The article in the YMCA of the North magazine entitled A Canoe’s Long Absence From Camp in the YMCA Camps Alumni Magazine, described our efforts to find the Thompson W3 (as does the W.3 page on this site) but I thought you might be interested in how a Thompson replaced the original Old Town W. 3?

Back to the beginning of Camp.

In the mid-to late 1920s St. Paul YMCA branches organized canoe trips in the Superior National Forest (with assistance of outfitters in Winton, Minnesota – primarily John W. Horne Outfitters).  In 1928, at least 5 canoe trips to border lakes country were undertaken, albeit somewhat independent of one another, by the youth directors at the St. Paul branch YMCAs. During this summer at least three groups of YMCA staff and lay leaders sought out and evaluated potential sites for the North Woods Camp (the working title for the prospective wilderness camp for older boys).

In 1929 about seventy-five acres, land on which Camp Widjiwagan (the new official name) developed, was purchased. Camp opened its doors to campers in 1930 but the first Widjiwagan trip probably occurred in July 1929. Earl Hunting, an executive at the St. Paul YMCA led a small group, including his wife Myrtle, and three older youth recruited from Camp St. Croix, went to the camp property. There they built two tent cabins in anticipation of camp opening in 1930. It is likely this group also built a dining cabin and a cook’s shack in preparation for campers in 1930.

As a reward for building these structures, this group of five went on a week-long canoe trip, travelling from Burntside to Slim, to Big, to Stuart River and to Lac La Croix and back to camp. This was the first canoe trip from Camp Widjiwagan.

Julian Kirby,the volunteer who had pushed for the creation of the wilderness camp, had established a relationship with Horne Outfitters years earlier when he had started canoe tripping in early twenties. Horne used Haskell canoes so when preparing for Widjiwagan canoe tripping, Julian chose Haskells, as well. There may have been as many as twelve although that number is not certain. It was possibly less. A Haskell is distinctly different from a cedar rib and canvas canoe in that it made of sheet of laminated cold-molded plywood. 

When Camp opened in 1930, the fleet of plywood Haskell canoes, was waiting. The canoe had a major drawback in that the plywood sheets delaminated when wet for an extended period of time (such as a canoe trip as opposed to an afternoon paddle every other weekend). Also, porcupines liked to eat them. There is a report of a porcupine chewing the bow off of a Widjiwagan Haskell over one night. By 1932 it was clear that the Haskell canoe would not meet Widjiwagan’s needs long term. Other buyers must have had a similar experience because Haskell was out of business by 1934. In about 1933 or 1934 Camp bought a couple of the Wisconsin made Thompson canoes. At this time, Camp was already struggling with enrollment and budget problems. Part of Widjiwagan’s strategy was to emphasize that the equipment was the best and that wilderness travel was safe because of it.  Therefore, the constant theme in promotional materials was to push the prestigious. The public was largely familiar with the high quality of Old Towns but fewer knew of the quality of a Thompson (similar to Old Town). A decision was made to convert over to a fleet of Old Towns. Camp would continue to use the remaining Haskell and Thompson fleet until the Old Towns could be purchased. In the middle of the Depression and with Camp’s financial problems, it was not clear when that would be.

In his book Widjiwagan: A history, From 1989 to 2004, Dwight Ericsson seems to suggest that the first ten old towns all arrived at once in 1936. I recall being told similar information when I was a camper, and telling same information when I was a staffer. But it is incorrect.

The budget information provided in Dwight’s book indicates a wide distance between income and expense in the early years. In the five budget years 1935 through 1939, the closest that incomes came to meeting expenses was in 1937 and 1939 when income met 89% and 86%, respectively, of the expenses. In 1935, 1936, and 1938 the income covered 71%, 66%, and 79%, respectively.

In 1937 a new Old Town HW AA Grade (the best materials), cost $89. If Camp couldn’t afford ten at once, they found a way to buy five each in 1937 and 1938.

Several years ago, the Wooden Canoe Heritage Museum scanned nearly 200,000 of the Old Town Build records covering nearly every Old Town made. They are available on-line and are in consecutive order, without an Index.

So, in the confines of my home, I looked at the scans for over 31,000 cards between 1930 and 1945 for canoes bought directly by Camp or by vendors in the St. Paul area who sometimes brokered a canoe purchase for Camp.  I found no evidence of any Widjiwagan bound canoes purchased in 1936. I found the following:

1937 Old Towns: W1, W2, W3, W5, and W8

!938 Old Towns:W4, W6, W7, W9, W10

In early 1939, there were 15 canoes in the fleet – ten of them were Old Towns. It is presumed that the other 5 were some remaining Haskells and Thompsons. By 1940, all the Haskells were gone. In the early 1940s 6 more Old Towns were purchased. The first Seliga canoes were purchased in 1948 and 1949.

But by the end of the summer in 1939 one of those early canoes was gone. Something happened to Old Town W. 3.

In a healthy fiscal environment, another Old Town might have been purchased to fill that gap but that wasn’t an option in 1939.

The difference between adequate income and expenses (illustrated above) was made-up from the budgets of other Y branches, a solution that the other branches resented. The budget situation for Camp was so bad that, pushed by the other branch executives and Y leaders, there was a serious discussion, sort of a fiscal showdown, in 1939. Julian Kirby and other Camp supporters held off the other Y staff and volunteers who wanted to close Widjiwagan and sell it. It was clear that the fiscal situation had to improve or the debate would be repeated soon down the road. Perhaps to an undesired end.

But what had happened to the Old Town W. 3?

Buried in a miscellaneous folder, in a miscellaneous box of materials at the Kautz Family YMCA Archives at the Anderson Library at University of Minnesota, I found a clipped article that solved the mystery. It was from the St. Paul Pioneer Press dated August 27, 1939. 

2 St. Paul Boys Swept Over Falls in Canoe

Two St. Paul boys, members of a canoeing party from the St. Paul Y. M. C. A. Camp Widjiwagan on Burntside Lake, near Ely, Minn. Narrowly escaped death when they were swept over Curtain Falls on the international border, it was learned Saturday night.

They are Charles Johnson, 16 years old of 1719 Summit avenue, and Daniel Greenwald of 2181 Princeton avenue. The accident occurred August 9 while the party was encamped at the head of the falls, which empty from Crooked Lake into rapids leading into Iron Lake.

The boys were crossing what appeared to be a quiet pool at the head of the falls when their canoe was caught in a swift current and carried to the brink. Johnson said he and Greenwald struggled to halt their craft at the top of a 30-foot drop, but the  canoe was overturned, pitching them into the churning pool of the waterfall, marked with jagged rocks.

The current carried them to the Canadian side. Both are good swimmers and needed no aid from fellow members who witnessed the accident. They suffered minor scratches and bruises. Johnson said he twisted his back and was lamed for a few days.

The canoe trip started near the head of the Moose river. Winton, Minn., was the destination, but after the accident the party returned to camp. They had travelled two days, covering approximately 30 miles, and had decided to camp the third day, the afternoon of the accident.

Curtain Falls is a few miles from Lake McAree in Canada where two Illinois fishermen drowned two weeks ago when their canoe plunged over a waterfall.

Also, Dwight Ericsson, in preparation for his history of Widjiwagan book, had tape interviewed many early staff, including Al Johnson, the Midway YMCA Youth Director, who had been on the trip with the group involved. Mr. Johnson verified the incident and said that in addition to destroying the wood canoe, the two boys involved had scraped up their “backsides” and had to return to camp because sitting in a canoe was painful. The injuries thoroughly healed, although not while on trail.

It was Mr. Johnson’s opinion that the camper’s had been a bit too comfortable at the top of the falls and had taken their safety for granted without first insuring that they were in fact safe.

Widjiwagan could not afford to purchase a replacement Old Town, so a Thompson (likely W. 12) was renumbered and moved into the W.3 slot. This Thompson canoe was the second Widjiwagan canoe to bear the W. 3 number. The Thompson W. 3 remained in the fleet until the end of the summer in 1970. Information about the efforts to find and return the canoe fifty-three years later can be found in the W. 3 page.