THE MAK-SAW-BA CLUB HOUSE. 



healthy growth which has warranted its prominence 

 among the clubs of this region. As the need for more 

 and more land became apparent, and as one good point 

 after another was coveted by the club, the purchases ran 

 up until now nearly 3,000 acres are owned, wisely selected, 

 and running up and down the river for five or six miles. 

 To secure easily the balance of the necessary moneys, the 

 club was bonded for $5,000; the bonds, bearing 6 per cent, 

 interest, were all taken up by members of the club. In 

 ten years the bonds will take themselves up by the ac- 

 cretion of the annual dues paid in. Special assessments 

 are forbidden by the by-laws. It may be seen that the 

 financial standing of the club is in a very simple con- 

 dition, and so arranged that no member is in the least 

 distressed, or troubled over a possible special call to meet 

 some emergency. 



The Mak-saw-ba Club building, as now constructed, is 

 78 X 24ft. in size, with a wing 80x40ft., used as the home 

 of the club superintendent and his family, who live there 

 the year round and have the privilege of farming the 

 very considerable acreage of good ground owned by the 

 club. Mr. Ira A. Pease, the club keeper, has been in his 

 place for five years, and the club think he has not an 

 equal for his post. The duties of the superintendent re- 

 quire that everything be kept neat about the premises, 

 that all propertv be guarded, and the general interest.-; of 

 the club protected. Mr. Pease is careful in his work, and 

 under his care no boat ever goes into the boat house un- 

 cleaned, nor any decoy upon the shelves until it is neatly 

 washed and wound. Mr. Pease is notably assisted in 

 satisfactorilv filling his position by his good wife, who, 

 any club member is willing to testify, allows no hungry 

 man to escape, no matter what the size and general com- 

 prehensiveness of his appetite. A salary is paid the 

 keeper, and also compensation for such meals as are 

 furnished. 



The Mak-saw-bas are primarily a duck club, but they 

 don't object to taking in a little of the occasional excel- 

 lent fishing which the Kankakee affords; they have fre- 

 quent and hotly contested trap-shoots; they take their 

 wives and families on picnics and general excursions, and 

 they are, first, last and all the time, in for a general good 

 time. They are good workers in the city and good play- 

 ers when they are down at the club. One feature they 

 do possess in a, degree which I do not think can be dupli- 

 cated anywhere, and that is, an absolute jollity and per- 

 fect congeniality, in their membership. They claim to 

 have "killed the last crank two seasons ago," as one 

 member expressed it. There is not a dyspeptic in the 

 club, not a kicker, not a misanthrope, not a cynic. 

 "Loathed melancholy" cannot abide among them, and 

 the megrims fly away when the conductor calls out 

 "Davis Station, Mak-saw-ba Club house!" The impres- 

 sion carried away from the club is that it is one of a per- 

 fect^ cosy and homelike character. The members are 

 men of means and business cares, but at their resting- 

 place you cannot hear a word of business. Nobody talks 

 shop. Everybody is easy and at home, and tries to make 

 everybody else so. I do not think it is possible to imag- 

 ine an atmosphere of more perfect quiet camaraderie. 

 There is no drunkenness and no drinking, no uproarious- 

 ness and no exaggeration of good-fellowship, but a dig- 

 nified and pleasant conduct which certainly warrants 

 the naive remark made to the writer one evening in the 

 club house by Mrs. F. P. Taylor, wife of one of the char- 

 ter members of the club: "The Mak-saw-bas are the 

 best men, and the. most gentlemanly men you ever met." 



The local station for the club house is reached by the 

 Pittsburgh & Ft. Wayne Railway, whose evening train 

 leaves in time to get the shooter to the club house in sea- 

 son for a warm supper and a good night's sleep. The 

 distance from the little railway siding is only a few hun- 

 dred yards, over a soft and sandy road through a wooded 

 swamp, which they do say is about knee-deep under 

 water in the spring. A big moon, perhaps, throws the 

 low swamp trees into shadows and naif shades as you 

 wind along toward the club house, and a shepherd dog, 



erstwhile employed in gazing pensively upon aforesaid 

 moon, bays sharp-mouthed welcome as you step upon the 

 wide veranda. The next memory to be borne away is 

 that of a large aud well-lighted reception room, which is 

 also gun room, and which is well, fitted with racks con- 

 taining the best makes of guns now in the market. Neat 

 lockers, numbered plainly, and fastened with the keys 

 which hang on a rack under the keeper's care, stand in 

 cases about the room; a vast box stovp, large enough for 

 a whole log, and surrounded with a strong iron frame, 

 whereon one may rest a tired foot, or dry a wet pair of 

 corduroys, occupies the center of the room, while above 

 the stove, and, in fact, all over the ceiling are hooks from 

 which depend so formidable a collection of rubber boots 

 that one cannot escape the feeling that a great army of 

 cluck shooters has been destroyed and annihilated all but 

 their boots. Cleaning rods, shell-cases and other impedi- 

 menta are bestowed upon appropriate shelves, and there 

 are some comic drawings upon the walls, including one 

 of two Mak-saw-ba men whose boat got afire in their 

 absence, aud one of a certain other Mak-saw-ba man of 

 Teutonic persuasion, who couldn't tell "vich vay vas 

 nort." These pictures are the work of Mr. Wiggins, the 

 club artist, who very kindly furnished the sketch for the 

 club house cut shosvn herewith, I can remember all 

 these tlungs plainly enough as seen in my late visit to the 

 club, and, of course, I couldn't forget the pleasant talk 

 around the stove with Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Sloan, Mr. L. 

 P. Brown and wife, Mrs. F. P. Taylor, Messrs. Joel A. 

 Kmnev, Geo. Randall and T. H. Miller, Jr., who com- 

 posed the pleasant party who were down at that time. 

 After that I have a general recollection of a wild effort to 

 break the record on a square meal, and of a long and 

 dreamless sleep in a cosy little room, furnished, like 

 its forty odd fellows, in democratic equality and hunter- 

 like simplicity. 



There are in the boat houses one hundred and fifty- six 

 boats, of different patterns, some members owning three 

 or four each. The favorite boat seems to be the Monitor, 

 of the Wisconsin model. This boat is large and long, 

 and of good lines for the long run up and down the river 

 which is necessitated by a visit to Rat Island, Wmchell's 

 or some of the upper stands, but the roundness of the 

 bottom makes it a trifle unsteady for shooting, it seemed 

 to me; at least, I missed out of one of them a number of 

 shots which I most certainly ought to have killed, and I 

 can't think of anything else to blame it to except the 

 boat. The Mak saw-bas have usually excellent cover, 

 either for their marsh or timber shooting, and they are 

 therefore not so much concerned in the matter of blinds 

 as must be the shooters in a less favored locality. Mr. 

 Kinney's big overcoat of coffee sacking was about as 

 ingenious a device as I noticed. 



Each member of the club, of course, has his favorite 

 point or bend on the river, and equally, of course, the 

 question of desirability is one of daily shift and change, 

 as the flight follows its whims in regard to feed or bed- 

 ding ground. Hailstorm Slough, Winchell's, the mouth 

 of Winchell Creek, Rat Island, and a dozen other locali- 

 ties, are all names on the end of every Mak-saw-ba 

 tongue. The marsh is almost illimitable, and as far as 

 one can "look or listen," presents the appearance of a sea 

 of rice, flags and rushes. The usual marsh feed is abun- 

 dant, namely, the wild rice, smart-weed, "marsh potato," 

 spiral grass, etc. Acorns and other timber feed also 

 abound. This fall large sections of the marsh were 

 burned over. The natives often make trouble in that 

 way, and often the fires are set out by men who have 

 been most directly benefitted by the club. The scarcity 

 of ducks which was last fall felt all over this section, 

 was shared by the Mak-saw-bas. It is difficult to say 

 that this was due to the low water-, or to scarcity of feed; 

 or indeed to determine its real cause in any way. Ordin- 

 arily the Mak-saw-ba feed has been good. Mr. R. B. 

 Organ once shipped to a friend five mallard ducks which 

 weighed 201bs. in the aggregate, Those who know mal- 

 lards will know that is heavy. 



The Mak-saw-ba marsh has its full share of big scores. 

 Mr. Charles Mears once killed 125 teal before 9 A. M.,and 

 ran out of shells. Mr. R. B. Organ once killed 50 mal- 

 lards and stopped. It was the latter gentleman who has 

 the largest score for last fall, 19 mallards; not very much 

 like old times. The records of the club show plenty of 

 heavy shooting. There is a tendency now not to encour- 

 age unlimited butchery, and many of the shooters would 

 follow the example of the president, Mr. Organ, and stop 

 when enough had been killed. 



The Mak-saw-bas have been much interested in the 

 question of artificial feed. It is very probable they will 

 put in a quantity of feed this coming season. They do 

 not propose to leave untried any measure which will help 

 them. During the coming year they will still further 

 push their work of putting in cut-offs and dams, and 

 thus further facilitate the getting around through the 

 marsh. They have a number of cut-offs in now on the 

 main river, which shorten by two miles, probably, the 

 long pull up to the "Two Trees" and other up stream 

 points. 



The rules of conduct laid down by the club are observed 

 rigidly, and are models in their way. The tendency is 

 not to relax, but to make them stricter. At the annual 

 meeting last December the rules were so amended that 

 hereafter only one gun will be allowed to go out in any 

 one boat. This will lessen the danger of accident, and 

 will put each shooter on his own merits when it comes 

 to unloading the boats at night. Under the amendments, 

 also, there will be no shooting allowed after dark. This 

 will be a great boon to the ducks, for very often the great 

 body of a flight will not come into a favorite bit of water 

 until after dark; and if not disturbed at night they be- 

 come much move attached to a locality, as is very well 

 known to all shooters. Hereafter the Mak-saw-ba shoot- 

 ers will draw lots for choice of pushers, so that there 

 cannot be any imputation of unfairness arising from a 

 too frequent retention of a pusher of exceptional experi- 

 ence and skill, The pusher's fee is fixed at $2 per day. 

 There are plenty of pushers available, who are good 

 hunters and thoroughly familiar with every channel in 

 the labvrinthine marsh. The Mak-saw-bas have never 

 had a fatal accident. The Pittsburg Club, whose house 

 stands only a short distance away, lately lost two mem- 

 bers by drowning. In high water the Kankakee, usually 

 quiet,' is a wild stream, and a boat must be handled care- 

 fully. Before the cut-off was made, the sharp bend 

 known as the Devil's Elbow was a dangerous passage, 

 and the scene of many ugly accidents. 



Under the club rules, dogs are not allowed to be 

 brought into the club house, a place being provided else- 

 where for them. A $5 fine is imposed upon any member 

 who brings a loaded gun into the house, under any cir- 

 cumstances Whatever, and no excuse can be offered in 

 extenuation by the Offender. 



The Pittsburg Club, above mentioned, is an organization 

 largely resident in Pittsburg, Pa. They own about 600 

 acres of marsh, and their holding embraces the famous 

 Wolf slough. I have been told that certain members of 

 the Mak-saw-ba Club have gone in and shot upon this 

 slough since the Pittsburgh got possession of it, and that 

 the latter have had trouble to keep them off. I can not 

 believe that the Mak-saw-ba men would do anything of 

 the kind. They wish others to respect their right, and I 

 am quite sure that they are always eager to respect the 

 rights of others. 



The membership of the Mak-saw-ba Club embraces 

 many of the best-known shooters of Chicago, and it is 

 especiallv rich in men who are thoroughly practical and 

 experienced in the field. It prides itself upon being a club 

 of strictly practical and democratic methods. It is one of 

 the best-known and most popular clubs of Chicago, and 

 its membership and character as a club are such that it is 

 never mentioned except with respect. Among the well- 

 known names are those of ' Roll" Organ, "Billy" Mussey, 

 "Charley" Petrie, "Jo" Kinny, "Ed" Flint, and a lot 

 others who are old enough to be called by longer names; 



