Torch Club of The Fox Valley

Meeting Minutes
Torch Club of the Fox Valley
14 February 2019
Atlas Coffee Mill & Café

Notes taken by: Mary Flanagan

Attendees: Karen Bachhuber, Nancy Bodway, Brian Bushaw, Marcia Debbink, Terri Dougherty, Mary Flanagan, Paul Freiberg, Erik Hanson, Jean Hedges, Walt Hedges, Jean Jepson, Barbara Kelly, Bill Kelly, Jude Kuenn, Cam Maurice, Richard Schoenbohm, Katie Shaw, Jan Smith, Kris Stahl, Bob Swain, Helen Thiel, Peter Thiel, Scott Valitchka, Donna Weis

 

BUSINESS MEETING
Paul called the meeting called to order at 6:32 pm.

1. Acceptance of meeting minutes from 1/10/2019 was motioned, seconded, and approved.
2. Treasurer’s report: Barb reported that as of 1/8/2019 we had $3976.98. Since then dues of $1,275 were paid to IATC. Dues of $80 were received which leaves our balance at $2,781.98.
1. Associated bank is moving us to online banking. Barb will check with them to ensure the current signatories are in place.
2. We have still not received the IATC reimbursement of $300 for Donna’s attendance at the conference. Paul will contact them.
3. Acceptance of the treasurer’s report was motioned, seconded, and approved.
3. Unfinished business:
1. The officers met to discuss how much money to keep in our account and what to do with the overage. In the past it was determined to always keep $2,000 as a cushion in the account. Paul asked members for their opinions on the best amount to reserve.

Barb prepared the following estimated yearly expenses and income tables to aid our discussion.

Income	Members	Dues	Totals
Regular member dues	22	$70	$1,540
Household member dues	6	45	270
IATC reimbursement			300
Total			$2,110

Expenses	Members	Dues	Totals
IATC dues – regular members	22	$50	$1,100
IATC dues – household members	6	25	150
Nametags			15
Meals for new members			100
Delegate reimbursement			500
Website host fee			100
Domain name registration fee			20
Summer party			100
Total			$2,085

Kris suggested we reduce the amount of funds held to $1,000. Brian suggested splitting the difference and keeping $1,500 for now which was motioned, seconded, and approved.

There was discussion of past and possible future extra-curricular club activities and how the cost would be structured. Paul will appoint an activity committee to select an outing for us. Bill motioned that the committee plan to spend no more than $750, so we have funds left for other activities in the future. Bill’s motion was seconded and approved.

Peter suggested putting the remaining funds in a money market account. Discussion of this was tabled for a future meeting.

1. Paul noted that we still need speakers for April and May. Let Walt know if you are interested.
2. At our March meeting new officers will be recommended by the selection committee of Peter and Richard. Contact them if you are interested in a position. Members can also volunteer at the March meeting. Paul, Barb, and Mary F. have volunteered to continue serving as president, treasurer, and secretary respectively. Richard noted that they would probably be happy if someone else wanted the responsibility. Walt will not continue as Vice President.
1. Announcements:
1. Jan announced that the Bergstrom Mahler Museum will be hosting, Naughty Bits, an adults-only Art After Dark event from 5 to 7 PM on Thursday, February 21. See https://bmmglass.com/event/naughty-bits-adults-only-art-after-dark/ for more information.

The business meeting adjourned at 7:04 PM.
PRESENTATION
At 8:02 PM Richard presented, “Kayaking through the Upper Fox River” illustrated with his own drawings.
___________________________
In the summer of 1999, I finished building a kayak. I learned to use it during short day trips on rivers and lakes. This whetted my appetite for a big trip, for a journey, on a river that I knew and loved. In 2005, I was able to realize this dream. This is the story of my kayak voyage on the Upper Fox.

Introduction: The Fox River
Lake Winnebago is about 30 by 10 miles. It is the largest lake contained entirely within a state, and the terminus for the Upper Fox.

The Lower Fox drains Lake Winnebago. It is only 39 miles long, but it is larger, faster and more developed than the Upper Fox. It passes through half a dozen large cities and 17 locks while falling 164 feet.

The Upper Fox is over 100 miles long. It is gentler and more intimate, with more isolated stretches than the Lower Fox. It winds through marshes and long, weedy lakes past pastures and cottages.

Linking the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico
The Wauon trail connected the Fox and Wisconsin watersheds. It is a relatively easy portage of 2,700 paces. For thousands of years, Native Americans made the portage. In 1673, the first European, Father Jacque Marquette, portaged at the Wauon. The Fox-Wisconsin waterway opened up the midsection of North America to European exploitation and settlement.

The Portage Canal opened in 1856 and paralleled the Wauon trail. From the 1850s to early 1900s, steamboats carried passengers and freight. About 250 steamboats plied the river. The railroads arrived in 1857 though and took most of the business away. The last steamer burned in 1922. The government closed the canal in 1951, and it was mostly filled in. A stub remains, running north from the canal’s first lock to the Fox River.

Day one: Portage to Endeavor
Traveled downstream on the Fox through a series of decommissioned locks along with low dams for 11 miles.

Nature. The river was clear and some 60 feet across; bottom sandy; dredge soil banks were four+ feet. Cotton woods and silver maples were on the higher ground. Cattails filled the marshy land. I saw great blue herons; kingbirds; a red-tailed hawk, kingfishers; robins and red-winged black birds everywhere; at Packwaukee Island, black terns; tree swallows; bank swallows near every bridge; and heard but unseen black-capped chickadees.

John Muir, known as the father of the United States’ national parks, grew up on a lake in Marquette County less than a half mile from the Fox. Of his boyhood there he wrote, “Oh that glorious Wisconsin wilderness! Everything new and pure in the very prime when Nature’s pulses were beating highest and mysteriously keeping time with our own!”

Endeavor. With a mile to go, the Fox swung out into Buffalo Lake. The Village of Endeavor lies at the upper end of the lake. Known originally as Merritt’s Landing. Renamed Endeavor on August 7, 1890, in honor of a Methodist Youth Group that held an enthusiastic tent revival in the village that year. A Christian academy was founded on the hill overlooking the village and Buffalo Lake. The Academy closed in 1925. In 1931, the building passed to the community and became the local high school. Now it houses the village hall and library.

The second day: Endeavor to Montello
Marquette County work crews were chopping and removing weeds along the narrow, 10-mile long Buffalo Lake as I paddled by. I continued on the buoy-marked central channel, fighting a headwind and watching for motor boats and arrived at the Montello’s Buffalo Lake boat landing by mid-afternoon.

Montello. The state’s largest tree – a cottonwood, circumference of 23.2 feet, and 132 feet tall stood alone next to the courthouse. With a population of about 1,400 people, Montello is the seat of Marquette County. It sits atop a deep deposit of mahogany-red granite, the Wisconsin state rock. It is the hardest in the world and had been quarried from downtown Montello since 1879, employing up to 200 people. The deepest pit reached the depth of 150 feet. John Muir’s home and the tombstones for Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee were made from Montello’s red granite. The mine closed in 1960.

Third day: Montello to the Village of Marquette
The first 7 of the 11 miles of paddling were through mostly open fields and marsh. 1000+ sandhill cranes reside in Marquette County and 300,000 migrate through. In addition to cranes I saw great blue herons, red-winged black birds giving warning and territorial calls, mourning doves, ducks, and cormorants. Lake Puckaway covers 5,433 acres but is only 5’ deep.

Marquette. With a population of 162, the Village of Marquette sits on the southeast corner of Lake Puckaway. In the 1900s the lake teemed with water fowl and market hunting flourished. Punt guns were used to bring down 100 birds a shot. Caw Caw Hunting Club was based in Marquette.

Aldo Leopold, an adopted son of Wisconsin and father of wildlife ecology, lived in Sand County, less than 10 miles west of Portage. In A Sand County Almanac, he wrote, “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it is otherwise.”

Fourth day: Marquette to Mecan
My bird list grew daily: red-tailed hawks, blue-winged teals, wood ducks, mallard and geese, cat birds, mourning doves, finches, Baltimore, jays and crows.

Mecan Lodge. Before Princeton, I detoured up the Mecan River to the Mecan River Lodge. The owners had two cats. I watched a standoff between the black cat and a male ruby throated humming bird. Both walked away unharmed.

Fifth day: Mecan to Princeton
Princeton. Settled mid-1800s by settlers drawn to “Pleasant Valley” Princeton grew during the free-wheeling days of the steamboat.

Captain Robert Booth’s Lone Star steamboat was traveling in darkness and high water. Sensing that the boat had left the channel, Booth cut the engine only to hear a farmer shouting angrily: “What do you think you’re doing in my pasture?” To which Booth yelled back: “Why in hell didn’t you keep your gate shut?” He persuaded the farmer to guide him back to the Fox and eventually reached Princeton safely.

Sixth day: Princeton to Berlin
It was Monday and I was headed for Berlin, Wisconsin. I had already paddled 55 miles. Now at 17 miles, this leg would be the longest paddle of the trip.

I saw many cranes flying about, but I heard them first. Aldo Leopold wrote that cranes are “wilderness incarnate.” The International Crane Foundation founded in 1973 and located near Baraboo, Wisconsin, hosts the world’s 15 species of cranes. I kayaked past the White River and extensive White River Wildlife Area.

At about mile 8, the Puchyan River joins from the east. It drains from Green Lake, the deepest lake in Wisconsin at 237 feet.

Berlin has a shrinking population of about 5,000.

In the winter of 1845, Nathan Strong and three other men searched for a crossing point for the Fond du Lac to Stevens Point road. In June of 1846, Strong returned to start a ferry. The city formed in 1847 as Strong’s Landing, but the 1st postmaster changed the name to Berlin. Forty-six percent of the residents claim German ancestry.

The mid to late 1800’s were the heyday of steamboat traffic, “One-half the passengers were drunk, three-quarters feeling good, nine-tenths brimming over with fun and frolic, and whole so jam full of jollification and lager beer that they didn’t know which way they were looking. . .”

Seventh day: Berlin to Omro
This 15-mile stretch was bordered by cottages, year-round homes and dairy farms. The topography was flat and meandered through bayous.

Somewhere near Berlin I passed the Palisaded city of Mascouten Indians. Several thousand Algonquin-speaking Mascoutens settled here after being forced west into Wisconsin by other tribes. They were associated with the Fox and Kickapoo and visited by French explorers, including Allouez and Joliet. By 1665, the Iroquois drove the Mascoutens out of the Fox River valley. The site has disappeared from maps and memory.

Omro. In the library there was a binder with over 300 typed pages of local history compiled by a 96-year-old woman in the 1970s. Two brothers from Ohio traveled from Green Bay to Oshkosh in 1836. Charles Omreau, a French fur trader and black smith, founded what is now Omro in 1842. Omro became a village in 1849 and a city in 1944. The Omro Village Hall and firehouse was built in 1896 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The end of the steamboat passenger service in 1902 and competition with Oshkosh ended the growth of Omro. In Cady’s Bayou, between Eureka and Omro, some fifty steamboats “met a humiliating end” by being broken up for firewood.

Eighth day: Omro to Oshkosh
I woke at 5 a.m. to beat a major storm that was predicted to reach Lake Butte des Morts by early afternoon. I had to paddle about 11 miles.

Lake Butte des Morts is about five miles long by three miles wide, or almost 14 square miles.

The river slowed and broadened as I went. By the 2nd mile, there was marsh on both sides with no roads, cottages or homes. At about mile 4, the Fox began to open into Lake Butte des Morts. I skirted the 8,857 acre Nickels Marsh to the west. Through the middle of the lake – the wind blew unimpeded. It took an hour and forty minutes to cross the five miles of lake to reach my landing at Rainbow Park.

Conclusion
Deep in the cockpit of my kayak, I felt the pulse of the river, the history, the time immemorial that it had flowed through the hearts and lives of the people along its banks.

Norman Maclean wrote about another river in A River Runs Through It, “Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.”

The Fox River has its own stories to tell.
_________________________

Meeting adjourned at 8:55 PM.