill background. Both are $5 University, in Kent, Ohio, will bejoining each, plus $1 postage and our staff fi)r a two-month stint this sum- handling. mer. While here, Doug will be given the opporti~nityto learn the ins and outs of a nlusei~~rl'soperation, from collections management to exhibits preparation to Please make checks and money producing a journal. In short, we want orders payable to: The American Doug to get a gootl sense of what this Museum of Fly Fishing, and send museum, and indeed, the museum to: AMFF, P.O. Box 42, Manches- ~)rd"ssion itself, is all al)out. Doug has lived and worked in Hub- ter, VT 05254. Mastercard, Visa, and American Express accepted. bard, Ohio, for twenty-five years. He re- ceived a B.A. in International Call 802-362-3300. Economics from Westminster College, a small school located in the pastorill com- mation on specific times and locations, and AMFF's Marbury fly platelphotog- munity of New Wilmington, Pennsyl- please contact a member of the Museum raphy collection by Trustee Susan Pop- vania. One of Doug's favol-ite trout staff. kin, of Philadelphia, was approved. streams, Neshannock Creek, flows right through the town. When not attencling Museum Expansion/Renovation graduate school, Doug can ~~suallybe found working at the Stambaugh- June 2-Manchestel-, VT Plans were unveiled for the expansion Thompson Company as a design coor- October 18-Boston, MA and general rehabilitation of the Mu- dinator, or fly fishing, hiking or sketch- seum's interior spaces. Since the Mu- ing. November 1-Hartford, (:T seum currently has only approximately Doug will arrive in late June, midway looo square feet of public exhibition through our busy summer season. And space, a program of expansion was seen if it's true that our staff will be helping December 4-San Francisco, (:A as the key to attracting greater numbers to lay some of the groundwork fbr his of visitors, increased funding, and pub- future career in the museum proftssion, licity. It was resolved that the American we are also well aware that Do~~g'stalents Highli hts of AMFF's Museum of Fly Fishing should embrace will be greatly appreciated by AMFF in Annua Meeting a program for the expansion and ren- this exciting time of growth and change. 7 ovation of the Museum's interior spaces Welcome aboard, Doug. A I-ecord twenty-three Mt~seumtrust- in 1990. ees from 21c1-oss the country assembled in San Francisco on December 5, 1989 1990 Budget fiw our annual Membership and Trust- A budget of $270,000 was approved ees' Meetings and DinnerJAuction at the for the coming fiscal year, up $30,000 St. Francis Yacht C:lub, near the Golden from 1989. $20,000 of this increase will Gate Bridge. Although the scars of the fund the salary of a full-time profes- earthquake that had hit the area just sional curator. It was noted that the Mu- weeks befi)l-e were everywhere in evi- seum made some significant advances dence, all services had been restored during 1989 in improving its financial prior to the start of our meetings. Our posture. San Francisco area trustees ancl volun- teers hacl worked tloubly hard prepar- ing for what would prove to be one of 1990 Annual Meeting the most important Trustees' Meetings It was resolved that the 1990 Annual to be held in years. Herewith, a brief Meeting of the American Museum of Fly overview: Fishing would be held in Manchester, Vermont, on Monday, October 22, 1990. Executive Director's Report Curt (;ozi~ly,l(,,q(,t~(l(ity .s/)or/.~c(i,~/(~~~l(i~~~q/(~r, Priorities for 1990 u~asthe kqtlo/~.v/)c~cikrr nt AMFk7'.s I989 In summarizing his report to the Boston dinnerIazic/io~~. trustees, AMFF Executive Director Don The trustees agreed that the Museum Johnson noted that AMFF's dinnerlauc- has passed through a rather difficult pe- tion program for 1989 had been a huge riod of restructuring, and that it was On the DinnerIAuction success, sul-passing the figures for our now time to look ahead to increased Circuit outstanding 1988 program, and often professionalisn~and growth. As a first doubling or tripling the net and gross step, a full-time curator would be added The lynchpin of our- fund-raising ef- figures for 1987. Don reported that to AMFF's staff. The timely publication forts? Our dinnerlauction program. AMFF's volunteer program had grown of the Museum's journal, the formation The Museum now hosts eight tlinnerl dramatically both in-house and arountl of a highly motivated Development auctions across the country, from Bos- the country, that AMFF had sponsored <;ommittee, the expansion of the Mu- ton to San Francisco. All revenues gen- or co-sponsored exhibitions in nine cit- erated at these functions benefit the seum's interior spaces, and the addition ies, that AMFF's collections continued to of a museum intern during 1990 were Museum's general operating fund ancl expand, and that several dormant all seen as high priorities for the coming help make possible a wide array of' Mu- trustee committees had been reacti- year. seum PI-cjects and programs. vated, and trustee participation had in- One might call our dinnerhuction creased dramatically as well. program a critical success these days. Six New Trustees Elected ~et>roceeclshave doubled in most lit- ies, and tripled in others. In our home- Museum Publications at Annual Meeting town, Manchester, Vermont, we've The Museum, in cooperation with the increased net revenues 1007r in two Amscot Group and artist John Swan, years, from $3,000 to $13,000. published a special limited-edition print The key to the resurgence of this pro- in 1989 entitled "Lost Pool" and came gram is simply put: outstanding support close to completing the text, photogra- from the Museum's membership. Atten- phy and illustrations for a trade publi- dance has increased significantly at most cation called A Treasury qf Reels, a dinners, and we can't say enough about museum-quality catalog and a holistic the yeoman efforts of our volunteer din- history of the fly reel, by Jim Brown. A ner committees who put in hundreds of limited edition of A Treasur?, of Reels hours organi~ingand running these might also be published in 1990 as well. events. Our 1990 dinnerlauction schecl- Additionally, a new publication on the ule is printed below. For more infor- life and times of Mary Orvis Marbury Brticp Bqi~t Bruce H. Begin received his B.A. on the San Francisco peninsula. Since England, as well as water in Central from the State University of New York then, Larry, and his friends and fellow America, Canada, and across the United and his M.A. from New York University. trustees Art Frey and Sam Van Ness, States. He has wide experience in the fields of have been active in all of the Museum's education and human services, and is West Coast activities, especially our Wallace J. Murray 111, of Hartford, today the Director of the Office of De- highly successful annual dinnerlauction. Connecticut, is a native of East Green- velopment at Proctor Academy in An- Long a collector of angling artifacts, wich, Rhode Island. He earned both his dover, New Hampshire, where he also Larry has fished in Europe, New Zea- graduate and undergraduate degrees serves as a student advisor, dormitory land, Alaska, and Mexico, where he from the University of Rhode Island fol- parent, and basketball coach. Bruce and fishes for his favorite species, dorado. lowing a six-year tour in the U.S. Navy, his wife Nancy, a teacher and artist at This is Larry's second term as an AMFF during which he logged over loo,ooo Proctor Academy, have two sons, Jason trustee. miles at sea. Wally is a member of Trout and Matthew. Bruce currently serves as Unlimited, and a board member and ed- the Chairman of the Museum's Devel- Woods King I11 holds a B.A. from ucation chair of the Connecticut Fly opment Committee. Washington and Lee University and a Fisherman's Association. Wally and his J.D. from Cleveland State University, wife Pam are also members of the Mu- Gordon Allen and is a principal of the Buckley, King seum's Manchester, Boston and Hart- and Bluso Company, L.P.A., a law firm ford DinnerIAuction Committees. located in Cleveland, Ohio. A member of the Atlantic Salmon Federation and Museum Festival Trout Unlimited, Woods is the chair- man of the Museum's Cleveland Dinner1 Weekend Auction Committee. Members and friends of AMFF gath- Earl Worsham ered to participate in our first Museum Festival Weekend on June 1-3 in Man- chester, Vermont. We opened the Fes- tival on Friday, June 1st at 6:30 p.m., with a special preview of a major angling and sporting art exhibition entitled "Time On the Water," featuring original works by John Swan, one of our great sporting artists, and the Atlantic Salmon Federation "Artist of the Year" for 1990. Museum members will remember John Peter Corbin, born and raised in as the artist who painted our most recent northern New Jersey, graduated with limited-edition print, "Lost Pool." "Time high honors from Wesleyan University, On the Water" will remain open through and later attended the California Col- October 3 1st. lege of Arts and Crafts. An artist of dis- On Saturday evening, June nnd, tinction, Peter's work can be found in members and friends attended AMFF's the collections of the Leigh Yawkey Martin D. Kline, of Atlanta, Georgia, annual Gala DinnerIAuction at the his- Woodson Art Museum, the National Art grew up in the Florida Keys where he toric Equinox Hotel. Our annual Man- Museum of Sport, and in the Presiden- first started fly fishing. He earned his chester dinner has become one of the tial Collection at the White House. Soon B.A. at the University of Miami and most popular Museum events, and cer- after his highly acclaimed one-man ex- holds a J.D. from Florida State Univer- tainly rates as one of the best fundraisers hibition at the Museum last summer, Pe- sity. He is currently the executive direc- on AMFF's auction circuit around the ter started his own firm, the Shooter's tor of his own firm, Physicians Service country. As an added attraction, a bam- Hill Press, and has already published Association, a banking group formed in boo fly rod owned and used by Glenn four limited-edition sporting prints. Pe- 1973. Martin is a trustee of Trout Un- Miller, one of the greats of the Big Band ter, wife Lillian, and their two children limited's Living Brightwater Trust, and Era of the late 1930s and early 1940S, was live in Millbrook, New York. is active in the Atlantic Salmon Feder- presented to our museum during the ation, the Federation of Fly Fishers, and evening. This unique and historically S. M. Photo other conservation groups. He and his valuable rod will be added to AMFF's wife Linda frequently fish the Test in permanent collection and displayed in our Manchester galleries for the re- Pamela Murrav mainder of 1990. On Sunday, June grd, the Museum opened its doors to the public for be- hind-the-scenes tours, and fly-tying in- struction and demonstrations by (among others) Mike Martineck, Kevin Mc- Enerney, Ron Lewis, Mark Waslick, Bob Veverka, and Bill Chandler. Meanwhile, visitors enjoyed refreshments on the Museum's lawn while watching fly-cast- ing demonstrations by such experts as Larry Gilsdorf first became interested Tom Roseribauer and Dick Finlay. in our museum in 1981, when he was Nearly 300 people attended Sunday's introduced to trustee Art Frey, who hap- events which also featured a lucrative pened to live two miles away from him lawn sale. (which I have copies of) were post-war sire, shape, composition, and quality of each and taken on the 1919 trip with Al and photo. Jock (see Baker, p. 63). I aLso noticed that Hemingway wore (with LETTERS But not to worry, you've written a very but one variation, when he exchanged a white nice article and I trust it will be noted in shirt for a dark pullover) the same outjit dur- the bibliography of The Heminquay Re- ing the entire trip. The trousers he's wearing view. in the photo on page six are identical to those To introduce myself, belatedly, I have in the photos which appear on the front cover, Crosbv Postcard been writing on Hemingway for a good inside front cover, and on page eleven. He's Really enjoyed The American Fly Fisher many years and was the founding pres- wearing the same watch fob, too, in all the (Fall 1989) issuejust received. Especially ident of The Hemingway Society. In photos. And, by the way, is that his pedometer liked Thomas A. Verde's article ["Diana fact, my first publication on him tried, hanging on the end of the fob? So, to my way of the Rangeleys"]. Perhaps I can add a among other things, to show to non-fish- of thinking, the photo on page six was taken little to the photo on page 1 I. Appar- ermen how he used the craft of fly-fish- in 1916. ently it was a famous photo, as a postcard ing (even with hoppers) as an analogy to I agree, "Too much written on Hemingway was made from it, in color. The caption show both what Nick Adams was going is neither." May we hear from you again? under the photo reads "In the shadow through in his own mind and how, as a D.S.J. of Mt. Kineo Published for G.W. Morris, writer, he envisioned his "other" craft. Portland, Maine." Needless to say, I fly-fish, as do many of my colleagues in The Hemingway So- Rebirth ciety (now Foundation). We've even been known to schedule our board I enjoyed your piece on Hemingway meetings near good fishing spots. in Michigan. It's incredible that we never Thanks for a good article. tire of hearing about that man, or for that matter, never tire of reading his Paul Smith work. After reading about the fishing in South Glastonbury, Connecticut Hemingway's era, my fishless days on You've raised an interesting point. 1 too the Rapid, Boardman or Black make me have often wished that that we had accurate suspect I was born too late. But, luckily, we still have the U.P. I spent a day with dates, locations, and sources for the remark- able angling photos in the Hemingway Col- John Voelker last summer, managed to catch eight-inches worth of brook trout lection at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy (two four-inchers) from Frenchman's The sender of the card wrote, "Shall Library in Boston. Pond, and came away revitalized and op- be up this Spring Tom Varich" and it As a board member of the Hemingway timistic. was postmarked April 13, 1906. Foundation of Oak Park, Illinois, a few years I thought Tom Verde might like this back, I had many opportunities to speak with Jerry Dennis information to know it's possible to find Lewis Clarahan, Hemingway's companion on Traverse City, Michigan historically important postcards on Cor- the "Hike to Walloon Lake" in 1916, about nelia Crosby in flea markets, etc., where the photos which appear in Hemingway: A I find a lot of mine. Trout Fisher's Apprenticeship. Lewis, Inspiration Russell S. Mascieri who still resides in his native Oak Park, not Thank you for a very interesting issue Moorestown, New Jersey far from Herningway's two boyhood homes, on Ernest Hemingway. We are also confirmed (in 1986) that the photo (EH pleased to learn of your plans to install 746N,John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library) on a Hemingway exhibit at the Museum this page six in Volume 15, Number I of The summer. Hemin~wav'sHat American Fly Fisher was taken during the Thinking of it recalled my Hippety- A friend of mine just sent me a copy fishing hike of June 1916. Hoppety (or Higgledy-piggledy) rime, of the Summer 1989 issue of The Amer- I don't know if you've had a chance to "Earnest Nobelity," that I enclose for ican Fly Fisher with your article on Hem- examine all the angling photos in the Hem- your amusement. ingway and the 1916 "Diary." ingway Collection at the J.F.K., Paul, but it I want to congratulate you on a grace- seem to me that the series of photog.raphs Hippety-hoppety fully written article and a nicely edited taken by Hemingway and Clarahan in 1916 Ernest M. Hemingway early diary. Too much written on Hem- (many of which appear in Volume 15, Num- often would wish to be ingway is neither. ber I of The American Fly Fisher), are fishing the trout. I've wondered about the Kennedy Li- dated correctly, and, indeed, stand alone in Afterwards he could see brary's dating of the photographs. The the collection because of the consistency of the most existentially beautiful one on page &imagine a 70- ichthy-theology year-old negative reproducing the gave him his clout. leader! But then in those days it was Robert W. Lewis, President probably gut. I've always assumed it was The Hemingway Society a post-war photo, largely on the evi- Grand Forks, North Dakota dence of the hat. That looks to be similar to one he brought back from the war in Readers interested infinding out more about 1919 (one like those worn by either the The Hemingway Society may contact Profes- Alpini Mountain Troops or the Arditi- sor Robert W. Lewis, The Hemingway So- commandos, nowadays.) Since he's ciety, Department of English, Box 8237, wearing that hat on page lo, and the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, photos on both page 6 and 11 show the ND 58202. The Society publishes The watch fob for his grandfather's watch, Hemingway Review and The Heming- I've always assumed those pictures way Newsletter. CONTRIBUTORS $mold Yelin I Jim Brown is a professional librarian who lives and works in Stamford, Con- necticut. A columnist for the quarterly magazine Fishing Collectibles, Jim is an avid fly fisherman and collector of an- tique fishing tackle; he previously pub- lished Fishing Reel Patents of the United States, 1838-1940, and has written nu- merous articles on the history of American fly reels, many of which have appeared in The American Fly Fisher. Jim is a member of many angling and conservation groups, including Trout Unlimited, the Federation of Fly Fishers, Theodore Gordon Fly Fishers, Housatonic Fly Fishermen, the Catskill Fly Fishing Center, as well as AMFF. ~k most Gften fishes the Housatonic River in Connecticut, and says he's not yet "made the turn into salmon fish- ing." He and his wife Pat live with a blind cat named Trico. >l;~rri!~Stein Roy E. Hailc Frank E. Raymond was raised and educated in North Dakota. He moved to Chicago at the time of the Great Crash of 1929, where he was ulti- mately employed in the advertising department of the Quaker Oats Com- pany. By 1953, he was in California working for an affiliate of CBS televi- sion as a copy writer and production manager. Frank opted for an early retirement in 1971. He and his wife Bertha moved to the little town of Dunsmuir, hard by the Upper Sacramento River where the living was inexpensive and the fishing good. Frank's involvement in the Shasta County Historical Society in Redding, California, broadened his interest in the piscatorial history of northern California. He has written manv articles for various outdoor and travel publications, and is the author of Riners To Remember: A Guide to Northern Calzfornia's Great Outdoors (Sis- kiyou Trail Press, Redding, CA, 1988). In addition to his duties as the Mu- seum's volunteer coordinator, Joe A. Pisarro also provides valuable service as the Museum's reigning wit and phi- losopher-in-residence. A World War I1 veteran, Joe's professional career spanned three decades, during which time he worked as a radio scriptwriter, journalist, and public relations direc- tor. His books include The Gordon Gar- 28 TAFF SPRING 1990 James W. Schaaf was born in the 1 mining town of' Creede, <;olorado, in 1927. He later moved to Winslow, Ari- zona, Fort Worth, Texas, ant1 Atlanta, Georgia, where he entered the U.S. Marine Corps in 1944. After active Kuhi Vargha duty in the Asia anti Pacific theatres and undergraduate work ;it Atlanta's Emory University, he completed his gracluate work at the U.S. 1'ul)lic Health Center, at the University of Georgia, in 195 I. From 1951 ~~ntilhis retirement in 198g,Jim worked in Califi)rni;i as 21 chemist for a number of nationally- known oil and petroleum comp:~nies. In 1980, he went ~~~blicwith the Jim Schaaf Rod Company, and I)y 1986 he had purchased the Dickerson arrtl Beclfi)rd Anglers Rocl Shop f'rom the Tim Bedforcl Estate. Jim's other inter- ests include photography, writing, mil- itary research, collecting antique tackle, and angling. He particularly cherishes the time he spends with his family, especially his grandsorl, l'yler. AMFI.':, 1987-88 .shoroir~gof "Anglers All" nl tl~cPhilrtdrl/)hirt Acctrlrrt~v N/ Nnt~rlnlScirnces. Inside Gerald S. 'yerry" Stein, M.D., is a 46-year-old psychoanalyst in private practice in Coloratlo Springs, Cola- the Museum rado. He teaches, among other s~/)- jects, about creativity and the Quality educational programing treatment of creative incliviclu;~lsas a is an important part of a mu- member of the fill1 fi~cultvof' the Den- seum's mission. In 1989, we ver Institute for Psvchoanalysis ancl as hosted two major exhibitions of an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psy- angling and sporting art. We also chiatry at the University ol Coloratlo developed, or helped develop, Health Sciences Center. nine large exhibits in seven As a boy in Coloratlo, Gerry was in- states, including a showing of "Anglers troduced to fly fishing and 1)anil)oo All," our blockbuster traveling exhibit, rods by his grandfather, and he often at the Bell Museum of Natural History fished the (iunnison River near .J;~nies in Minneapolis. All well and good. Schaafs boyhood home, although they Still, we're feeling ambitious these did not meet until 1986. A fishing days, and we'd like to see exhibits from gwde while in medical school, Jerry the American Museum of Fly Fishing now has a cabin on the Roaring Fork appear in as many museums as possible where his wife Carol long held the rec- around the country. We've received nu- ord for the largest tro~~tcaught. merous calls from members inquiring whether an AMFF exhibit could be brought to their community. The an- swer is yes. It's a relatively simple process. One need only contact a local museum to see if there is any interest in hosting an AMFF exhibition. If so, call one of our staff members here at AMFF and we'll land and Amenca?~Troztt Fnl~~lrg.He is get the ball rolling. also a past president of The Theodore Manchester, Vermont, may be a "far Gordon Fly Fishers, and a former edi- piece" for many of our members around tor of Rrt?~rlomCnstc ant1 Tile Fl~fz\lrer. the country, but we can, and will, bring When not at the Museum, Joe can the Museum to our members-no mat- usually be Sound prospecting any ter where they live. D.S.J. number of rivers or brooks, or per- forming in the East Creek Playhouse in Rutland, Vermont. Joe now lives in East Wallingfi~rd,Vermont.