July 28, 1894.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
81 
The Business Meeting. 
The Association did a graceful and judicious act when, at the execu- 
tive session on the evening of July 18, it elected the venerable canoeist 
Mr N. D. Cook its Commodore for the ensuing year Mr. Cook is a 
member of Kenwood C. C, of Chicago, and has been a regular attend- 
ant of the W. C. A. meets from their inception and a winner of the 
most considerable sailing honors. A veteran in honors and experi- 
ence as in years, Mr. Cook adds to that the respect and confidence of 
all who know him, so that his success in the rfflce assures itself. Mr. 
Cook is 72 years of age, and the country has few if any active canoe- 
ists of greater age. ' ,, . 
A useful and valuable adjutant for the new commodore is Vice-Corn. 
L F. Porter, of Tay-chope-rah 0. C, MadiBon, Wis. Mr. Porter is of 
virile and energetic type, and of the sort well to keep in mind in choos- 
ingleaders and executive men. Mr. H. D. Spencer, Rear-Commodore, 
is of Bloomington, 111., a cheerful enthusiast of the right sort, and Mr. 
F W. Dickens, of the Milwaukee Mahn-a-wauks, is already too well 
known in the Association to need further comment. The executive 
committee is distinctively Western, Mr. F. B. Huntington of Milwau- 
kee Mr. W. H. Yardley of St. Paul, and Mr. Robt. Lamp of Madison. 
Thp'se bring to their calling an earnestness and enthusiasm which 
should guarantee a successful meet for '95. It is practically a cer- 
tainty that Madison will again be selected as the meeting place. It 
has many advantages, but the Association should no more wish to 
make Madison a permanent camping spot than Ballast Island, and the 
Madison boys should be the last to insist on their town for even an- 
other year. One does not sail a craft always on one course, nor can 
an association arrive at its best end by insistence on one policy, one 
set of men. one town, one anything. This is a great country, this 
West, and the Association needs every club now organized and needs 
to call into organization many more. A trip west of the Mississippi 
would not harm the W. C. A. A sagging and sinking and settling into 
house tents at Ballast, Madison or anywhere else, will kill this or any 
other association of the sort. 
Chicago seems to be a central and desirable point for the midwinter 
meeting and banquet, and it is likely that this will be a practical fix- 
ture there, the same objections not obtaining in this matter as in that 
of the active meet. As it would entail injustice on the Chicago club 
to entertain the association every year, a wise motion prevailed to 
arrange the annual banquet on a per capita basis. 
Another bit of meritorious courtesy was the rendering of a vote of 
thanks by the association to the retiring Commodore, O. A. Wood- 
ruff, of Rockwood C. O, Dayton, O. Mr. Woodruff is entirely the 
right sort for an executive officer, as the great smoothness and suc- 
cess of the present meet alone would testify. He has shown the 
greatest reserve and tact in a situation which certainly needed abun- 
dance of such qualities. The commodore in charge of a canoe camp 
can easily be too puritanical and stiff, and can as easily fall into the 
pine woods and mosquitoes, with a side camp for the wives and 
chaperones, will do this Association more good right now than any 
other one thing it can do. , . . , 
Compared to Ballast Island, the site of this year has certainly noth- 
ing to fear, and it has many advantages over Ballast To send the 
Association to Ballast would be to hang a millstone about its neck. 
It may be a similar mistake to bring it here again. It would be worse 
to send it to Oshkosh again. Compared to the meet of last year at 
Ballast, this year's meet is Hyperion to a satyr. It is also far and 
away superior to the Oshkosh meet. The Association may therefore 
confidently report progress. There can exist no reasonable doubt 
that it will report equal progress the coming year. It would be 
pleasing if one could then writ« the story of a meet at the great chain 
of lakes at Park Rapids, in upper Minnesota, or at the Detroit lakes 
of Minnesota, or at some of tne wilder lakes, say of the Manitowish 
chain of Wisconsin. This is hardly likely, but none the less to be 
wished. 
Thank You. 
Forest and Stream should thank Mr. Geo. P. Mathes, an experi- 
enced and able handler of news and pencil, for able assistance offered 
in the absence of its staff representative during the earlier days of the 
meet. Mr. Mathes is a Mahn-a-wauk, of Milwaukee. In the past he 
was long on the city press of that burg, but when Geo. W. Peck was 
elected Governor of Wisconsin he chose Mr. Mathes as his private 
secretary, which position he has ably filled at Madison since then, 
making many friends in many circles. To Mr. Raymer, of the Madi- 
son Democrat, this paper is also indebted for courtesies and assist- 
ance. Tne Forest and Stream representative could not get on the 
ground until the beginning of the third week of the meet. 
Missed Stays, Probably. 
Commodore Woodruff.— While I am on the whole satisfied with the 
meet. I can not commend the weather. This is not my fault. No 
commodore should b« held responsible for the weather. 
Commodore N. D, Cook— It blew some Thursday when squall was 
on, but I was not much uneasy over my son Harry when he went out 
after Huntington. I supposed Harry could get along all right. 
Harry Cook.— It you want to go out in a cold rain don't get ready 
for it by failing overboard for fun. Rain is colder than water. 
Grandpa Huntington,— There name mighty near being a vacant 
chair in canoe. 
Johnnie Fan-ill.— I can recommend the decollette in certain uses, 
but I find that for an hour's run in a white squall a sleeveless gar- 
ment is strictly no good. . 
Bobbie Lamp.— Did you see me out on the bay? I was right in it. 
ff. D. Spencer— It is said that on the run under bare poles yester- 
day I took off my shoes to get ready to swim when she went over. 
I merely wanted something to bail with. 
a breath of air, the thermometer at Madison going as high as 103" in 
the shade. The sudden and violent storm which broke the hot term is 
said to have been the hardest known here in thirty-five years. It is 
good fortune indeed that there is no loss of life tn chronicle. The 
result shows, first, the unfitness of the racing machine for any hut the 
safest airs, and next the value of the ready seamanship the racing 
shell teaches and brings out. Let one offset the other, but hereafter 
let us hope for a turtleback ship like Dave Crane's at every meet, to 
pick up the capsized skippers of the lesser craft. 
rr was the consolation race. 
The committee had called out the boats for the consolation race, 
Mr. Fred. Dickens and Mr. F. W. Huntington (otherwise known as 
"Grandpa" Huntington, because he is the youngest married member 
of the W. C. A.), were the only entries for this, Mr. Robert Lamp of 
Madison sailing in with them for company. The boats were out wait- 
ing for the starting gun when George Mathes and the writer took a 
paddling canoe and went over to the city— on business. At that time 
the wind was very light, though in the southwest the clouds were 
black and threatening. Mathes and myself were caught by the storm 
in town, and though the rain and wind were violent there, breaking 
trees and flooding the streets, we had no idea of the actual violence of 
the storm on the lake. After the lull we paddled again across the 
bay, about a mile and a half. At that time there was not a sail to be 
seen, and we supposed the boys had all gone in before the squall 
broke. As we reached the dock we saw the camp was wrecked. 
Hardly a tent was up, and great oak3 and elms were blown down 
across the seemly "Midway," as though a cyclone had passed through. 
We were informed that four men were still missing on the lake. A 
long and anxious wait followed before at length the steamer Satirlo 
appeared, bearing the missing men, Messrs. Huntington, Harry Cook, 
Turrill and Spencer. As she rolled toward the dock there was cheer- 
ing and waving of hands, and rejoicing in plenty when the castaways 
came ashore. The steamer again put out, and before dark again made 
port, towing Mr. Crane's boat and the waterlogged Dixie, Hunting- 
ton's boat, which was not visible above the water when the steamer 
was under way. 
how it hatpened. 
The story of the mishaps, as gathered from the participants and 
spectators, runs as follows. All three of the boats above mentioned 
were sailing the course in the consolation race Under a whole-sail 
breeze, when all at once the squall broke, driving them off from the 
point where the camp is laid. Bobbie Lamp was the first to go over, 
but drifted in close enough to be pulled out, pretty well exhausted. 
Dickens went over three times and three times righted her and went 
ahead on the race. He never quite finished the course, for a few 
fathoms short of the winning buoy he capsized a fourth time and 
could not get her up again. 
Seeing Dickens in such bad shape, Mr, H. A. Vipfcs, ^f Milwaukee, 
W. C. A. CAMP AT PICNIC POINT, LAKE MENDOTA, MADISON, WISCONSIN. 
even worse extreme of a. license which would destroy alike the peace 
and comfort of the camp and the dignity and gentlemanly reputation 
of the association. That Com. AVoodruff had shown himself at once 
broad and firm was well evidenced by the unusual ratification so 
cheerfully offered him. 
The compliments of the association were also paid to Mr. Breese J. 
Stevens, owner of the camp grounds, and to the Tay-cho-pe-rah local 
men, who have done all possible to aid in the success of the assembly 
here. Nothing further was done officially, but It is probable that a 
change of rules will be offered the executive committee, and uniting 
the standing rig on equal footing for the sailing races. 
Special Features. 
The lawn fete of Tuesday evening, July 17, held by the .ladies of St. 
James Guild, city of Madison, on the beautiful grounds of Mr. Raymer,- 
near the University gymnasium and boat house, was attended by the 
canoeists in a body and the latter fairly took possession. The start 
was made from the camp after dark, and the fleet went in line of 
battle, flying handsome decorations of lighted Japanese lanterns and 
displaying copious red fire and Roman candles, to say nothing of the 
association cannon, which woke fine echoes on the wooded hills back 
of the bay. 
The meet ball of Thursday evening, July 19, was by the courtesy of 
the University, held in Library Hall, and established itself as an event 
to be rated not second to any hunt ball in picturesque and striking 
features. Madison society returned the compliments of the canoe 
boys, and patronized their formal entertainment numerously and 
cordially. 
Of course the sweet do-nothing of the camp was open to visitors at 
all proper seasons, and camp-fires and tent parties were in due course. 
The pretty capital city of Wisconsin was much in a flutter over the 
fetching ways of its first canoe camp, and the entente cordiale may 
be said to hare been perfectly established. Madison liked the boys, 
and the boys liked Madison. 
Summing Up. 
A fair review of the situation for the year current can only leave a 
conclusion highly flattering to the Western arm of the canoe cult. 
Com. Woodruff should feel that his earnest work has been well re- 
warded by the event now in chronicle, and the Association should also 
feel that the proper forces are in train for the steady and sure growth 
of a good body of active canoeists whose record is already an enviable 
one of progress and success. The W. C. A. is not large enough, but it 
bids fair to be larger, and to be as coherent as any body of the sort 
can be under the loose-knit limitations of its existence. Above all, it 
should look after new material, and not sag down into a group of ease- 
loving summer, campers. Perhaps after a while we may have a meet 
without a board tent floor in the camp. I believe that would be the 
best move the Association could make. There would theu be a com- 
radeship of the woods under which dissensions and differences could 
not exist, and after a woods meet the Association, such as it would 
then be cut down to be. would come out a clean, strong body, virile 
and active and single-minded. So long as the Association hangs on 
the skirt of civilization it will be hampered and tied to a thousand 
apron strings of indeeisiveness and shilly-shallying. A plunge into 
George P. Mathes.— The name of my boat is Sun Mayde. Some folk 
say I can't spell "maid" very well, but I notice Mr. Chaucer spelled it 
that way, and look at the reputation he has. 
Fred Mayers.— I am pretty tall, but I give you my word I never 
touched bottom when I let my legs down, the time I was riding the 
bottom of my boat, out in the storm. Anybody who wants to find 
how deep it is had better take a fishline. 
D. H. Crane.— The Picnic Point is the prettiest place in the world 
for a canoe meet, but Its name is a sure hoodoo. It makes you think 
of stationary tables in a grove, and kegs of beer and a German band. 
There ought to be an act of Legislature to change that name to some- 
thing decent. 
E. H. Holmes.— Pongee sails at $55 a set come a little high when 
you get 'em soaked full of water, ink and green grass stain. That's 
the way mine got fixed in the storm. 
Frank, the Camp Man.— My! my! but dot was an offul time. Dose 
young shentlemens seem to haf blenty of efferyding but clothes. In 
der morning dey gome all ofer dot Mitvay mit pay jamuses und dot 
sort of untervear on, and joomp 'em all in der lake. Dere aint no fit 
to deir bants below der knees, und no buttons on deir shirts, und I be- 
lieve me dere aind a bair of susbenders in der whole shooding madch. 
The W, C. A. Ladies.— Hext year we want the Chi Psi Club house to 
live in again, but we want it moved over across the bay to the Point 
There is no telling what our husbands do when we are away. 
The Ice Box.— It you will notice me closely you will observe that 
under my lid I carry the answer to one of the gravest questions as to 
the success and unity of the Association. It is myself that pulls peo- 
ple out of bed and raises bedlam in the small hours. Some folks say 
that don't go, and some say everything goes. I've got it, in the lid. 
■ What '11 you have— I mean, which will you take? Perhaps I may go 
easier from year to year now. There's no use in giving a poor ice box 
a hot hinge. 
The Weather.— I wasn't half trying this year, hut I trust you all 
can see what I could do if I wanted to. 
The Lake Perch.— Go away now and give me a rest. I've been too 
cheerful with you fellows. 
The City of Madison— Come again, you sweet things ! 
909 Security Building, Chicago. E. Hough. 
Disastrous Storm— Narrow Escape of W. C. A. Men. 
Later, July SO.— David H. Crane's staunch new boat, built on the 
Forest and Stream Scarecrow lines, and the perfect seamanship of 
her temporary captain, Harry Cook, saved the lives of four W. C. A. 
men yesterday evening. The steamer Satirio, Oapt, Bert Ainsworth, 
saved another man for the W. C. A. Yet another was saved only by 
his own skill and strength as a waterman, being picked up helpless at 
last. This morning the W. C. A. camp is in ruins. Every tent was 
wrecked and drenched. Hardly a dry thread can be found, and every- 
thing is in confusion. Yet there is much handshaking, and every man 
is saying to his neighbor that the W. C. A. is the luckiest lot of canoe- 
men on the face of the earth this morning, Had fortune been a whit 
less favorable, there would be mourning in this camp to-day, and the 
W. C. A. would be at the end of its active history. 
There had been two days 6f exceedingly hot, close weather, with not 
probably the best and most powerful oarsman in the camp, took a 
rowboat and managing to get a launch pulled out to get TMckens. 
Fred Mayers, of Madison, also put out in a rowboat, but passed Dick- 
ens and put out for Huntington, who had now gone over, and who 
was known to have a canoe which rode very poorlv under capsize, the 
reconstructed Dixie, heavy as she is, appearing to be about all a canoe 
should not be. The sea was now very heavy and th« wind at its worst- 
Meantime the steamer Satirio, which by great good fortune was over 
on that side of the lake, came running in for the shelter of the bay 
back of the point. Into this bay Dickens was now drifting, and the 
steamer picked him up. Viets had found himself powerless, his oars 
being fairly blown out of the boat. He signalled the Satirio for help, 
but was not noticed and had to fight out the squall alone in the sea. 
He was out over an hour, and when taken out of his water-logged 
boat was barely able to stand. He said he never expected to get out. 
In course of this time Mayers also had gone over and he had, per- 
haps, the nearest thing of it of all of them. Hid by the white mist in 
the trough of the sea his signal for help was not seen by the Satirio 
as she headed off to pick up Dickens. Mayers was left clinging to his 
overturned boat all through the storm, and when picked up by the 
Satirio on her second trip out of the bay he was so exhausted he 
could barely move his hand. 
When the Satirio came to back of the point she pounded so badly 
that two lady passengers she had aboard were frightened nearly out 
of their wits. She was within wading distance of the shore and Quaw. 
of Milwaukee, waded ashore twice, each time carrying a woman. The 
wind was so strong that Commodore Woodruff and Frank, the camp 
man, had all they could do to get the women up the bank and under 
shelter. 
HUNTINGTON'S RESCUE. 
During this time poor Huntington was far out in the open lake and 
drifting further. Every one on the Point gave him up for lost. He 
was lost to sight much of the time in the trough of the sea and in the 
white scuds of mist which crossed the lake. The rescue of Hunting- 
ton was in some ways the most exciting of all the stirring incidents 
of the hour, ana it was here the Scarecrow boat showed her use- 
fulness. 
During the progress of the race this boat was out enjoying the first 
breeze for three days, and aboard her were Harry Cook, John Turrill 
and H. D, Spencer, Harry Cook commanding. When the weather 
thickened this boat put about and ran for the dock, getting into safety 
just before the climax of the squall. She was almost at the dock 
when it wa3 noticed that Huntington was capsized off the point. 
Without a moment's hesitation Cook went about and neaded up for 
Huntington. The wind increased and it at once became evident that 
6he could not carry her single sail, the big mainsail becoming more 
dangerous every second. Yet every man seems to have been cool at 
the command, "Ready, about!" and as she came up the boys pulled 
down the sail by the run and lashed it safe. There was plenty of 
headway on and Harry Cook brought her around close astern of 
Huntington's sunken craft as she fell away on the wind. Spencer 
stood by with a line, and by a lucky cast got it over Huntington, who 
caught it. Had this faded Huntington would never have been saved, 
for it would have been impossible to get back to him. 
"Jump into your sail," Cook called to him, as Huntington took a 
