The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-09-04
FAR FROM THE
MADDl'NG CROWD
Topeka People Have Found
Ideal Spot for Vacation.
Crab Lake One of the LOYeliest
Spots in America.
THEY GO THERE EVERY SUMNER
Place Was Discovered by Dean
Kaye Years Ago.
A. Land of Unmarked Ways and
Careless Days.
THEY GO THERE EVERY SUMMER

the station agents planned a trip for
them that led them home by way of
the Canadian Rockies. The society
columns every day recorded items
of the coming and going of travellers.
and in about nine cases out of ten, the
Journey led home by way of Canada.
In former years it has been the correct
thing to Join the colony at Cascade, or
at Ludington, or to go to the Ozarks,
or otherwise, if everybody happened
to be doing it.
& Fads for vacations may come and
go, but there is a little secluded spot
in northern Wisconsin, that as a sum-
mering place goes on like the brook,
forever A colony of Topeka people
spend the season on that lake shore, /
no matter where there may be fair,
no difference how much the railway
folders plead and allure. The people
who make up this colony are; Mr..
and Mrs. Augustus Zahner and Miss
Mamie Zahner, Mr.. and Mrs. Willard
N. Hail. Miss Laura Hall and Mr.. Dick
Hall, Dean and Mrs. j. Z. Deb. Kaye,
and their children, Margaret Phillip
and Barbara, Mr.. JOab Mulvane, and
Mrs. Speed Hughes, Mr.. and Mrs
Harrison Morgan and Mr.. and Mrs.
D. w. Mulvane often spend at least
part of tho summer at the lake at
Mulvane Island. Each family has az
island in Crab Lake, one of the thous
ands of small lakes of the region.
This part of Wisconsin is said to be
1t is one of the unmarked ways
hidden in the heart of the great
lakes region of the north. Herr
in a land of careless days. the vaca-
TONERS whose hearts remain constant
to their northern summer homes. gO7l
every summer to lay their burdens |
down.
The Discovery.
Some twenty years ago man !
named Nelson and clergyman, |
named James Philip DeBevers Kaye |
afterwards Mr. Nelson's son-in-law) /
went from Chicago to the lakes and !
forests of northern Michigan and !
Wisconsin. In the course of their /
journeyings, they came upon un- /
named and uninhabited lake shore.
They wrote of their find to the gov
eminent at Washington; for they /
wanted to get possession of the lake /
with it's many islands and its lovely |
shore, there to build a summer home |
While the Indians. trappers and lum- !
bermen of the region knew of the lit |
tie lake, some two or three miles in |
length, the government had no
knowledge of it. After the usual de-
lays in the decentralization office |
the officials had the territory sur
veyed, and the lake and its shore for !
some little distance inland was ac-
quired by the banker, the clergyman /
and one or two of their friends.
Through the years that have fol- /
lowed these people, with q few others I
who have been introduced to the place |
by them, have gene to tF1S old forest
every summer
That they might keep their bit of !
forest unchanged ir outline and an |
touched by the civilization they leave |
behind, these wise owners have al /
lowed or their land no ether buildings |
or sharerS Of their retreat, except by |
their invitations to friends. A sum-
mer hotel was built a few miles from |
them at one time, with tee purpose of |
opening up the region to tourists. But |
they bought the hotel from the propri- |
etors, and now it STANDS as it was left |
after a short season as watering
place.
They Follow Dean Kaye.
Dean Kaye came to Topeka about |
fourteen years ego and always spends |
part of the summer in the north.
AS a sort of pathfinder in that local
ity, he has had q peculiar interest in |
it, and has introduced the place to |
many of his friends here. 1t, was
thro ugh him that the members of the
Topeka colony took islanCs in the lake
and built cottages there. Besides
those who own summer homes at
Crab, numbers of other Topekans
have been entertained at the colony.
DR.. w. n. West was a visitor at Pine |
Tree lodge, Prospero'S island, which
is Dean Hayes home, this summer.
On account of the GOODNESS of the
season, some of the vacationists are
returning early this year. Mi Joab
Mulvane and Mrs Hughes have al
ready arrived in Topeka. The Willard
Hall ia mily will come back about i
September T. Dean Kaye and his
family expect to be home about the
middle of the month.
1.-The woods around the lake are full
of game-elk, bear and other animals,
but I never hunt 1 do not like to
kill" Dean Kaye said in telling of his
forest retreat. His attitude on the
hunting question has helped to pre-
serve from extinction the animals of
that place. The Indians from a near
by reservation sometimes go on hunt
ing trips around the lake, and bring
down an occasional deer, the hide of
which they use to make shoes and
toys for the white people of the camps.
Otherwise, the animals are hardly ever
disturbed.
Away from Railroad.
The lake is not reached by rail, but
there is branch road as far as Wine
gar, a few miles from Crab. At
that point the campers portable pos
sessions are put into canoes and taken
by way of chain of lakes and streams
with occasional "boostings" by a
crude wagon road. In the old days
the men of the camp broke their own
trail through the woods, carrying
their canoes, loaded with provisions,
from lake to lake, by short cut.
These woodsmen still carry their
boats on theid heads and shoulders,
like an immense sombrero, over the
cross Country routes.
The children of the vacationers al
most live in the water. Swimming is
easy to them as walking, and vastly
more to be desired as a means of To-
connection.
The cottages are screened against
mosquitoes and furnished simply, but
comfortably. When the season opens
the yacatiOnerS troop up the steps of
their porches, unlock their doors and
enter to find the houses ready to live
in, with little busting, summing and
airing. True, the locks may be bit