Aug. 7, 1890,1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



THE WAUSAUKEE CLUB. 



CHICAGO. III., July 28.— Ife was some time in last 

 November that the first scent was obtained of the 

 organization of yet another strong sportsmen's club to be 

 added to the number of similar bodies already existing 

 in and about this citv. It was known and announced 

 that the grounds arid bu tidings of this club would lie in 

 the trout country of Wisconsin, but in view of the 

 solicitations of the promoters, who were actuated by 

 obvious business principles, since they had not yet fully 

 defined their plans, extended notice was at that time 

 foregone. Since, however, Forest and Stream has 

 been the only paper to attempt any history of the sports- 

 men's clubs of Chicago, and since events proved that this 

 club, Whose name, early known to a select few, was to 

 be the Wausaukee Club, bid fair to be one of the most 

 noteworthy gems in the full circlet, it may go without 

 saying that Forest and Stream was, in' response to a 

 courteous invitation from Mr, Secretary Tabberner, duly 

 on hand at the formal opening of the club, which oc 

 curred Saturday last, July 26. It seems fit at a very 

 early part of this story, to return thanks for the privileges 

 of this trip and the manner in which they were accorded, 

 for very few formal "openings" are managed with such 

 smoothness in detail and admirableness in executive re- 

 gard. 



Tbere were two sleeper loads of merry gentlemen who 

 lest Chicago Friday evening for the lodge in the wilder- 

 ness of the pine woods, and we may as well say that the 

 names of those on board, and those few who we're already 

 up at the club house are as follows: C. E. Rollins, Chi- 

 cago; C. Stewart Warren, Chi- 

 cago; John Marder, Chicago; 

 W. AV. Tabberner, Chicago; J. 

 J. Flanders, Chicago; Dr. J. 

 W. Tope, Oak Park, 111.; II. L. 

 Martin, Chicago: A. McDon- 

 ald, Chicago; A. L. Brown, 

 Chicago; F. C. Schoenthaler, 

 Chicago: C. R. Ayars, Evans- 

 ton, III.; L. Baldwin, Chicago; 

 T. E. Courtney, Chicago; C. H. 

 Douglas, Chicago; E. Dillon, 

 Milwaukee; J. W. C. Haskell, 

 Chicago; W. H. Haskell, Chi- 

 cago; Thomas Cratty, Chicago; 

 W. S. Johnson, Chicago: J. 

 W. John, Chicago; Geo. Syl- 

 vester, Milwaukee; James Mc- 

 Gill, Chicago; M. A, Donohue, 

 Chicago; W. M. White, Chi- 

 cago; R.W. Mot rison, Chicago; 

 L. C. Bonney, Chicago; C. S. 

 Orain. Chicago; T. S. Hawley, 

 St. Louis: F. D. Turner, Chi- 

 cago; H. Herman, Mdwaukee; 

 L. Kalzenstein, Milwaukee; 

 W. P. Tut tie, Chicago; H. 

 Davis, Jr., Springfield, 111.; T. 

 J. Jebb, Jacksonville, III,; A. 

 W. Harlan, Chicago: W. B. 

 Ames, Chicago; T. J. Wors- 

 wick, Oak Park, III.; J. K. 

 Dunlap, Oak Park, 111.; W. H. 

 Gray, Chicago; W. A- Cray, 

 Milwaukee; L. J. Blackmail. 

 Chicago; M. J. Russell, Chi- 

 cago; W. A, Atnberg, Chicago; 

 J. W. Amberg, Chicago; A. 

 Martin, Pike, Wis.; H. S. Vail, 

 Chicago. 



Wausaukee Club is situated 

 well on to 300 miles north of 

 Chicago, directly in the region 

 lying along the Milwaukee & 

 Northern Railway, visited and 



fully described by the writer last summer. The entering 

 point is the village of Pike, latterly changed in name to 

 Amberg, in honor of the gentleman who has recently 

 moved a tombstone and paving block factory in there. 

 As the inhabitants had not had a square meal since the 

 railroad was built through, some years ago, they wel- 

 comed Mr. Amberg and gave everything they had his 

 name. Such is gratitude. Pike was just as good. 



At Pike, or Amberg, or up in the woods, anyway, the 

 party ate breakfast, or partially did so, or attempted to 

 do; for the change from the simple diet of the city to the 

 confusing luxuries of the North Woods is not to be made 

 without inconvenience. After that the long line of 

 vehicles pulled out for the club house, over a new but 

 very well chosen trail which the cyclometer of a bicycle 

 enthusiast of the party, Mr. L. J. Blackman. made out to 

 be lly^ miles in length. It is a drive of between two and 

 three hours for the best of the club vehicles, of which 

 there are some very good ones. It was the original in- 

 tention to cut the trail through from Wausaukee; the 

 station next below Pike, but some difficulty was had with 

 the supprvisors, and the club men left that village alone, 

 somewhat to its pecuniary loss. 



Wausaukee Club was organized last December, and in 

 its early history three gentlemen, Mr. C. E. Rollins, Mr. 

 W. W. Tabberner and Mr. C. Stewart Warren, were per- 

 haps the most prominent figures. Mr. Rollins is well 

 known in this city among insurance men and sportsmen, 

 in which class the better the writer wists not. He is of 

 old experience among the deer and trout of this north 

 country, and no better prospeetor and promoter than he 

 could have been selected deliberately. Mr. Tabberner is 

 equally well known as the general agent of the Milwaukee 

 & Northern Railway, and to his railroad methods, com- 

 bining hustling and care in details at once, have been 

 largely due the rapid maturity and development of the 

 club. It is said that after the grounds had been selected 

 and the territory purchased, the actual site of the club 

 building was selected by the chairman of the executive 

 committee, Mr. Warren, at a time when the ground was 

 covered with three feet of snow. Mr. Warren is highly 

 to be congratulated upon the selection of the site, which 

 lies upon the brow of the highest bluff of beautiful Wau- 

 siukee Lake, 41ft. above the water and flanked with 

 noble trees that talk constantly in the low mysterious 

 langu.jge of the pines. Upon this seemly eminence, 

 which affords a gracious prospect on every hand, the 

 first stick of Wausaukee club house was laid in April of 

 this spring, slight promise of the large and striking 

 structure which met our view as we swept around the 



last curve in the road, and to whose hospitality we were 

 welcomed by Mr. Warren himself with a cordiality and 

 grace fulness which showed what the hotel world lost in 

 the Wausaukee's gain. 



There ha ve as yet been no good photographs taken of 

 Wausaukee club house, and no engraving made which 

 conveys any idea of the house and its surroundings. I 

 confess the drawing made by myself, over which an 

 engraver struggled patiently for some time, does the 

 place poor justice. The house is really larger and more 

 imposing in its appearance, with far more of the Queen 

 Anne than the log cabin in the coup aVail as one ap- 

 proaches it. The engraver, however, heard there were 

 logs in the structure, and it was only by exercise of force 

 that he could be prevented from depicting a plain log 

 cabin. As a matter of fact, the design of Wausaukee 

 club bouse is by Mr. Flanders, a well-known architect, 

 and in its execution it is very happy and striking. The 

 floor area of the building is*40x60ft. The lower story is 

 built altogether of logs, sawn on three sides, with the re- 

 maining or bark sede lift out. Strong iron tree-bolts are 

 sunk at spaces of a few feet through each log, binding it 

 firmly to the one below it. The result is a structure 

 strong as a lighthouse, and it is the boast of the architect 

 that a cyclone might move it, but could net smash it. The 



150. The maximum annual dues are $20. Board is 

 fixed at $1 per day, which will probably be eventu- 

 ally found too low. The pusher's fee is $2 per day. 

 Use of team $4 per day. There is a charge for the use of 

 club boats, which might very well be discontinued. There 

 are 9 boats at present, some of them very good ones, and 

 some, made for light portaging work, altogether too light 

 and risky for women and children to use, unless a drown- 

 ing in one of the deepest and coldest lakes of the North is 

 especially desired. This point is one which should be 

 insisted upon right here: These little semi-canoes, fine as 

 they are for their real purpose, ought to be kept apart and 

 by themselves, and not left at a landing where just any 

 one can get into them. If they are not, a drowning will 

 follow, sooner or later. That happens only too often out 

 of heavy and steady boats. 



There are 5 wagons that belong to the club, and 4 teams. 



Mr. Thos, Lawton is superintendent of the property, and 

 Mr. J. W. Tavenner, with his cheerful wife, holds the 

 steward's keys. These are selections fortunate in the 

 extreme, 



But in such statistics and details as these we lose sight 

 of the story of the club opening, which has all this time 

 been steadily progressing. I do not know just when a 

 club can be said to be actually and formally opened, 



THE WAUSAUKEE CLUB HOUSE. 



upper story is covered with the shingle finish so often I unless it is when the first bottle of champagne is opened 

 employed in city cottages This story and the roof are after dinner. The latter occurred in this instance some- 

 painted dark red, which color in contrast to the browns where in the neighborhood of 2 P. MY, after numerous 

 and grays of ihe logs is at once very striking and very courses, chief among which figured one of actual, bona 

 pleasant. This club bouse cost $7,500. In its effect it jlde, fresh brook trout, 65 of them caught that day by Mr. 

 surpasses many gaudy buildings of three times the cost Rollins, out of 323 in all caught by him in three days or 

 which have been erected for similar purposes elsewhere, parts of days. It was a fine repast this first one of the 



Wausaukee Club, and many 

 were the sighs of content from 

 those assembled. Finally there 

 began confused noises of shuffl- 

 ing feet, applause and calls of 

 "Rollins! Rollins!" 



Mr. Rollins rose, holding in 

 one hand a long trout which 

 he was upon the point of "get- 

 ting away with," and after a 

 short struggle with a bone 

 spoke as follows: 



"Gentlemen: You are a little 

 early in your call for the un- 

 worthy president of your club. 

 You are not as hungry as I 

 am ,because you have not fished 

 so long as I have tc-day , catch- 

 ing trout for a hungry crowd 

 is hungry work itself. I pre- 

 sume you would be pleased to 

 have me, as one better ac- 

 quainted with this newly ac- 

 quired property of yours, say 

 a few words in regard to it. 

 Gentlemen, I feel honestly like 

 congratulating you. I do not 

 know of another portion of 

 these great forests where you 

 could acquire privileges sim- 

 ilar to those now under your 

 control. You have one of the 

 finest preserves of the country 

 now, with every facility for 

 making it much finer. You 

 own six miles of land along 

 the Middle Inlet, one of the 

 best trout streams of these 

 woods, and the Eagle Nest 

 River, one of the loveliest 

 waters that ever floated a fly. 

 You are in the center of all 

 the better trout waters of this 

 region. The Wausaukee River 

 is within two miles of you, 

 naturally fitted to hold large trout. The south branch of 

 the Pike, and the little South, both in the same direction, 

 are elegant streams, and the latter is fished hardly at all. 

 The Medicine Brook, a famous little stream, is closer to 

 us than it is to Ellis Junction, and so is the famous fish- 

 ing for big trout at its mouth, in the Peshtigo. You are 

 not over two or three hours' drive from the celebrated 

 Thunder River, much closer than from the nearest rail- 

 way point. You are only thirty miles from the head- 

 waters of the Little Oconto, the best trout water of them 

 all, as is thought by many, but which is forty miles from 

 any town or stopping place. You are only seven miles 

 from the Roaring Falls of the Peshtigo, five and a half 

 miles from the Caldron Falls, six miles from the High 

 Falls, twelve miles from Thunder Mountain, and nine 

 miles from Thunder Lake. You have, I may say with- 

 out exaggeration, seventy miles of the best of trout 

 waters directly about you. The excellence of this region 

 for deer is also well known, as we hope in season to see 

 proved. 



"For lake fishing you have nine fine lakes, six of which 

 you own outright. The Nowton Lakes, a pleasant walk 

 from here, are delightful bodies of water, as you will 

 see, with fine beaches and pleasant surroundings. There 

 are small-mouthed bass and pickerel there, as I see Mr, 

 Haskell and his companion have tc-day proven. The 

 Newton Lakes cover respectively 300 and 160 acres. 

 Wausaukee Lake, right at hand, and I leave it to you, is 

 a noble body of water, covers 250 acres, is over a mile 

 long and is over 150ft. deep by actual soundings. Just 

 how deep it really is no one knows, but it is singular and 

 indeed wonderful in this regard. It is full of fish, for 

 earlier in the season we have seen them, and some good 

 bass have been taken there to-day. 



"We have planted 12,000 brook trout in the streams in 

 your preserves, and in the lakes 100,000 wall-eyed pike; 

 we have in the little lake of rive acres on the inlet above 

 Wausaukee Lake 20,000 fine trout fry from Osceola Mills 

 hatchery, screened in, above and below. We intend to 

 make this small and cold lake a reservoir if possible. It 

 is the intention this fall if possible to put in our hatchery 

 just at the foot of the hill back of the house. We will 

 have abundance of trout for you all. I believe I am 

 right in saying that $26,000 in cold cash could not dupli- 

 cate the privileges you have now on your first day at ihe 

 club, and I am sure and hope you will all be pleased." 



And everybody was pleased. Mr. Warren was called 

 and also made a succinct and happy response. Mr. Tab- 

 berner was wanted and made a railroad speech of about 

 four lines. Mr. Tabberner regretted that Mr. Dutton, 



The club house faces south, so standing four-square to 

 every wind that blows, and open to every welcome wind. 

 Its doors and windows are ample and all provided with 

 screens. There are wide verandas on two sides, that 

 upon the lake shore side being simply an inspiration. 

 This great gallery is 16x40ft. in extent, 8ft. high at the 

 eaves, and inclosed completely with a green wire screen 

 against which all inosquitoes, flies and that ilk may 

 vainly weep and gnash their teeth. This is the favorite 

 smoking room. I counted twelve big red rocking chairs 

 out there one time, and it all looked wonderfully com- 

 forting and inviting. 



Within there is a gun and tackle room, 20 X 34ft., well 

 provided with lockers. Plenty of tables here, and a good 

 wash room. Back of this is the reception hall , 20x40. 

 This is a great room . Heavy oak tables and furniture 

 here, another wash room handy, a screaming fine old fire- 

 place, tree size, and a fine collection of odd and freak 

 antleis, presented to the club by Mr. Warren. Among 

 these is the head of a Virginia deer with a pretty fair set 

 of woodland caribou antlers on it. This great hall opens 

 upon the gallery fronting the lake. Out of it also runs 

 the hall for the' stairway, which leads to fourteen tidy 

 sleeping rooms, furnished with iron bedsteads, good for 

 Napoleons and hunters. Near by also is the door leading 

 to the dining hall, which is in a quite separate building a 

 few paces distant. The latter is a story and a half , or nearly 

 two stories, the upper part being given up to the servants' 

 quarters. The dining hall proper is 32ft. long. It was a 

 very good idea to have that and the kitchen apart from 

 the main building. Back of this yet further are sheds 

 and tents now used by laborers, guides and others. The 

 stables are 100yds. or more away at the foot of the hill., 

 not far from a pleasant little lake which sends a stream 

 across the road. In the erection of these different build- 

 ings, the club sawed its own lumber, with a portable 

 sawmill which it brought in. It did this, and still has 

 left the trifle of one and a quarter million feet of lumber 

 left standing on the 4,120 acres of land which it owns in 

 fee simple and by actual purchase. Just what this land 

 has cost it may not be necessary to state, but upon build- 

 ing, etc., over $10,000 has been expended now. The land 

 is admirably chosen, and lies in sections alternating with 

 Government land, so that the amount practically covered 

 is largely increasid. The membership share in Wausau- 

 kee Club has thus a sort of tangible value to it, and of all 

 the clubs which I bave noticed, I believe this starts out 

 j the stiff est. Its shares are now $150 each, the capital 

 stock being of 250shares. There are ninety-five members 

 now paid up, and the list may possibly be extended to 



