1931-2024 The Chippewa Flowage has lost another legend…. Tom Sweeney, patriarch of Shady Nook Resort since 1960 (1961 first summer). He has been very active in both the Lake Chippewa Flowage Resort Assn.(President)And the Hayward Lakes Resort Assn. He loved this lake and all the resorts on it. His genuine caring

According to Frank Proski’s obituary before they bought the resort in 1948 it was name Phill Halls Resort. Frank and Helen Proski ran the resort from 1948 to about 1987 or 88 when Bill Fetzer bought it and ran the resort until 2020-ish?   Musky Tale Resort is still going strong today!

George Pazik – Editor and Publisher Fishing Facts Magazine As editor and publisher, George Pazik helped grow Fishing Facts Magazine into a national voice in sport fishing. In the process of growing Fishing Facts Magazine he promoted the Hayward area as well as the Lake Chippewa Flowage. George served on board of

1946-2023 Over Labor Day weekend in 1979, while camping on the Chippewa Flowage Randy found his dream business and purchased Jenks Bait and Tackle in 1980. He operated Jenks’ in Hayward, WI from 1980 until his retirement in 2014. Randy enjoyed fishing, making fishing reports, astronomy, antiques, and genealogy. He was

If you can remember years back, we told you a short little story about McCloud’s Dam. If you’ve ever driven your boat into Musky Bay, you’ve gone by the old dam. It’s located in the old river channel that runs from Musky Bay, around Derro Island and past Cletcher’s Bar. The

By John Dettloff – IndianTrailResort.com Napoleon Paul Lessard was born near the St. Lawrence River on July 12, 1863 in Sainte-Ursule-Maskinonge, Quebec, Canada, to Jean Baptiste and Emelie (Beland) Lessard. Family lore states that Paul’s older brothers Pierre “French Pete” and Adolph had immigrated from Canada to the Chippewa River country

John Dettloff – IndianTrailResort.com Thomas Manwaring was born in England in 1849 and immigrating to the United States around 1872. After purchasing the West Bend stopping place in 1875, Thomas married Margaritha Hattamer in July of 1877 in Chippewa Falls and they subsequently made their home and raised their four children

By John Dettloff – IndianTrailResort.com One of the first available places of lodging to be built within the basin of what would eventually become the Chippewa Flowage was known as Kelly’s stopping place. It was also known as “West Bend” because of the way the river comes in sharply from the

John Dettloff – IndianTrailResort.com On June 11, 1919, Ellsworth and Pollie Derro were issued a land patent as a result of proving up on their homestead claim on 80 acres of land in Section 2 T40N R 7W, located just to the west of Moss Creek in Sawyer County. With homestead

Long Time Member D & B Bait and Tackle has closed D & B Bait and Tackle, Hayward WI West County Road B(at Junction County CC) “Dumb looks are always FREEREAL answers will cost ya” Dave and Betty   Thanks Dave and Betty! D & B Bait and TackleWest County Road

A map from the 1950’s Hover over map to enlarge Open Map Image in new window Deerfoot Lodge 1970 Lake Map Pats Landing Resort 1950’s or 1960’s Lake Map Jenks ad from 1969 Indian Trail Resort Stevens Resort Big Musky Resort Johnsons Resort The Landing Baumgartens Resort Ad Arrow Resort Proskis

Hover over map to enlarge 1970’s RESORTS 1. Herman’s Landing (The landing resort LCO)2. Kavanagh Resort (Sisko’s Pine Point Resort)3. Arrow Resort (Old Arrow Resort)4. Kelsey’s Musky Haven5. Quinn’s Chippewa Chief Resort6. Summer’s Resort7. Neu Bayview Resort Inc (R & R Bayview Resort & Restaurant)8. Twin Bay Resort9. Musky Joe’s (Musky

At some point there was a fish hatchery located at the Winter Dam.   The exterior photo below calls it the “Chippewa Flowage Hatchery”. The interior photo calls it the “Winter Dam Hatchery” and is dated 1938. Chippewa Flowage Hatchery Above Photo From Here:https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/A223MCKG67XFRY8L Winter Dam 1939 Above: Winter Dam hatchery showing

John Dettloff – IndianTrailResort.com Ever since the first maps of the Chippewa Flowage began listing place names, Bunker Lake and Bunker Bay have long been prominently identified on most maps. But how did these names come to be? Was Bunker a person? If so, who was he? The first clue to

By Tatum Treland-Schlapper – Treeland Resorts How Cletcher’s Bar got its name : Tatum Treland-Schlapper Today we’d like to share the story of how Cletcher’s Bar got its name. Big thank you to Dr. John Cletcher Jr. for sharing the story of his father, Dr. John Cletcher Sr.’s story for all

The two little frame school houses were erected on the same spot, Sec. 8-40-7, and school was maintained for the benefit of the family of Adolph Lessard who kept a stopping place a few rods distant. The first school house was built by Mr. Lessard in 1893 : without expense to

By Tatum Treland-Schlapper – Treeland Resorts The story of how Blackbird Point came to be is short, sweet and comical. As legend has it, an old guest of Treeland’s named Frank Becker gets the credit. Frank was a good ol’ boy from Chicago who loved to musky fish on the Chippewa

On July 5, 1901, the school board let a contract for $627.00 to Blair & Jorgenson to build a school house (a duplicate of the A Windfall Lake school house) on the N. E. corner of sec 14-41-8 } (near the extreme northern point of Round Lake). It was erected to

Sawyer County Gazette Oct. 5, 2022“Yesteryears” column Oct. 19, 1972Max Schenk, age 69, former owner and operator of East Fork Resort of Winter, died unexpectedly on Sunday morning at his home. He was born May 13, 1903, at Karkel, Germany, coming to the United States when a young man. He resided

By Tatum Treland-Schlapper – Treeland Resorts At the turn of the century, people loved to travel to Northern Wisconsin. They hunted and fished the East and West Fork of the Chippewa River as well as the natural lakes; lakes that eventually ended up forming the Chippewa Flowage. It was common practice

John Dettloff – IndianTrailResort.com Pictured is Billy DeBrot’s first of three resorts that he owned and operated… this one, more than a century ago. Likely built during the Teens and situated up on a high ridge of land which the West Fork of the Chippewa River bent around, DeBrot’s Pahquahwong Camp,

By John Dettloff – IndianTrailResort.com Circa 1886, this is a photograph of the fine home of Thad and Mary (Bert) “Gogi” Thayer, located in the heart of Old Post (also known as the village of Pahquahwong). Thad Thayer, who came to this area from Maine, was one of the first white

The (Sam) Johnson Stopping Place was located in what is now Trail’s End Camp, north of Bruce. The site is located near the mouth of Devil’s Creek. The road entering Trail’s End follows the old Chippewa Tote Road. Ferry service across the Chippewa River was provided here, and there was a

Here is a short story about McCloud’s Dam (we are not sure on the spelling of this as it is not marked on any maps we can find). If you’ve ever driven your boat into Musky Bay, you’ve gone by the old dam…. Yes, it’s located in the old river channel

Baumgarten’s Bar and Baumgarten’s Resort Baumgarten’s Resort and Baumgarten’s Bar got their names from Ernst Guenther William “Bill” Baumgarten and the resort he built. The road was built and the area for the resort was cleared  using a horse named Nellie and then later with an old blue ford tractor. Bill

Joe Russell came to the U. S. from Canada and settled in Maine in 1857. Moved to Michigan in 1863. Settled at Grand Rapids, Wis. Where he lived for eleven years. Joe ran a stopping place on the Chippewa River about eleven miles south of the Raynor stopping place. Russell first

There used to be a lot more driftwood on the Chippewa Flowage. In the 1970’s the back bays were still filled with standing tree trunks and root masses. Some root masses were like a burst of root rays coming up from the flowage. Some that had become inverted became “Tippy” mini

Mr. Cy Pinkham and later Mr. 0. W. Blackburn operated the Grand Rapids House Stopping Place. This stopping place was located on the Chippewa Tote Road. The stopping place consisted of a three-story hotel, saloon, store, two blacksmith shops, several barns which were large enough to accommodate a hundred horses, and

On the north side of River Road where Fiorelli road intersects was a School house named Riverview School. Mae Baumgarten (Baumgarten’s Resort) was a/the teacher (not sure if there were other teachers). The photo below is from 1939 and shows the School but NOT Bill Baumgarten’s House that was near the

Wilson Shannon Ackley (W.S.) the Son-in-law of James Bishop, who was one of the earliest Settlers of what is now Sawyer county, was born in Antioch, Monroe county, Ohio, Nov. 17, 1842. He served for a time in the late civil war. Came out of the army in 1865 and moved

The Drake School was maintained for the benefit of the family of Fred C. Drake. The log school house was erected in 1897 on the S.W. 1/4 S. E. 1/4 Sec. 22-41-6. The carpenter work was done by W. H. Marquette. The terms of school have been as follows: Louis Mishler,

200 yards east of the road down the access road. Look for timbers near the spillway. These supported a platform where men stood, directing logs downriver Share this Story Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email What’s left of the Pacwawong Dam Photo from: https://www.scribd.com/document/465768189/The-Visitor-Writes-Again Other Historical Places

The Blue Heron was located at the corner of Hwy B and Hwy CC where the Rusty Hook Saloon and Smokehouse is. The Blue Heron 1950’s – 2010-ish Other Historical Places The Blue Heron Share this Story Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email

Meda / Scott Lake Sawyer County Record Jan. 3, 1929 John Scott, a veteran of the Civil War, passed away last Saturday and was buried Monday morning at Reserve. So far as is known he was the last survivor of the Civil War among the Indians of the reservation and one

Bill Price (M.C) of Black River Falls came in and built a dam on the Brunet in the early seventies. This is still known as Price’s Dam.  Hugh McPhee and Big John McDonald also logged on the Brunet the same time and built two dams of the Brunet lower down.  All

R.F. Housel (Bud) and his wife Chinky had a Tavern with dining on Barker Lake Road. There was a gas pump out front. It was always a treat to stop at “Buds” on the way home from getting groceries at the Winter Co-Op with grandpa. They had a roll the ball

Elijah Swift, a dealer in pine lands, logs, and lumber built a dam in T-38 N -R 8W Section 10 of Sawyer County where he owned 40 acres. Just to the west of the dam a creek now named Swift creek entered the Couderay River.  Elijah was born in Falmouth, Mass.,

Joseph Sarrazin “Buckwheat” Known most of his life as “Joe Buckwheat”, he was born Joseph Sarrazin on October 30, 1860 to Louis Sarrazin and Marie-Christian Brien dit Desrochers in St-Hermas, Quebec. (Note: There are many variants of the family name, to include Sarin, Sarrin, Sarasin, Sarrazen, etc., although Sarrazin seems to

Burpee’s Stopping Place was located in “Gates County”, Island Lake WI. Rusk County, Wisconsin, was known as Gates County from 1901 to 1905. This was the location of Elijah Swift‘s headquarters in the 1860’s and was called Swift’s Mill (zoom in on map to see name). This place became a stopping

The oldest building still standing in Sawyer County Wisconsin Clark, W.N. and M.H. Clark. “A Short History of Southern Sawyer County.” Wisconsin Colonization Company, 1920. One of the best known early settlers was Alfred Raynor, who in 1878 bought the Raynor farm from the Hall brothers, who were a few years

The Bishop School was named after James Bishop the earliest settler in this neighborhood who came from Minneapolis during the spring of 1872. He had lived in Maine previous to moving to Minneapolis. The newspapers frequently refer to it as the Ackley school – W.S. Ackley being clerk. of the sub-district

The building was erected.on the N. E. corner Sec. 30-39-5 during the summer of 1899. Only one term of school has been held in the school house and that was taught by Gertrude Jordan for two months during the spring of 1901. The school house was not built by contract but

Charles Belille The first white settler in the Upper Chippewa Valley was a French Canadian called Charles Belille. He came to Northern Wisconsin as a paddler in one of the big birchbark canoes used by the fur companies. These big cnaoes each carried one hundred men. He came down the old

The Hayward Indian School opened September 1, 1901 “under very unfavorable circumstances. Clothing, subsistence, and equipment for the plant had not reached the school, and it took several months to restore order out of chaos.” The conditions were so chaotic, that the first superintendent of the school resigned within the first

The Arpin Dam was most likely build by the John Arpin Lumber Co. Share this Story Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Other Historical Places

The original dam, called the Goodrich Dam, was built by Jim Goodrich in 1878. It was used to raise the level of the Moose River to float logs during the spring log drives. Another dam, called the West Fork Dam, was built by John and Billy England in 1883, about 100

Bruno Vinette’s logging camp on the Chippewa in Birch Creek. The logger’s life was arduous and dangerous. Nonetheless, it attracted men in search of work. Many were farmers or their sons who left their homes for winter logging to earn cash to lift the mortgage on their farm. —The Chippewa County

The Chippewa Flowage Area Property Owners Association (CFAPOA) and Couderay Waters Regional Land Trust (CWRLT) are pleased to present the Chippewa Islands Project. We did it!!Thanks to your commitment and generosity We have SAVED Big Timber Island Saving Big Timber Island On January 27, 2004 the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board unanimously

Bruno Vinette Stopping Place: Bruno Vinette was born Oct. 7, 1836 in Ste-Martine, County Chateauguay, Québec, but migrated to Kankakee, Ill., in 1853 to live with his godfather. Meeting a man who had just returned from the pineries of the Chippewa Valley, he headed north in 1855 to seek his fortune.

Oral history of the Hayward Wisconsin area after the logging boom.  Audio recorded from WHA radio in the 1970’s. Most photos from the J.E. McGilligan Collection. Sorry about the free software banner that appears across the video and sorry about the audio quality ;-( https://youtu.be/mTvNZsoN-CI

D. A. Miles operated an early logging camp at the big bend of the Chippewa River. The camp consisted of barns that could accommodate 200 horses and sleeping shanties that could house 300 men. It is thought that this was near the point where the Mississippi River Logging Co. Railroad had

Organized by Ben Faast around 1918, the Wisconsin Colonization Company sought to establish a prosperous city of farmers on land formerly used for logging. Faast named the town Ojibwa and, working with UW professor Frans Aust, developed a complete town plan that included a zoo, parks and a grand boulevard. The