Stories

 

       Like all areas, Blockhouse Lake has been home to many colorful characters, and has been the site of numerous interesting events.  Our association has been collecting stories and articles from local residents as part of our attempt to record and document the rich history of this fascinating region.  Some of these are included on this page.

JIM YUNK REMEMBERS

        Jim Yunk remembers back in the ‘30s when the north end of Blockhouse Lake was a swamp area and he used to play on the logs that were part of the load of the freight cars that sunk there.  He can’t remember if the logs were pine or hardwood but he recalls them sticking out of the mud about a foot.  He says that he never saw the freight cars but he remembers the rail spur and folks telling how those logs happened to be there.

            In the story Jim knows, it happened in the late 1800s when the Hines Lumber Co. Railroad had a short spur on the north end of Blockhouse Lake where they would park loaded freight cars.  They failed to move the cars before the spring breakup and they sank in the muddy swamp at the end of the lake.  The story goes that all but two or three of the cars were recovered.  Those remaining have gradually sank into oblivion.

            About thirty years ago Jim tried to show his son the exact location of the logs but was unable to find it.  He was able to find the old coal dock northwest of Hay Creek Flowage where the steam engine would take on coal and also water from a nearby creek.

            Jim often listened to his workmate at the Mill, Sheldon Holy,

 tell stories of when he was a fireman on those steam engines and recalls Holy telling the story reprinted below from the Oct.12, 2000 edition of the Park Falls Herald.

            1920-Oct. 15 – On Saturday of last week one of Park Falls Lumber Co’s largest locomotives plunged thru the Hay Creek bridge on the company’s logging railroad.  The timbers of the bridge had been partially burned through by the forest fires and on account of the dense smoke the trainmen did not realize their danger until it was too late to avoid the crash.  Engineer John Richardson, Fireman Sheldon Holy and Mike LaMere jumped from the engine just in time to escape serious, if not fatal, injuries.

            Jim Yunk knows about the Silver Birch Lodge and Restaurant where Morris Lowery had rooms and cabins in the early 1900’s.  He remembers Percy Grassel’s orchestra and the dance hall on the east side of the lake with it’s outdoor round dance floor with just a roof and the home brew that was served there into the 1930’s.

            Most often, Jim thinks about how the lake has changed.  He can still recall past autumns when the north end of the lake was solid wild rice.  “Just like a big hayfield,” he said.  That was before the water took over the swamp at the north end of the lake.