Fishing and Exploring

Our good friends, Dick and Rina, are visiting us this week at the lake. Needless to say, fishing has been involved. We spent one afternoon driving to Park Falls to visit the St. Croix Fishing Rod Company store so that Dick could pick up a nice new musky rod and reel. Some of our outings have involved lots of casting of big lures hoping to raise one of these big fish (they are typically 36" and bigger). Dick did have a "boil up" behind one of his lures a couple days ago, but the fish missed the lure. We have been catching other fish though, including quite a few nice walleye, crappie, and the occasional perch, bass or bluegill.

Yesterday, we went exploring as a part of our fishing trip. For quite some time we have been aware of the history of this lake, which is a flowage or reservoir behind a power generation dam. The dam was finished in 1923 (think that is right) and the proposed level of the lake at that time meant that a Native American village would be flooded. This included at least one church and its associated cemetery. Of course, our American history is littered with stories of mistreatment of indians, and this story is no different. The power company, which had agreed to relocate the community and to provide for a new church and relocated graves, eventually abandoned its promises. The result was that many graves were flooded, though some remained and others were indeed relocated. If you are interested in learning more, there are three websites I have found that have some information. These can be found here, here, and here.

Kathie and I have long known that there was an island somewhere on the lake where the foundation of one of the churches, relocated graves, and some remaining grave markers could be found. The island was formed as a hilltop, which was the site of the church, became surrounded by water. However, we had not previously gotten reliable information about its location. After some further digging around, we obtained a good lead and so decided to go exploring and to pay our respects. We did indeed find the spot, known as Graveyard Point, and spent a little time walking around a portion of the island.

One of the two grave markers was easily seen from the water, once we knew roughly where to look. We beached the boat and got out to look around. The graves are evidently visited fairly often, and many leave tokens of respect behind. Some are traditional, like flowers. Others include coins, fishing lures, beaded items, and others.

There were lots of spots nearby that were, essentially, cavities where graves must once have been. Presumably, these were the locations of graves that were relocated prior to the flooding. We have read that many other graves and markers still lie at the bottom of the lake offshore from this island location.

This is the site of the church that was once there. The stone outline of the church's foundation can still be seen along with bricks from what must once have been a chimney.

After exploring, we moved on to more fishing. Kathie caught a small walleye at one point, but it was damaged by the hook and floundered on the surface of the lake. She felt terrible about this, but we all said something would find it and benefit from a meal. Shortly after that, Dick spotted a speck in the sky to the west. As it came closer and closer and descended lower and lower, we could make out that it was a gorgeous, mature bald eagle. Nearing the water, it flared its wings and stretched out its talon before it. Snatching that small walleye from the lake, the eagle then flew to a tree nearby for a tasty lunch. What a beautiful site, and one which made Kathie feel better about the fish not going to waste.

Soon, Kathie caught a nice bass, not many of which we have seen this season. Others are also reporting limited success in fishing for bass.

Here is the rest of the fishing crew. I think we pulled in about 20 fish in total yesterday, several of them quite a nice size, including several walleye.