Sept. 35, 1890.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



191 



THE CLUBS OF THE ST. CLAIR FLATS. 



V.— THE KUSHMERE CLUB, 



CEOSSING the deep cut off above Mervue Club, one 

 comes to a fresh and pretty cottage, with a good little 

 lawn and generally self respectful look. This is "Sunny- 

 side," tbe summer abode of Mr. A. 0. Varney, a noted 

 Detroit architect, who designed the great building of the 

 Kushmere Club, which stands so close by as neaxly to 

 over shadow bis modest dwelling. Mr. Varney was out 

 on the roof of his barn doing some shingling. At least, 

 it would have been the barn if there were any such thing 

 as a barn on the St. Clair Flats, only that instead of pul- 

 ling the carriage up by the barn you row the boat up 

 there. The Flats are strictly aquatic. There is not 

 such a thing as a horse or a vehicle throughout the club 

 region. The summer resorters here have no long moon- 

 light drives, it is true, but then they have no livery bills. 

 Everything goes by water. When Mr. Varney first began 

 to come up into this country he was broken down in 

 health through hard work at his profession, but some 

 years of outdoor summer life at the Flats had changed 

 him from all that, and made him an apparently hearty 

 and certainly very good-natured man. Mr. Varney rolled 

 down his shirt sleeves and volunteered to go over to Rush- 

 mere club house with the thirster after facts. Accord- 

 ingly we crossed the little arched bridge, whose single 

 truss is a lung oat plank, and crossing an expanse of 

 ground whose filling in is not yet complete, soon stood on 

 the wide expanse of green velvet lawn of the Rushmere 

 Club. 



The engraving will do well which gives any adequate 

 idea of this noble building, which is in many ways the 

 superior of anything of the kind I have ever seen. I re- 

 member when the opening of this club was reported in 

 the papers, a few years ago, it was generally said that no 

 club house in the coun- 

 try came near this one 

 in the ornate, ela borate 

 and expensive charac- 

 ter of its structure. It 

 is indeed a noble build- 

 ing, and no temple of 

 sportsmanship and 

 pleasure in all the coun- 

 try round about thall 

 we find to overtop it in 

 our scale of compari- 

 sons. Shades of the 

 muzzleloading days, 

 look down upon us! 

 What is modern sports- 

 manship coming to? 

 Thirty- four thousand 

 dollars heie, expended 

 for a playhouse, with 

 no one knows what ad- 

 ditional outlay for the 

 boats, yachts and per- 

 sonal paraphernalia be- 

 longing thereto. Organ- 

 ized sportsmanship 

 shows how command- 

 ing of respect the sports- 

 man>hip of to-day real- 

 ly is. No fneer at 

 spjrtsmento day. Th y 

 are a class. Their trade 

 is worth money. Forty 

 thousand dollars, let us 

 say, was here paid by 

 one body of sportsmen. 

 It went to a good many 

 people. The tradesmen 

 dare not argue ag-Inst 

 that. The business 

 man dare not tcoff 

 longer at the fellow 

 with the gun. After a 

 while the politician wilt 



bend a *\ iiling ear to hear what the sportsman has to say. 



The baptismal name of "Rushmere Club," as it is gen- 

 erally called, after the local name of the club building, is 

 "The Detroit Fishing and Hunting Association." It is, 

 of course, duly incorporated, the charter members being 

 Mr. W. R Cl <rk, president; Mr. F. B. Dickerson, treasurer; 

 Mr. Charles B ck, secretary; Mr. L. Burt, Dr. Phil Porter, 

 Dr. Moore and Mr. A. C. Varney. The organization was 

 made in the fall of 1884. The club house was built the 

 second season, and occupied the next thereafter. 



The price paid for the Rushmere realty was $400 per 

 50ft. lot. The present grounds, as far as completed, are 

 now 340ft. front and 100ft. deep. The club owns the 

 tract between the cut-off and Mr. Varney's cottage, 300ft. 

 more, and this will soon be filled up thoroughly and put 

 down in grass. The plot thus formed will be given over 

 to the children for a playground. I understand that Mr. 

 McQueen, the Canadian gentleman who is bent upon 

 plunging into the depths and bringing up drowned title 

 by the locks, would fain have it understood that he owns 

 this ground as part of his indefinite "Hersen's Island." 

 He will probably see warm places freeze before he gets 

 any hush money from the Rushmere men. 



Rushmere is put up upon a large scale in every way. 

 The lawn is both long and wide, the dock is long and 

 solid; even the boat houses present quite an array. The 

 latter lie across a narrow cut, between the proposed play- 

 ground and the club house. The club boat house is 75ft. 

 x28ft., and besides the big boat house of Messrs. Burt and 

 Hurlbut, there are 150ft. of private boat houses all in line 

 along the cut or boat canal, making a total string of over 

 240ft. of boat houses. The number and quality of the 

 boats may be judged from these figures. There are 

 several of them, if not more. 



The main building of Rushmere club house, if the 

 reader likes figures, is 325ft. front by 38ft. in depth, with 

 two large wings additional. There is also another build- 

 ing, a bit further back, 35x50ft. in size, for laundry and 

 servant domicde purposps. A big club is necessarily 

 much like a big hotel. For instance, there are seventy- 

 five bed rooms in Rushmere, and sometimes Mr. Moore 

 and his genial wife, who have the household reins in 

 hand, are called upon to dispose of 200 guests. When the 

 summer months come, the interesting fact becomes 

 evident that every Detroiterhas web feet. Along in June, 

 July and August, ail Detroit lives on perch and bass, and 

 goes up to the Flats to catch and eat them. The Saturday 



traffic on the boats of the Star Line is something immense. 

 These great clubs are the lungs of Detroit, and a very 

 hearty , pleasant, city they help to make her. 



There is a great veranda on three sides of Rushmere, 

 and built with Providence alone knows how many soul- 

 ful nooks, juts and unexpected corners. The architect 

 who designed this veranda will be responsible for a great 

 many flirtations or even marriages, no doubt, for which 

 may the fates have mercy upon him. 



Off the veranda opens a, big hall, upon the opposite side 

 of which is a most excellent big grate, over whose mantel 

 rests a goodish oil painting. The main stairway is to the 

 right of that, and to the right, close by the entrance door, 

 is the office, beyond which is the smoking room, and 

 beyond that again, down at the end of the long cross hall, 

 is the ladies' parlor, a bright and cheerful nook 14x14ft. 

 in size. To the left of the entrance hall is the main par- 

 lor, 18x34ft., white curtained, tasteful and quiet, supplied 

 among other attractions with a pretty little piano which 

 I certainly should have stolen if there hadn't been so 

 much other stuff in the duck boat. Back of this parlor is 

 the dining room, 26x45ft. in extent, and all as it ought to 

 be, of course. Traversing the building for the greater 

 portion of its length is a cross hall, 8ft.xl45. Rushmere 

 is a club of magnificent distances. You couldn't kill a 

 duck across the veranda, and you could hardly cast a frog 

 the length of this long hall. 



The entrance hall, or reception room, is finished in 

 natural pine, worked down in hard oil. This will im- 

 prove with age, but the effect is mellow and pleasant to- 

 day. The floor is polished hardwood, the hat racks are 

 heavy oak, the pictures that adorn the walls are largely 

 by the facile hand of the "Detroit boy," Hopkins, whose 

 field studies are well and widely known. Mr. Hopkins, 

 Mr. L. C. Earle. of Chioago, and Mr. Tracy, of New York, 

 would form a great triumvirate, They have done the 



monopoly of the Flats is the Canadian Club. 



Rushmere men fish for bass after the fashion of St. 

 Clair bass fishing, which will be touched upon a little 

 later on, in the course of speaking of some of the other 

 clubs. They shoot ducks as has been already mentioned. 

 We may, however, go a little further in one regard, and 

 assign to Rushmere a boat that may be called typical, 

 though it follows the description already given of the 

 craft in most general use. Mr. Varney showed the writer 

 a boat of his own device which is worth comment. This 

 little ship was 18ft. over all and 5ft. Sin, beam, with a 

 skin entirely smooth. She was decked forward about 4ft. , 

 and had steps for two different positions of the mast, ac- 

 cording to the amount of wind. She had a good stiff cen- 

 ter board drop, and was provided with rowlocks for two sets 

 of oars. Handsomely furnished and finished, in and out, 

 this made a most comfortable craft for a long fishing 

 journey. Mr. Varney showed me on this boat a little 

 appliance invented by himself, which has lately been 

 largely copied by the seamen of the Flats. This is simply 

 a light little fender rail, covered with sheet brass, and 

 running along the swell of the sides from stem to stern. 

 The nicely painted skin is thus protected from injury or 

 chafing against the dock when making a landing or lying 

 alongside. This "Rushmere" model is of very safe but 

 graceful lines, and is said to be a good stiff sailor, which 

 is something highly desirable on the touchy-tempered 

 seas of this region. Riette and Day Dream, property of 

 Mr. Brubo and Capt. Miller, are large enough to satisfy 

 tne ambitions of the boldest 3ailors. 



The system of conducting the household at Rushmere is 

 that general among the clubs. The steward furnishes 

 everything by way of food, and charges a rate per diem. 

 The annual clues of the club are only $25. The member- 

 ship fee was originally $100, but has been raised to $225. 

 The lists will always be full, and will always represent a 



body of men of the very 

 best class, whether in 

 society, in business, or 

 more than all, in sports- 



THE RUSHMERE CLUB. 



best work of the century in depicting, in a truthful, con- 

 sistent and intelligent manner, the sports and the spirit 

 of the field. I wish it were possible that these three men 

 might meet. 



The Moslem says there are grades in Heaven, and per- 

 haps he knows. There are grades in Rushmere. and 

 when you get upstairs you are simply in the second 

 heaven. There is a big reading and writing room up 

 there, finished in the same manner as the reception room, 

 and commanding a fine view out over the channel. There 

 are two fine balconies up there, too, where one can sit 

 and write poetry, and think of new words to call the 

 Canada club, whose wild rice flaunts itself exasperatingly 

 ju^t across the river. 



But details of the architectural excellence and elegance 

 of the house or description of the charms of the Rushmere 

 cuisine, will hardly be what most greatly interests the 

 sportsmen who read about the Flats. What do the mem- 

 bers do, how and where do they shoot and fish, what 

 sorts of boats do they use, and what are the special 

 features of the sport enjoyed— those are questions which 

 will be asked imperiously. To answer them must bring 

 out the unique character of the sportsmanship of this 

 locality. In no other spot is the element of dilletanteism 

 so strongly impressed upon the sportsmanship without 

 weakening or injuring the latter. Let us say rather that 

 the dilletante idea mingles with or flows about the cult of 

 the hardy professional sportsmanship, which holds its own 

 unaffected, sturdy and unadorned. We have no right to 

 scoff at the sportsmanship of these big clubs, and call it 

 the summer day or kid glove sort. The very gentleman 

 who glides correctly through a Rushmere waltz at a 

 Saturday evening assembly, may b8 able to stop a blue- 

 bill or cast a minnow as well as our friend who is not 

 noiseless with his coffee. Sportsmanship is not hurt by 

 the graces of good society, nor is the latter hurt by the 

 graces of good society, nor is the latter hurt by the hardy 

 virtues of the field. To see the two blend, as here they 

 certainly do, is very pleasant and very instructive, too. 

 The fellow with the gun is coming up in the world. 



Rushmere has no preserve. It owns the sky, the lake, 

 and all out doors, as all the other clcbs. No wail can 

 here be raised about the wealthy sportsmen who 

 have taken up all the best grounds, so that a poor 

 man has no chance to shoot, etc. All that Rush- 

 mere claims is her little island, and she made 

 that herself, mauger Mr. McQueen. The grinding 



Chicago, Sept. 12.— 

 Mr. Alex. T. Hodge, of 

 the Butler Paper Co., 

 has just received from 

 the embalmer the 

 corpse of the 331bs. 

 mascallonge he caught 

 at Squirrel Lake, near 

 Minocqua, Wis., on 

 Aug. 15. It is a very 

 bad piece of mounting 

 that he got done, and 

 fails to show the sym- 

 metry of a mascal- 

 longe, but it shows the 

 bigness of this one. Mr. 

 L. W. Yaggy was his 

 companion in the boat 

 that day, and he also 

 took a good fish, which 

 weighed 221 bs , and 

 fought like a demon, 

 nearly filling the canoe 

 with water. On that 

 day also they killed a 

 large lynx, whose skin 

 is preserved in good 

 shape. Mr. Hodge 

 naively remarks that 

 they were rowing along 

 and trying to get a shot 

 at a deer when they got 

 a mascallonge. That is 

 about a sample of the 

 morals of the average 

 tourist to these woods. 

 A deer is a deer, they 

 think, whether the date 

 be August or October. Mr. Hodge relates an incident 

 which befel a man in the country they visited. He had a 

 mascallonge hooked and close to the boat, where the fi?h 

 lay glaring at him. He put his hand out toward the 

 fish, and sprang at and caught it in its mouth, tearing 

 the hand badly. There are a few things any madder 

 looking than a hooked mascallonge, and if they don't 

 always jump at a fellow they look as though they would 

 like to. 



At the Jenney & Graham Gun Co.'s there is now dis- 

 played the mounted head of a mascallonge caught in 

 Black Lake, Mich., this summer by Mr. Lamos. This 

 head shows the cold and cruel eye of the old water wolf 

 very well. The fish weighed 35*lbs., and was 4ft. 7in. 

 long. 



The Twin Lakes fish, mentioned earlier as taken by Mr. 

 Harry Goodall, of the Drovers' Journal, has been very 

 nicely mounted and is now a fixed proof that newspaper 

 men do not always tell fish stories without foundation. 



Dr. Madder and several others have tried the little 

 Abalone shell spoons, which I was probably the first 

 man to use in this country, having brought on a few 

 from the San Francisco firm mentioned earlier. They 

 are a great go out there, and while I have not yet had 

 time to test them thoroughly, they bid fair to be great 

 killers here. Dr. Madder and his brother John fished 

 from the same boat on the Kankakee, at the Mak-saw-ba 

 Club, and the Abalone spoon killed twenty bass in less 

 than three hours' fishing, and also a 14lbs. pickerel, oyer 

 3ft. long. Comparisons are odious, and I should not like 

 to say anything against the standard spoon which was 

 used'at the same time, but really the metal spoon was 

 not in it. Five bass were taken out of one hole on the 

 abalone spoon after the metal spoon had been tried with- 

 out success. That sounds fishy, but it is what Bdly Mus- 

 sey told me. And then he asked me if I had ever seen 

 one of those spoons. The fact is our enterprising friend 

 Mr. Hirth, with whom I left a dozen or so of spoons for 

 inspection, had given them all away as samples, so when 

 I wanted one to try for myself this week, there wasn't a 

 good one left in the box, all the boys are using my spoons 

 and asking me if I ever saw one. I like that. Not hav- 

 ing had a chance to borrow one, I cannot yet say so much 

 for them. They were used by casting from the boat. 

 The gang on these spoons should not be feathered. If 

 some fellow will advertise these spoons now, he can sell 

 about a barrel of them here before the snow flies. 



