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Text originally published in 1925 under the same title.
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Publishers Note
Although in most cases we have retained the Authors original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern readers benefit.
We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.
OLD PENINSULA DAYS
TALES AND SKETCHES OF THE DOOR PENINSULA
BY
HJALMAR R. HOLAND
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION
To my wife
and best counselor, I dedicate this book
about a land we have lived in
and loved for many years
PREFACE
The Door Peninsula, also called the Thumb of Wisconsin, has a unique history. The exceptional physical conditions which Nature has built up in and around the peninsula have produced men and experiences not commonly met with. The result is a pioneer history teeming with unusual characters and incidents.
This pioneer history is built on a background of Indian life and legend the counterparts of which may be present in other regions, but are there mostly forgotten. Here, happily, these ancient dramas have been preserved to us by the observations and remarks of the early French missionaries who visited and labored in this region more than two hundred years ago.
Recently this peninsula has become known to thousands of discriminating tourists attracted hither by its exquisite scenery and diversified flora. Here, far from the crowds and dust of the city, they have found a haven unharassed by the weary strain of social demands, and become almost like children again. Here the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest.
This book is written for the purpose of telling something about the making of this American community. The author has had the privilege of spending more than forty years in this fair region, and he knows it intimately. He has heard the story of its early settlement from the lips of the pioneers who conquered its wilderness; he has talked with scores of fishermen and sailors who have adventured on its waters; from the Indian and the pathfinder he has learned legends of old. From these sources and others has grown the following narrative, in which he attempts to picture the fascinating history, stirring traditions, and the quaint characters that form the living background of this land of romance.
While this book is not intended as a local history, it is historical throughout. In one or two instances names have been changed, but otherwise it is true to fact. While the history of the peninsula abounds with many things of local interest, only such matters have been selected as are considered typical or have a common human appeal. To make the best selections is a problem beset with difficulties because the pioneers of Door County have left us so many illuminating and delectable episodes. For this reason several new chapters have been added to this edition and other chapters have been omitted to keep the book within the desired limits.
H. R. H.
Cedar Hill,
Ephraim, Wis.
ILLUSTRATIONS
1. The Old Man of the Sea
2. Map of the Peninsula
3. To Montreal with Pelts
Group I
4. Nicolet Bay
5. A Cherry Orchard
6. The La Salle Monument
7. The Totem Pole
8. A Cove at Little Sturgeon Bay
9. Claflins Elms
10. Rock Island
11. The Oldest House
Group II
12. Old Bridge Across Kangaroo Lake
13. Shoreline at North Bay
14. At the Mouth of Moonlight Bay
15. Kangaroo Lake
16. Pioneer Monument at Ephraim
17. Rev. A. M. Iverson
18. Nils Otto Tank
19. The Old Parsonage
20. Ephraim
21. Little Sister Bay
22. Iversons Pulpit
23. Eagle Cliff
24. Site of Claflins House
25. Old Church in Fish Creek
Group III
26. Fish Creek
27. The Shoreline North of Fish Creek
28. A Cherry Orchard
29. Tecumsehs Cave
30. A Coopers Fireplace
31. Allen Bradley
32. End of the Peninsula
Group IV
33. A Fishermans Dock on Washington Island
34. A Sculptured Indian
35. A Fishermans Dock at Whitefish Bay
36. Nest of Sea Gulls
37. Aerial View of Cana Island
38. Early Residents of Door County
39. A Pioneer Sawmill
40. Belgian Woman Carrying Wheat to Mill
Group V
41. The Altar in the Chapel
42. Gateway at Tornado Park
43. Sister Adles School
44. A Waterfall at Bay Settlement
45. The Crags of North Bay
46. A Wreck on Plum Island
CHAPTER ITHE DOOR PENINSULA
There was a time on this fair continent
When all things throve in spacious peacefulness.
The prosperous forests unmolested stood,
For where the stalwart oak grew, there it lived
Long ages, and then died among its kind.
The hoary pinesthose ancients of the earth
Brimful of legends of the early world.
Stood thick on their own mountains unsubdued;
And all things else illumined by the sun,
Inland or by the lifted waves, had rest.
CHARLES BLAIR
Far away, from the thousand hills of Wisconsin, the waters of Green Bay are gathered. They come purling out of gushing springs and become little streams which unite into great rivers like the swift Menominee, the somber Oconto and the famous Fox. From cataract to cataract they swirl and flow, until at last they plunge into the Emerald Sea.
More than a hundred miles long is Green Bay, and its width varies from thirty miles at its mouth to two miles at its head. It was fashioned by the glaciers, which a hundred thousand years ago scooped out its basin and spread the former fill of alluvial soil southward over eastern Wisconsin. But on the eastern side the glaciers encountered a wall of limestone which they could not budge. This unshakable ridge which defied the glaciers is the Door County Peninsula.
The greater part of Door County is really an island because the Peninsula is cut in two by Sturgeon Bay and the ship canal. Being thus surrounded by large bodies of water, this northern half of the county has the most equable climate of any county in the north-western states. The mean annual temperature at Sturgeon Bay is 43. The winter average is 22, which is several degrees milder than any other place north and west of Chicago. The summer average is 67, which is cooler than any other in the State. A peculiarity of this Peninsula is that here north is south and south is north. That is, the climate is milder in the north end. A cold wave registers nine or ten degrees lower temperature in the city of Green Bay at the base of the Peninsula than it does 75 miles farther north. This is due to the fact that the land area is much narrower in the north, and the adjacent water area is wider, hence has a greater modifying effect on the climate.
