Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1904-01-15
GRAVEYARD OF THE LAKES.
One Little Pile of sand that Causes a
SArioua Wreck Almost Every Year.

serious wreck ALMOST 1NVGTy G0Ts
Graveyard of the Great Lakes is
the name that has been applied to
bleak Long Point Island, which has it's
beginning q few miles east of Port
Burwell, Ontario, and thrusts itself
unwelcomed twenty miles out into the
middle of Lake Erie, fetching up some
sixty-four miles west Of Buffalo.
Graveyard indeed 1t is, as the spars
and deck timbers and iron work that
cover the whole south beach testify,
but it Is also the finest fishing and
hunting preserve Of the great lakes.
On the sand hills there are thousands
of deer; In the marshes In the fall and
spring wild ducks and geese congregate
in millions, and off the north shore
there are as game bass and pike as
fisherman ever threw line for.
or this sport, however, only few
know, and fewer SELL can take adj
vantage of 1t; while there's not sailor
from North Tonawanda to South
Chicago who does not fear and avoid
the treacherous bars and persistent
southwest winds that make the south
shAre Of the island deserve the title
they have given 1t.
The island Is triangular, twenty
miles long and about six miles broad
at It's widest part. OF the $4,000 acres
contained in 1t 10000 are'purely marsh,
under not more than six feet of water
all the year, and overgrown with quill
fl,sn,,rh Hxy1iah hl1n6VaIC of
narrow waterways run. A few
hundred yards back from the south
beach are the sand hills, continuous
from point to mainland, sending off at
half a dozen points short ridges, that
reach out into the marsh like the teeth
Of a gigantic comb.
The sands are surmounted by a thick
growth of red cedar, and through these
scurry innumerable red foxes. Through
these also the deer have their runways,
having worn off the lower limbs to
height Of four feet and beaten the
ground under-foot TO flrmness not eX-
ceeded by that of paved streets.
South Of the sand hills there is the
beach, on which one can walk half a
day without being required to step
from wreckage. For half a mile from
shore yellow bars extend, in parallel
lines, changing with every breeze, and
ever waiting for unwary vessels that
may be blown In their direction.
1t was Uuited Empire loyallsts who
first made use Of the island A certain
captain Ryerson obtained 1t from the
English government to complete his
grant Of land on the mainland. For
many years 1t formed an admirable
breakwater for the excellent harbor of
Port Ryerse, on the North shore of the
bay.
The channel between the island for
the fifty years following the war Of
the revolution was very wide and very
deep, and the boats Of the lake entered
1t fearlessly. There was a good trade
In iron ore and fish, and Captain Ryer-
son throve exceedingly.
BY the time of the civil war,
however, the upper channel had been
drifted full, and the harbor itself was
SO shallow that only vessels of very
light draught could enter. Port RyerSe,
of which 1t had been predicted that 1t
would become the greatest port on the
lake, had shrunk to village of few
hundred INDECENT fishermen.
Already 1t had earned It's title of
Graveyard of the Great Lakes. More
than one vessel had been wrecked off
the south shore. Amateur scientists
advised the captain that the removal
Of the pines would leave the sand hills
Mt the mercy OF the strong winds,
which would soon blow them over into
the bay. He was so convinced OF the
soundness of the theory that he ordered
the island denuded of every tree.
Hardly a living thing was left upon
the sand hills All one winter the
lumbermen worked, and when spring |
came the hills were bare.
Occasionally strong wind sent a
few basketfuls of sand into the marsh. +