Hello Clam Lake!
EITHER OR? Depending on your point of view either the party is over or it has just begun. If you are one that has enjoyed having an extended Autumn into mid January, the party is over. If you are one that has been longing for snow the party has just begun. Of course, it would have been nice to just flow into it gently but, Mother Nature decided otherwise sending us snow and bitter cold accompanied by wind. At least the recent snow has given tender pipes and septics some insulation against the bitter cold. Will be interesting to see if this will be our pattern now or if we will once again return to our mild snow free days. I know all the snow sports enthusiasts and the businesses are doing their snow dances to hopefully get the season underway. Time will tell I guess.
THAT TIME AGAIN – In January the Clam Lake Community Club’s annual letter goes out as it has since it’s incorporation in 1937. This letter is sent to all members detailing what the organization has been up to over the past year, including an enclosed financial report and a membership card that should be returned with dues. Dues to become or maintain membership are $10 for a single membership or $25 for a family membership. This past year has seen the Club face one of its biggest challenges after the loss of our old Club house built in 1941. After much work, we now have a brand new Community Center which will be used for the first time for a Forest Service meeting on the 25th. With the addition of a generator the Center will also serve as an emergency center if the need should ever arise. We are grateful to all that helped with this project and continue to do so. We could not have done it without you! And we express gratitude to all of our members whom have supported this, Clam Lake’s only civic organization, over the past 86 years. Thank you! (As a side note – Membership is open to all. If you wish to become a member simply send dues with your name and address to Clam Lake Community Club Inc., Box 6, Clam Lake, WI 54517. We welcome all!)
HISTORY MOMENT: Taken from a January 1926 Glidden Enterprise: “H.A. Scotford is doing a brisk business selling lake frontage lots for the Hines Lumber Company at Clam Lake. Fifty six lots have been sold, averaging $500 each.” In Howard Scotford’s 1914 pamphlet for Camp Fire Island Resort, he placed an advertisement for his up and coming real estate business in which he is selling lake lots. When companies, such as the Hines Lumber Company, were through depleting the land of timber they were left with huge tracts of land that they wanted to be rid of. So, began an opportunity for those wishing to become real estate agents. Howard Scotford was just such a man. He notes in his ad that the S&S.E. Railway (Superior and Southeastern) allowed easy access to these lake properties. That railway came out of Grandview and into Clam Lake continuing down GG south to Loretta – in 1914. By 1926 it would be all but gone. Of course, by then automobiles would be the mode of transportation. He also lists his contact information as Grandview – again, which it would have been in 1914. Grandview was where the North Western rail came in. Grandview, back in that era, was a bustling logging company community with the Willow River Lumber Company being set up there. They were the ones that ran the rail into Clam Lake. Clam Lake did not have a Post Office until 1928 so a Clam Lake person would have listed Grandview or Glidden as their address. Due to his being involved in many land transactions of the past, I’d think many people could look back on their abstracts and find Howard Scotford’s name in there somewhere.
Until next week…..
Pictured is Howard Scotford’s real estate ad from 1914.
