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

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

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

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

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