USA > Michigan > Monroe County > History of Monroe County, Michigan : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests Volume I > Part 59
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For more than a century, even ever since this region was first ex- plored by the early French voyageurs, the extensive marshes which lie between Monroe and the lake at its western extremity have been famous as a rendezvous for almost every variety of water fowl. The immense fields of wild rice and celery which constituted these marshes offer most tempting inducements as royal feeding grounds for vast numbers of ducks, while geese and brant frequently stop for luncheon on their way to and from breeding grounds in the region farther north. It is not strange, then, that this has always been a favorite haunt for sportsmen. The first club to be formed for the purpose of enjoying these great privileges was the Golo club of Monroe, Michigan, and the way it came about is entertainingly told by Mr. Harvey M. Mixer, one of the charter members, and the sole survivor (at the time this sketch was written), who will doubtless be remembered by many of our readers .*
"I first began shooting in the Monroe marsh," said Mr. Mixer in a recent interview, "in 1849. I was at that time engaged in the lumber
* Mr. Mixer died in St. Luke's hospital, Detroit, in 1896, at the age of eighty- two, interested to the last, in all that pertained to his early activities.
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business, and employed an agent at Monroe, who bought and shipped lumber for me, and on whom I called two or three times a year. On the first of these visits I became thoroughly impressed with the immense opportunities for sport with the gun, and thereafter invariably took mine with me. In the great stretches of marsh lying between the town and Lake Erie there were, every fall, untold thousands of ducks, as well as many geese and swan, feeding wholly undisturbed by man, ex- cept for the occasional Frenchman, who would quietly push his dugout through the wild rice and lie in his hiding place until he could get a shot at close range. At that time there was not a gun heard for days, nor any sound, save the tumult of the enormous hordes of canvas-back, red-head, mallard and every other variety of water foul. On the mar- gin of the marsh woodcock and snipe shooting was excellent. I remem- ber well one afternoon's shooting with a friend in the locality, when we bagged seventy-three English snipe. In the high ground about Monroe, back a few miles from the lake, quail shooting was excellent, while wild turkey, partridge and other game birds were abundant.
"In the fall of 1853 I sent one of my vessels, the schooner 'West Wind,' to Monroe with a cargo of iron for the M. S. and N. I. R. R., now known as the L. S. and M. S. R. R., which was then building west- ward from Monroe to Chicago. I went to Monroe and chartered the vessel back to Buffalo with corn, and when she arrived at her dock an admiring crowd assembled to gaze at the magnificent lot of dueks which I had trussed upon the rigging as the result of my three days' shooting in the Monroe Marsh.
"Among others was John L. Jewett, better known to his friends as 'Jack,' who was thrown into great excitement by the exhibit, and re- solved to go with me to these great hunting grounds the next season. He did so, and for many seasons after, and so did George Truscott and J. H. Bliss, of Buffalo. We found lodging with Joe Sears, a capital fellow and good hunter, who had a house on an island in the midst of the marsh on the banks of the stream, and here we sent generous con- signments of provisions, a judicious selection of liquid refreshments, to- gether with our boats, decoys, etc. About this time the railroad com- pany, which had some years before built two or three palatial steamers to connect the eastern terminus of this line at the Monroe piers with Buffalo, had erected docks, warehouses, elevators, machine shops and a large, fine hotel. The company for some years after operated this line as a part of their system from Chicago to Buffalo, and subsequently abandoned all these expensive improvements at the piers when there was no further use for them, and removed all the buildings to some other point. The hotel remained, and finally it was proposed by one of our little coterie of hunters to buy the building and convert it into a club- house. A conference was held in Buffalo by J. L. Jewett, J. H. Bliss, Geo. Truscott, A. R. Trew and H. M. Mixer. It was found that the structure was admirably situated for our purpose on the substantial piers built by the railroad company, directly across the channel from the government piers, and contiguous to the shooting ground, as well as to the finest bass fishing to be found in the country. It was accord- ingly decided to lease the property, which was transferred, together with the privilege to use the docks and other buildings as long as they lasted.
GOLO CLUB ORGANIZED
"It was at this meeting, too, that the 'Golo Club' was organized, about 1854, with the following officers: John L. Jewett, president ; J. M. Sterling, vice-president; H. M. Mixer, secretary and treasurer;
THE GOLO CLUB
J. M. Sterling, Vice- President George Truscott, Director
John L. Jewett. President H. M. Mixer, Secretary- J. IT. Bliss. Director
Treasurer A. R. Drew. Director OFFICERS OF GOLO CLUB
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George Truscott, J. H. Bliss and A. R. Trew, directors. The name 'Golo' was given to the club by President Jewett, a name which his French punter had bestowed on a peculiarly-marked duck occasionally shot in the marsh, and which some of the members of the club called 'Whistlers,' on account of a loud whistling sound made by them when in flight. The duck was about the size of a redhead, black on the back, glossy black wings tipped with white, black head, and altogether a very handsome bird, resembling the gadwall. The name "Golo' itself has no other special significance.
"The new quarters were immediately taken possession of, alterations made and comfortably and even lavishly furnished; a competent chef had charge of the kitchen; servants and punters relieved the members of the usual drudgery of a hunter's life, and not a season passed from that of its organization to 1865 that did not see all the members present, as well as numerous guests who were invited to enjoy the generous hos- pitality of the club. The club-house was never opened for spring shoot- ing, and during the shooting season in the fall we shot only the largest and finest ducks, canvas-backs, redheads, mallards, widgeon, and occa- sionally, blue-bills.
"During my incumbency of the office of secretary of the club I kept an accurate record of the number of ducks killed by each member, of days each one shot, and the kind of ducks killed. That some approxi- mate idea may be had of the sport, the members of the Golo Club en- joyed during the season of 1865, it may be stated that the total score was something over three thousand ducks, the daily average per gun being about forty birds; and it should be remembered that it was in the days of muzzle-loaders. These were sent away daily by express in baskets made expressly for the club to our friends in New York, Albany, Rochester, Utica, Cleveland and Detroit. The only resident member of the club, as originally organized, was the late J. M. Sterling, of Mon- roe. Sterling never did much shooting, but was an exceedingly valu- able man to the club in various ways. In 1866 my business kept me almost wholly in New York, as well as the year following, and I was unable to meet the club. I therefore sold my share of stock to General Geo. A. Custer, U. S. A., who had then just returned to his home in Monroe, at the close of the war. Shortly after General Custer was ordered to Texas with his command, and sold his share of stock to Hon. H. A. Conant, of Monroe. The club maintained its existence for a few years after this, but removal of members from the country, deaths of others, and the final destruction of the club-house during a violent storm which swept the piers, caused the dissolution of what is believed to be the first sportsmen's club of any importance organized in the west. The Golo Club had no title to any of the marsh lands, but operated under permits from the United States Government to occupy the light- house reserve upon which the club-house stood, and leases and shooting privileges from the old French settlers. While always respected as a private reserve there was no exclusion of other parties from shooting in the marshes, and there was never, or but seldom, any disposition mani. fest to abuse the privileges extended, or in any way to embarrass the club. Besides, there were so many hundreds of thousands of birds in the marsh that it seemed that should the entire neighboring population turn out with an arsenal of guns and ammunition they could not occa- sion a perceptible diminution of the supply. The members of the Golo Club were well known in Buffalo, Detroit, and indeed, wherever business and refined pleasure were conducted on proper lines. They were all successful business and professional men, who occasionally forgot the perplexities of commerce, the fluctuation of trade and the uncertainty
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of riches in the rational pastimes of 'gentlemen sportsman.' The ample means of the members, their correct tastes, their intrinsic worth and loyal friendship, their true sportsmanlike instincts and the environ- ments in which they were placed, seem to constitute the essential feat- ures of the hunter's dreams of comfort and luxury. Such was the Golo Club.
THE MONROE MARSH CLUB
"Following the dissolution of the Golo Club and its disappearance as such from Monroe, there ensued a period of several years before any action was taken towards the formation of a similar organization, or any club for the same purposes as that which had for so many years enjoyed its honorable and sportsmanlike record in the same luxuriant surroundings. During this interim, however, it is not to be supposed that these rich, wild fowl shooting grounds were suffered to become neglected, nor the opportunities ignored. There were too many good sportsmen in Monroe to permit the possibility of such an unthinkable situation. There were also too many market hunters who were not averse to making a few dollars daily by supplying the tastes of Monroe people for canvas backs, redheads, mallard and teal. It is a matter of record that these magnificent birds were sold by the hundred in the city of Monroe for twenty-five to fifty cents each. It was not difficult nor expensive in those days to become an epicure-a gourmand, a bon vivant. Both fall and spring shooting was pushed to the limit-no recognition of proper or improper seasons, the indiscriminate slaughter went on, and the unceasing bombardment on, by the horde of owners of guns of all descriptions, from a flint-lock musket of the vintage of 1812 (possi- bly picked up on the battle ground of the River Raisin at that) to the better grades of sporting guns. The din sometimes resembled the chaos of a militia sham battle. This sort of thing went on for a considerable time, and it was confidently thought that the apparently inexhaustible supply of birds and their increasing numbers would not call for legisla- tion on the subject. But it was eventually realized that the time had arrived when some effectual measures must be adopted to prevent ex- termination of the birds which annually visited this locality in such countless numbers and fed upon the wild rice and wild celery which grew in such luxuriant abundance in these waters. The steps necessary to accomplish the desired results were undertaken with the necessary diplomacy, but with determination on the part of those interested.
"The first laws enacted by the state legislature for this purpose were not altogether satisfactory, and through lack of proper administra- tion and vigorous enforcement proved inadequate and abortive. Mean- while the sportsmen found their bags growing smaller with each suc- ceeding season. Then it was that a number of congenial gentlemen who had been coming to Monroe year after year, just as the original mem- bers of the Golo Club had done two decades before, finding that unless something decisive and radical was promptly undertaken, and that in pure self-defense the days of duck shooting for them in the Monroe marsh were numbered, met and organized 'The Monroe Marsh Com- pany.' The records of the company show that the meeting at which this organization was effected was held at the Globe Hotel, Syracuse, New York, on May 30, 1881. Mr. Howard Soule was chairman, and H. G. Jackson, secretary. The membership of this club originally consisted of twenty-four gentlemen from different parts of the United States and Canada, all of them having become familiar with the attractions of the place through repeated visits there. The company so formed ac- quired by lease and purchase about five thousand acres of marsh lands,
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which extend from the high ground on which the city of Monroe is lo- cated eastward to a narrow strip of sandy beach, which forms the west- ern shore of Lake Erie, varying in width from one to two miles. Near the center of this territory is an island, which, in aboriginal days, was a favorite camping ground for the Pottawotamie and Shawnee tribes of Indians. Later one of the early French settlers built a dwelling here, and the locality became known as 'House Island.' Still later this island was crossed by the line of railroad spoken of in another place, and dur- ing the progress of necessary excavations a large number of Indian relics were found, consisting of tomahawks, flints, arrow-heads, stone hatchets, copper utensils and many skeletons of supposed red men. Here, too, a quarter of a century ago, was the famous sportsmen's re- sort, 'Hunter's Home,' of which old 'Uncle' Joe Guyor was the host, and where the daily menu was largely made up from the products of the surrounding marsh and the fields that flourished on the island, where frequently the pièce de résistance was the toothsome 'musquash.' These possessions of Uncle Joe's were included in the property acquired by the Marsh Company, and on the site of the historic old hostelry, which is dear to the memory of many of the old fellows who will read this, was erected a commodious club-house, and, adjoining on the east, a number of private lodges, boat-houses and other buildings for the ac- commodation of members and their servants, all constituting an estab- lishment which it is believed has no counterpart, and providing for the fortunate members a most attractive, luxurious home when on the marsh. A spacious and cheerful general sitting-room occupies a considerable part of the ground floor of the main building, one of whose conspicuous features is an immense fireplace capable of receiving logs of wood four or five feet long, which, in the chilly autumn evenings, appeal very powerfully to one's sense of the eternal fitness of things. Comfortable chairs and couches, cases of well-mounted game birds, all trophies of the club's campaigns; gun racks and other befitting furnishings make a most agreeable tout-ensemble. Each member has a bedroom with sitting- room adjoining for his exclusive use, both comfortably heated and fur- nished.
"Besides a punter for each gunner the company employs a head keeper and under keepers, with a competent chef housekeeper and suffi- cient servants.
"As may be readily believed, in the midst of these arrangements for comfort, the table is by no means the least of the attractions of the place. A dinner of five or six courses is served every evening, each of which would stir the soul of an anchorite.
"The club shooting is governed by field rules which are rigidly en- forced, and which provide for the exclusion of any feature likely to mili- tate against the interests of the company. Following are extracts from the club's manual :
" 'No shooting for market or hire on the property of the Monroe Marsh Company shall be permitted at any time.
" 'Each member when at the marsh may employ only the punters or attendants approved by the directors. No punter or guide shall be al- lowed to shoot upon the property of the company except from the stand occupied by a member in his place and in his stead, or for the purpose of gathering 'cripples.'
" 'No gun shall be fired upon the property of the company between the first day of May and the fifteenth day of September; nor south of Smith's Island, Snake creek and the Raisin river between the fifth day of October and the fifteenth day of October; nor on Sundays; nor be-
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fore 7 A. M. on any other day; nor later than sundown with the exception of one evening each week during the months of October and November to be designated by a majority vote of the members present.
"'During the month of October there may be at least one rest day beside Sunday in each week, the same to be designated by a majority vote of the members present.
" 'The priority for choice of positions shall be decided daily, by lot, the selection to be availed of before 10 A. M. No person shall shoot within two hundred yards of another who has previously located.
" 'No jack lamps, nor any night lights, for fishing or other pur- poses, shall be permitted on the Marsh at any time.'
"As will be observed, the shooting rules are framed with the view of giving the ducks ample time for feed and rest.
"While the legal shooting seasons open September first the rules of the club do not permit shooting before the fifteenth; thus the ducks which are harassed by hunters on the marsh outside from the first day of the open season soon learn that they have a haven of rest in the five thousand acres of the Marsh Company, with the result of their becoming wonted to the locality. The day's program at the club is about as follows :
"At the breakfast hour lots are drawn for the different points of vantage, when each punter is notified of his principal's location; he proceeds at once to load his own boat with the necessary decoys, blinds, etc., and brings the shooter's boat, supplied with his rugs, cushion, luncheon, guns and ammunition to the front of the club-house, where he makes it fast to the landing dock.
"The punter then rows his own boat to the shooting point already designated, puts out the decoys, arranges the blind and prepares every detail in advance of the arrival of his principal, who, in the meantime. has finished his breakfast, and is now rowing out to his appointed place for the day, the punter having found a spot of concealment in the tall rushes or wild rice, and is in readiness to pick up a dead or recover a crippled duck.
"When satisfied with the day's sport and ready to 'knock off,' the shooter pulls out of his blind and returns to the attractions of the club- house, leaving the punter to 'pick up.' This attendant's duties for the day are ended when all decoys and boats are carefully and neatly stowed away in the boathouse, the ducks hung up in the cold storage house and the guns thoroughly cleaned and replaced in their appro- priate racks. The shooter has already arrived at the club-house, where a bath and a change of raiment prepare him for the keen enjoyment with the hunter's appetite the excellent dinner which the chef has ready to serve. The day's scores are then all accurately entered in a book kept for that purpose, and then follows that luxurious indulgence in the fra- grant weed before the great open fire, an exchange of the day's experi- ences, which rounds out what is a red-letter day in the hunter's life.
"While many changes in its membership have taken place since its foundation the club has always been fortunate in its personnel, for all have been genial gentlemen and true sportsmen, and at no time have there been present discordant elements. As stated before, the original number of members was twenty-four, but it having been found that fewer guns would be advantageous the membership has been reduced, and the stock of the retiring members has been absorbed." Of the original members of the club only Franklin Brandreth, of Ossining, New York, now remains on the roll.
Vol. 1-30
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The present officers and members, numbering fourteen, are as fol- lows :
Franklin Brandreth, Ossining, New York, president; Harold Her- rick, New York, vice president; William B. Boulton, New York, secre- tary and treasurer; W. C. Sterling, Monroe, Michigan; C. Cadwallader. New York; B. Preston Clark, F. S. Mead, A. W. Milliken, Dr. George G. Sears, and W. H. Slocum, Boston; J. R. Lawrence, J. L. Law- rence, Charles N. Ogdon, and H. B. Hollins, New York. * * * *
The annual dues are $100, in addition to which each member is re- quired to pay into the treasury the sum of one dollar for every day or part of a day on which he shoots on the property of the company, or for each day that he accepts the assignment, whether he shoots or not.
It will, therefore, appear to the most casual observer that to gratify one's taste for such a luxurious hunter's life involves something rather more than the time. The author wishes to express his acknowledg- ments to one of the former members of the club, Hon. H. A. Conant, and to Mr. W. C. Sterling of Monroe, trustee and charter member, of Monroe. for most interesting information in connection with this article, and for courtesies too numerous to mention.
THE MONROE YACHT CLUB
was organized in 1887 and incorporated May 27, of that year, with the following officers : commodore, William C. Sterling; vice commodore. Seymour Reynolds; rear commodore, W. C. Waldorf; secretary, Wing Little; treasurer, Joe. C. Sterling; measurer, Capt. J. M. Lontill ; directors, J. C. Whipple, Chas. R. Wing, Lester O. Goddard, R. C. Ful- ler, W. C. Sterling. The club owns a neat, substantial and commodious clubhouse for the use of members and their invited guests, situated on the south side of the government canal upon property owned by the United States government from whom it is leased. The site is that upon which stood the hotel and passenger station, when the Lake Shore Rail- road ran its trains to the piers to connect with the line of passenger and freight steamboats running between Monroe and Buffalo.
The club maintains a ferry boat or barge, to convey members and visitors across the canal from the north side, making trips to connect with the cars running to and from the city on the line of the Detroit United Railway, or as often as may be required by the members, without charge. The service by the electric railway is in effect from May 30th to October 1st, the fare charged being five cents each way per passenger, affording a pleasant, rapid, comfortable and inexpensive trip of about three miles along the River Raisin which is greatly enjoyed by Monroe people and visitors from abroad, during the summer. The club maintains a fleet of cat boats for the use of members, under proper rules and restrictions, the expense of which is met by appropriation from the club's receipts from the sale of membership fees and annual dues. The formality of becoming a member is simply the application for one share of the stock which is $10, and the election of the applicant by the club. The annual dues previous to 1912, was $4.00, but at the annual meeting in that year it was decided to advance this fee to $5.00, which is the present amount. The club numbers something over 250 members and includes many of the business and professional men of the city, besides quite a large number of ladies. The charge for this very desirable and attractive element in the club, for the enjoyment of the same privileges as the gentlemen, is one dollar each per year.
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The club house is built on piles over the waters of Lake Erie, and is surrounded on all sides by a spacious veranda, from which a delightful view of the passing steamers and other shipping is had and from which the club races and other interesting aquatic functions can be viewed with great enjoyment by the large number of spectators which are always sure to be present on these occasions. Dancing is provided for in the spacious assembly room, which occupies almost the entire floor space of the house. Picnics and family parties are popular here, for which ample facilities are provided on the roomy verandas. Perhaps no institution in Monroe has contributed more to the enjoyment of Monroe people than this organization. The officers are: commodore, Thornton Dixon ; vice commodore, W. P. Cooke; rear commodore, Benj. J. Green- ing; financial secretary, B. S. Knapp; fleet captain, Frank H. Stoner; measurer, Earl Kull; fleet surgeon, Dr. J. J. Siffer; chairman house committee, J. C. Sterling.
In addition to the fleet of cat boats owned by the club, many power boats and sail boats, privately owned by the members, afford ample opportunity for the enjoyment of the waters of Lake Erie.
THE GERMAN WORKINGMEN'S ASSOCIATION
of Monroe, is one of the oldest social and beneficial organizations in Monroe, having been organized in February, 1865, with but seventeen members, whose names follow: Charles Kirchgessner, August Girshke, Gustave Girshke, John Beckerlein, Louis Waldorf, John L. Eckert, Nicholas Rupp, John Buttman, Michael Kibburtz, Andrew Rummel, and others. When the membership had increased to one hundred, the society rented a commodious hall of Geo. Rapp, which was the home of the association for many years, but which was later exchanged for Munch's Hall on Monroe street, which they now occupy. The first officers of the association were John P. Schluter, president; Anton Muneh, vice-presi- dent; Frank A. Kirchgessner, secretary ; Michael Kibburtz, treasurer. Among those who have been chosen presidents are Charles Kirchgessner, August Girschke, George Nickel, Charles Gruner, E. G. J. Lauer, Chas. Stelzner, Jacob Roeder; the last named has been president for the past 22 years and still holds the office. The present membership of the asso- ciation is 422, the state organization comprises 86 societies with a total membership of 13,600. Each member when initiated pays a fee accord- ing to the age of entry ranging from $2.00 to $15.00. Upon the death of a member, or a member's wife, one hundred dollars is paid to the family of deceased for funeral expenses, out of the local treasury of the Bund, while the state association pays the family $500 in case of the death of a member. The local society has a cash surplus at present of about $7,000.00. The present officers are Jacob Roeder, president, Adolph Rupp, vice-president; Conrad Kibbutz, financial secretary; John C. Kolb, recording secretary ; Gustave C. Merz, treasurer; Wm. F. Acker, surgeon and physician. Trustees, Fred Fuerstenberg, Henry Thrams, Geo. Waltz, George A. Steiner.
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