November 28, 1959 Appleton Post-Crescent
Many thanks to those who comment on the blog posts, to include Suzanne Winz who clued me in to the above article. I apologize for the right side being cut off but there's enough there to make sense of it all. Lots of good factual info, to include the old wooden bridge that once extended across LLBDM.
Most interesting! I have always wanted to learn the history of this island and that map I commented on looks to be what I thought! Nice bit on the bridge! I will have to go near here in summer again. I have a fee current pics too.
ReplyDeleteGreat story and you provided more for us to enjoy.
ReplyDeletePlease keep the stories coming.
KBW
KBW
What is the current ownership of the island? I've boated and fished for many years near the island but never considered "stepping ashore".
ReplyDeleteSuzanne Winz has done us all a big favor here. I've never seen this article before nor the original one that David posted earlier. I remember going out to this island many times during the winter while growing up on the lake in the 1960s. You had to be careful about the thickness of the ice because the Menasha Dam always let water run under the ice. Cold winter, no problem. I remember teenagers and young adults ice skating in this area and building a fire on the ice to warm themselves. I had the impression that they got some of the wood for the fire from James Island. I really wouldn't worry about stepping on this island. I don't know anybody who will tell you that you can't do that. Even if it were private property (and its not), the police would just tell you to leave.
ReplyDeleteThat Sue is a great resource on Menasha history. :-)
ReplyDeleteMy grandpa lived by the locks as a boy, and thought that they had deposited the dredgings on the island when they did lock and canal work, ca.1918. He also talked about "Hammer's Island"-- Was that another name for James Island or somewhere else entirely?
pk
^ I guess it pays to read the posts in the order they were posted! :-)
DeleteHammer's Island is another name for James Island. When Richard Steffens was City Attorney in the 1960s, he became interested in the ownership of James Island. A title search revealed that a John Hammers lived on the Island in the early 1900s. After a lot of legal maneuvering, the Bureau of Land Management of the U.S. Department of the Interior made the judgement that the Island was public property and deeded it to the City of Menasha.
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