Fly Fisher Photo by Pfeiffer
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The American Fly Fisher Photo by Pfeiffer LYNN, LANCE AND TONY SKIL TON LEARN A NEWPHASE OFAMERICAN HISTORY Each year hundreds of youngsters and their families visit the Museum of American Fly Fishing exhibits. Here the past and the present meet and quietly we teach. Can you think of a better reason for becoming a participating member? Or if you are already a member, contribute a bit more. Membership in forma tion is on the inside back cover. The American Fly Fisher 4 Published by The Museum of A~nericanFly Fishing for the pleasure of the mcnihership. Vol. 3, No. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ADVISORY. KOAKII I AKTIC1.R i\rnoltl Gingrieh Gitehe Cuniec on the Krule Kiver New York, N. Y. by Susie lsaksen AK'I'ICLH Ilr. 12lvin <;rove Introducing Dr. Wm. Raige~itand Sheona Lodge State <:ollcgc, Pa. by Austin Hogan P. 8 Bairil llull ARTlCLlr Ilytle Park, Vt. William Baigent, M. D., 0. B. E. by Sheona Lodge Dr. David K. Ledlie ,rIiI.: MARKET PLACE Middlebury, Vt. Fa~nousFirsts for the Keginning Collector by Austin Hogan John T. Orrclle Slier\vood, Oregon KESEAKCH IIean Sage - Part 11, The First Trip Leigh 14. Perkins by David Ledlic Manchcster, Vt. FAMILY POKTKAITS Steve Kayniorld Keuben Wood Seattle, Washington The lzaak Walton of Iowa BOOK KEVIEW Mrs. Anne Secor "The Atlantic Salmon Treasury" Arlington, Vt. by A. I. "Pal" Alexander p. 21 Donald Zahricr MUSEUM AFFAIKS Dorset, Vt. New Slide Show and Photo Project Women's Studies Library Austin S. Hogan Keseareh Cambridge, Mass. Memorabilia - Donor List Research & Liaison I MEMKEKSHIP INFOKMATION p. 24 TtlE AhlEKICAN FLY I~ISIIEK,the magazine of TIIE MUSEUhl OF AhlEKlCAN FLY FISIIING, is pub- lished qr~arterlyby the MUSKUhl at hlanchester, Vermont 05254. Subscription is free with pay~iicntof nienil>ership dues. All correspondence, letters, manuscripts, photographs and materials should be forwarded care of the Curator. The MUSEUM and h4AGAZINE arc not responsible for unsolicited man~~scripts,draw- ing$, photographs, materials or ~neniorabilia.The Museu~ncannot accept responsibility for statements and interpretations which are wholly the author's. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot be returned unless postage is provided. Contributions to TtfE AMEKICAN FLY FIS116K are to be considered gratuitous and become the property of the Museurn unless otherwise requested by the contributor. Publication dates are January, April, July and October. Rnteretl as Second Class rnattcr at the U. S. Post Office, hlanchcstcr, Ver~iiont. @ Copyright 1976, TIIE AMI<KICAN FLY FISIIEK, Manchcster, Vermont 05254. Original ~naterialap- pearing may not be reprinted \\ithout prior perrnissiorl. CRFDITS: hlr~$eumphotos by David B. Ledlie. Dra\vings by Austin S. Hogan, Curator. Printing I,y Tho~iipso~i,Ine., Manehestcr Center, Ver~iiont Gitche Gumee on the Brule River Susie lsaksen The following article is drawn from three sources: the Gitche Gumee Club log which was maintained by all the members before the various families established their own homes on the club property; the logs and scrapbooks which the Holbrook family has maintained since 1906; and "From the Log of a Trout Fisherman" by Arthur Tenney Holbrook (Plimpton Press, Norwood, Mass., 1949, 204 pp.), a book which narrates the lore of fish and people which the Milwaukee physician absorbed duringsixty-four seasons on the Brule River. The early camp photos are by Truman W. lngersoll of St. Paul, Minn., who stayed on the Brule as a guest of the Winneboujou Club in 1890 and, again, in 7891. Wollin Studios of Madison, Wis., copied the photos from the Holbrooks'scrapbooks so they could be re- produced here. The photo of Calvin Coolidge is from the archives of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Special thanks are due Arthur Andrews Holbrook, M. D., of Milwaukee and his wife. May, for their generosity in sharing the family's historical collection with us. During the 18701s,Arthur Holbrook, It was this group of six 1)oisterous a Milwaukee dentist, suffered from his tent campers and their chaperons that allergy in a sportive manner by frc- first used the nanie "Gitchc (;ulnce" quenting northwestern Wisconsin, then and it is their nanies that arc engraved proclaimed in resort and railway litera- on the first calling cards listing the ture as a haven for persons afflicted nicmbers of the Gitche Gunlee Camping with hay fever. Club. It was his custoni to take the Wiscon- Three years later, in 1889, the sin Central train from Milwaukee to youngsters had lost their places on the Ashland. and. from there. to embark calling card and the rnembcrship consist- upon fishing and camping expeditions ed of the senior Arthur Ilolhrook, throughout the Chequarnegon Kay area. George C. Markhani of Milwaukee, an It was during one of these outings, in executive with the Northwcstern Mutual 1878, that Dr. Holbrook, along with his Life Insurance Conlpany, Judge George friend Dr. Carpenter of Chicago, became H. Noyes of Milwaukee and Kcv. Judson irresistibly enticed by repo;ts of the 'Titsworth, also of Milwaukee. 1)eauty of the Brule Kiver valley and the The first club building, a cook house, fishing to be had there. was built in the summer of I889 on l'he two doctors packed their gear land leased from the Winneboi~jouClub. and left Ashland on the tug Eva Wads- 'l'he lease agreement was drawn up in a worth which took then1 along the Lake formal Iiianner and stipulated in precise Superior shoreline to Rayfield, where detail, according to A. T. Holbrook's they engaged a man named Cooper and book, that "the rent should be paid in his team and wagon. It took two days to one annual installment sonletime during ride 50 ~iiilesthrough the forest to the the month of August and should consist site where the twc; men set up their of one trout of at least ninc inches in tents, beside the Krule at Ashland Lake, length to be caught by Mrs. Josephine the northern most widening in the Tenney I-lolbrook and by hcr tcndcred stream. Louis Job served as their guide. personally to Mr. Christopher D. Dr. l-lolbrook was so impressed by O'Krien, and by him received in the this first visit to the Krule that a trip to presence of the Winneboi~jou and its banks became an annual event. His (iitche Gunlee clubs." The lease-paying family became involved in the tradition cercniony became an annual cha~npagne in 1884 when his wife, Josephine, and and dinner affair until 1898 when E. N. son, Arthur Tenney, made the trip. Saunders began building his lodge on In 1886, Dr. Iiolbrook and Jalnes H. the site. Kradley of Chicago, an official with the Forced upon itself, the Gitche Gum- 121iierican Express Company, conducted ee Camping Club was incorporated. A a group consisting of their sons and four The senior Arthur Holbrook, pictured new home, one half of a forty-acre tract other high school boys to the Krule by here in 1914, fished the Brule almost at The Point just one bend upriver from wav of the Wisconsin Central to Ash- every year from 1878 until 1919. Today the leased site, was purchased from Col. land and then over the new Northern his heirs are into a well-established fifth John I-I. Knight for consideration of Pacific line to Brulc. generation at the family lodge. $600. The buildings were moved to the Page 3 During the 7890's,steamer trunks built especially to hold fishing and camping gear were sent to this humble site by engraved waybills which read, "Gitche Gumee Club Lodge, Brule Station on Northern Pacific Railway; Winneboujou Station on Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway." new site during the winter of 1898-1899. helped to avert the wreck of their children now to be accommodated in Other aspects of the early Gitche schooner Black Diamond which had addition to grown-ups and there was al- Gumee camp life are described in the broken her mooring during a storm and ways a question about the accommoda- club's log. An entry dated August 11, had run ahsore. The next day we poled tion of guests who came in considerable 1890, says, "Judge Noyes was up since to Duluth which was reached in time to numbers. before this season to start the cabin, catch the evening train to Winneboujou. "In 1903, George Markham with- purchase lumber and employ a man. He We brought our canoe with us in the drew and placed his new lodge at the was soul proprietor of the front porch." baggage car." furthermost upriver site. In 1906, Fath- On July 30, 1893, Dr. Holbrook It was probably this same trip that A. er left The Point and built our present wrote, "Painted boats. Pitched canoe. T. Holbrook mentioned in his book. lodge between the other two." An Killed flies and mosquitoes and drove The Gitche Gumee party had hoped to agreement was drawn up in which Nitchie's livestock from the premises. ride to Duluth on the schooner but, aft- Gitche Gumee retained title to the land Received calls from friendly aborigines er spending most of the night out in the but recognized dooryards appertaining offering services for consideration. No cold and rough water helping the crew to each lodge. No provisions were made takers." protect their boat, the young gentlemen for dividing the land. The most interesting account of a retired to catch a few winks before sail- fishing outing is dated September, 1884: ing at daybreak. When they awakened, Part 11, 1906 - 1944 "Stuart Markham, F. W. Rockwell, F. F. the crew and sailboat were gone as were The Holbrooks named their lodge Bowman and Arthur T.