CROP CIRCLES - PART II

Mary Jo with new acquaintances at the
Etchilhampton crop circle, early August.

CROP CIRCLES – Part II 

(Continuation from September 7th post: “Crop Circle Confessions”

    From American Public Media, Writer’s Almanac, Nov. 12, 2013 -

Voyager 1 was launched in 1977, sent out into the solar system to explore Jupiter and Saturn along with its twin, Voyager 2. Both probes carry a greeting to any sentient life forms that they may encounter, in the form of a gold-plated record. The information on the record was selected and compiled by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan; it includes spoken greetings in 55 languages, a selection of music from different eras and cultures, and a variety of images and sound recordings from nature, including a baby crying, ocean waves, and whale song. President Jimmy Carter said: "This is a present from a small, distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours. We hope someday, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of galactic civilizations. This record represents our hope and our determination, and our good will in a vast and awesome universe."

In early August of this past summer, Mary Jo and I traveled to England. 

When I tell friends that we traveled to England to see crop circles, I get the same sort of stare our kids gave us when we told them we just finished reading Fifty Shades of Grey. 

An amused look also crept over the face of the British customs agent when we exited the Heathrow terminal upon arrival in the UK.  We said were visiting England to see crop circles. 

“So, what makes you thing you’ll find them here?” he asked, forcing a quizzical smile.  “I remain skeptical.”

I, too, was skeptical.  But in this quest I vowed to keep an open mind, to be the “objective journalist” and record our trip as best I could.  But, upon our return home whenever crop circles are mentioned, I’m asked the similar question:  “So, do we know how they’re made, or who makes them?” 

Following my first-hand experience, having been in and around crop circles, and in discussing and thinking about them, I have as many questions as answers.  But, I’ll say our experience was fascinating, with earthly (and perhaps a touch of heavenly) beauty, and as a result I now believe more firmly in the greater force at work in and beyond our earthly realm.  That energy and higher intelligence exists I credit to the existence of God.  But from a practical point of view, there are so many things in our immediate world and in our universe that remain a mystery, having no clear explanations. 

In becoming aware of crop circle advocates, those who believe these designs in crop fields are messages from a more intelligent life, perhaps from “extra-terrestrials” who come from places we can’t touch, there appears to be an equal number of persons who, through science known to them or from perceived threat to their lives and belief systems, vocally oppose the idea that crop circles are anything other than man-made designs.  Those designs, they say, can be credited to sophisticated pranksters, “hoaxers” who’ve conjured up a puzzle bone for the gullible masses to chew. 

I tend to believe that most crop circles are the visible signs of someone’s (or some entity’s) knowledge.  I’ve joked that, if individuals can believe there are sacred images in burned toast or an image on a barn as being the sign from a higher power, the phenomena of crop circles can as easily point to the pleasant thought that our planet earth and the human race are not alone. 

Now, relate that to your beliefs in whatever way that you will!

**

We had the opportunity to see many interesting things during our two weeks in England.   Our second week we were on our own for a quick, broad overview more typical of the average American tourist:  Glastonbury, Salisbury, Penzance and London.  But it was our first week, spent several hour’s drive west of London, that was our singular reason to fly to England, to look for and experience crop circles.   

For whatever reasons – excellent croplands, for one – crop circles appear most abundantly during summer months, and they center in the Wiltshire County countryside. 

For six days (our first day spent getting settled) we tramped the rolling hills, snaked single-file into crop fields, hiked along the public walking paths, and absorbed first-hand what ancient people there might have seen, smelled and felt when they were inspired to build earthen mounds or move stones that weighed many tons into patterns. 

Wiltshire County encompasses an area where several major landmarks are located.  Stonehenge, Avebury, Silbury Hill, Kennet-Long Barrow.   These and other lesser-known but equally impressive monuments were the work of ancient people some 4-5000 years ago.  They happen to be located along a line of energy referred to as a “ley line,” that runs, more or less, between Cornwall in the southwest of England, toward the northeast. 

Our evenings were spent in quiet comfort at Court Hill Farm, originally a manor farm of the Bishop of Salisbury (built around 1250) in the small town of Potterne (about 1500 people).  Potterne, in turn, is a mile or two from the larger market town of Devizes, of roughly 11,000 people.  Potterne is also located along A360, the highway that connects Devizes with Stonehenge.   This road was the old coach route connecting London with Bristol.  Nearby is the Kennet and Avon Canal that in the 1700s linked the pottery factories and their goods (too fragile for rough country roads) with the markets of London.  A series of some 29 locks, 16 of which are in a straight line one after the other, after the other, allow the specialized, narrow canal boats to “climb” Caen Hill on their way eastward. 

Kennet-Longbarrow:  Tomb?  Site for rituals?  The
purpose is speculation, although several skeletons were found
within small, partitioned rooms.

With a variety of things to see and do from a tourism point of view - and not to overlook the many pubs, coach inns and the Wadworth Brewery, also in Devizes - most visitors have little contact with the dozens of crop circles that appear in Wiltshire crop fields each summer.  That’s due both to lack of time as well as considered interest.  As many as three dozen crop circles per month “land” during the summer months, spread over a generous countryside in a variety of crop fields.  These have been witnessed and recorded for some 30 or more years, now.  Although artwork and reports of crop circles from previous centuries exist, they apparently lacked the regularity and complexity of design found in recent times.

***   

Many visitors on tour in Southern England include a whistle stop at Stonehenge and then move on to other sights.  We brushed with Stonehenge on our first full day in Wiltshire when we turned to the right instead of toward the National Trust parking lot entrance, away from the busy highway toward a field where we would see our first crop circle. 

That was a bit surreal, to walk in a wheat field a half-mile from Stonehenge.  There we were surrounded by at least six tumuli – ancient dirt mounds approximately 30-ft. in diameter, 10-ft. in height - that for the most part farmers avoided over the centuries as they cultivated their fields.  Tumuli can be seen in many locations, and their purpose isn’t clearly known.  From our vantage point on the slight rise above the highway (the dual carriage way A303, where trucks and cars buzzed endlessly past) we observed a continuous line of several hundred people circling those giant stones.  Visitors are prevented from approaching the stones by rope barriers. 

Our view of Stonehenge from the field across the highway.
(with telephoto lens)

Later that week, we would visit Stonehenge, but it would be at daybreak, before the day’s regular crowds appeared.   A special pass was obtained by our tour leader, allowing our group of seven to walk among the stones (but not touch them). 

It was this connection with soil and crops that offered a close connection to the earlier inhabitants of that place.  I found myself always looking down, kicking at the ground, examining tilled soil, hoping that the next chunk of flint I saw – and the pieces of rock are endless – might show signs of having been worked by ancient hands. 

Typical flinty Wiltshire soils.

The first circle we entered made its appearance about four nights prior to our visit, according to our tour leader, Barbara.  In other words, this circle was considered to be rather “fresh.”  That fact would become more apparent through closer inspection of the design execution, and by the energy the circle gave off.  Barbara drew a pair of dowsing sticks from her backpack, as she would often do during our week together, and she placed them in front of her, sticks in parallel.  Then she slowly entered the circle, the laid-down area of crop that made up the geometric design.  As she did so, the copper rods swung wide apart, as if repelled, one from the other.  Then, from inside the circle with dowsing sticks spread apart, pointed in opposing directions,  she walked outside the circle’s perimeter.  As she did, the sticks gradually but quickly closed to the parallel position once again. 

Barbara has visited, examined and “measured” crop circles for some 23 summers, and she is familiar to people in Wiltshire crop circle circles.   In what seemed to be a most remote site, we met people who recognized Barbara and who had met her years earlier in other crop circle visits.  Her knowledge of these circles is extensive.  Her belief is firm that they are made by “others.”

Barbara demonstrating copper dowsing sticks.

She repeated her demonstration many times with her dowsing rods, measuring the energy of nearly one dozen circles during our six day stay in Wiltshire.  Her sticks were most reactive near the centers of circles.  There were at least two crop circles where her dowsing rods did nothing, and those circles, she said, were known to be man-made.  One was a crude crop circle,  a replication made by men hired to execute a design in a field of barley for a French film crew.  The other example was claimed to be the brain-child of a young man who lived on a canal boat not far away, near the Barge Inn.  Its creator was proud of his design and execution, but without knowing this history, our group had already agreed with Barbara’s dowsing rods:  this circle was a dud and it lacked energy.

***

A most pleasant surprise was the overall beauty of the Wiltshire countryside, its rolling hills, beautiful fields, and farm and village buildings with their thatched or tiled roofs.  We frequently edged toward the side of the road with our van in order to let large tractors pulling grain wagons, or huge combines, pass along narrow roads hemmed by hedges.  Numerous fields then were in the process of being harvested, and some were adjacent to those fields in which we walked.

The soils were dark, but flinty.  A good five to ten percent was broken stone, I’d estimate.  Beneath the loose soil, at a distance of one or several meters, were beds of chalk, whitish bedrock that in a few places approaches the surface.  Huge, white horses were etched into the hillsides in seven or eight Wiltshire locations.  Some were known to be very old, while others were examples of recent artwork from villages honoring early ancestors.  Contrasting with the bucolic scenery were occasional “tank crossing” signs and light tan barracks, signs of the British army.  Wiltshire is also an area used regularly for field maneuvers, war games and gunnery practice.  We saw several Sikorsky helicopters flying at low altitude over the adjacent hills, but we heard no artillery fire while we were there.

Although we were prepared to encounter rain – and it did rain one evening and part of an early morning – our days were, for the most part, sunny.  But even a sunny day means there is cloud cover of low, fluffy cumulus in at least 50% of the sky.  Temperatures ranged from the mid-60s to mid-70s the entire week, with light breezes, most pleasant for spending time outdoors.

Our group in front of Silbury Hill, a man made mound of over 4000 years.
(That's right- I was the lone man in the group!)

The fields where these crop circles “land” are random.  One crop circle here, one there.  They are often many miles apart, with sometimes two unfolding in the same night.  Pilots who rely for income on taking people aloft to view and photograph crop circles make it their business to know when and where the latest circles pop up.  Within hours, several internet sites post aerial photos of the new circles, adding to the information gathered of older ones.  The crop circle photo announcements are accompanied with general directions.  Nearby roads and highways are named, along with other pertinent information.  Within 24 hours a new crop circle design is analyzed by one or more “experts” who then dissect the geometry, comparing it with previous, similar crop circle designs.  Opinions are offered as to what this all could mean.

Sometimes, word of mouth provides the news.  One afternoon, when having a late lunch at a Subway in Devizes (local pubs serve lunch but shut down their kitchens for several hours in the middle of the afternoon) we met several other “croppies” who dropped news of a new circle near Etchilhampton.  This hill was located on the far side of Devizes from where we ate lunch, but it was still only a ten-minute drive.  

Etchilhampton crop circle
as viewed from the air. 

When we arrived at the car park area to one side of the lane, it was apparent we had found the right field.  Other vehicles were already parked there, including a tour bus and several campers.   This crop circle, which had appeared overnight, was the largest one we experienced, measuring what I estimated to cover 150 yards in diameter.   The formation, even to our new eyes that had little to compare it with, appeared nicely done, with “crisp” lines in the wheat.  Barbara’s dowsing sticks reacted like a Geiger counter to uranium. 

Hampton-Etchel crop circle as
viewed from further up the hill.

I found this circle to be quite relaxing, and for whatever reasons (perhaps the jet lag catching up with me), after lying down on the wheat, under heavy cloud cover and the threat rain, I fell asleep.  Jokingly, I say I “lost time” there - which in a way, I did.   Seldom do I find my surroundings in public relaxing enough to fall asleep, even after hours of having had insufficient sleep.  Serenity was found within that circle.

I napped while the "New Swirled
Order" whirled about me.

Mary Jo met several women from Manchester who take their vacations in the Wiltshire area each August to experience crop circles.  Others we met had come from Spain, Belgium and Holland, each for the express purpose of visiting crop circles.

Two special experiences offered to us by Barbara:  flights over the fields of Wiltshire in order to see the circles from the air, and a visit with Michael Glickman, retired architect, teacher and an expert and critic on crop circle designs. 

Seeing the fields from the air made the crop circles stand out.  Mary Jo took photos during her flight, while I stayed on the ground, content to visit and watch the planes come and go.   One of her photos was included in my first crop circle blog, of a design near Hackpen Hill.  In fact, we visited that hill that very same morning.  This was a circle of pleasing design, one that seemed to us to be quite “active.”  Our location was near one of the white chalk horses, and just beyond the horse, the grain harvest was underway.  Clouds of dust billowed upward from the combines, and tractors pulling grain trams and balers followed close behind.

We had lunch prepared for us by the private airport’s owner and his wife (grass runways), and then we drove to see Michael Glickman.  From having viewed several videos prior to our trip, we knew about Glickman and his love of crop circle geometry, and his wit with visitors.  He didn’t let us down.  Confined now for health reasons to his home and unable to move without assistance, Michael will yet entertain guests in what he calls, “Tea Time With Michael.”   

His mind and his wit were as lively that afternoon as we could have hoped for during the hour or so we visited.  To condense what he said in a few sentences, or paragraphs, would be difficult, and the result wouldn’t do him or the subject matter justice.  You can see interviews with Michael Glickman posted on the internet, if you wish. 

Michael was a fully entertaining and gracious host, and we were touched by his insight and humor, knowing his health now restricted his daily routine, but not his intellect.  He is a believer that some form of higher intelligence made these crop circles – most of them, anyway – and that there are mathematical messages in the universal language of geometry, if we take time to examine each of them closely.  This he has done, for many years.   As a means of partial support, he sells books, posters, tee-shirts and tote bags that help spread his crop circle insights. 

Michael Glickman: a geometry lesson.

I purchased one of his books, “Cornography, The New Swirled Order.”  He calls this series of essays, “Despatches From the Crop Circles,” and the pages are filled with his humor, with sarcasm reserved for skeptics.  

Here is one sample entry form his book:

  “One of the people who are taken in by the lies of the so-called hoaxers is Farmer Naughton of Bishops Cannings, who last year brought his combine to cut out the lovely seven-fold ‘basket’ rather than leave it for people to enjoy.  This year, to the astonishment of all, he put up an honesty box and opened the field.

“I visited him to thank him and to take him a photograph and drawing of his new formation, which to me is one of the most articulate geometrical designs we have ever had.  He said that he had wanted to cut it out immediately, but his wife persuaded him, against his better judgement, to allow people in.

“He glanced at the picture, but was anxious to let me know that he still thought it was done by vandals.  I suggested then that he and I go immediately half a mile down the road to the Wiltshire Constabulary Headquarters. We could ask why, as predictable acts of damage to property take place every year in a limited area and within a defined season, they have never made an arrest.  I told him that I was able to supply the names both of individuals who claim to cause the damage and “researchers” who aid and promote them.

“He was not too keen on that idea. I wonder why not?  A few days later, the circlemakers, to reward him I guess, delivered another formation in the same field.  He was not delighted.”

**

The fact that crop is destroyed by circlemakers, and also by visitors and curiosity seekers drawn to such sites, is not appreciated by most farmers.  A few farmers tolerate visitors and accept the fact that circles will appear from time to time, much like we might allow trespassing during our tourism season, I suppose.  Some farmers, probably the exception, believe they were honored, or blessed, to have been the recipient of a crop circle, and their loss of crop is therefore obligingly tolerated.

To bring a better feeling of understanding and appreciation between croppies and farmers, there was an attempt this past crop circle season to sell “passes,” a compensation system that would return monies collected from circle visitors to the farmers.  However well intended, this idea never got off the ground. 

We warily looked over our shoulders on a number of occasions, Mary Jo and I, believing that if we owned those fields, we, too, might be possessive of our land and crops.  Not once did we experience hostilities from farmers.  No one came out with dogs and shotguns.  Although we may have been naive, the many public walking trails between farm fields makes hiking, dog walking, bicycling and occasional car traffic between fields seem not so unusual, as it might in our country.  

In all cases, we observed visitors to the farmer’s crop fields take the long-way-round, stepping only in tram lines, or at best staying within the slim path already blazed by others, so as to minimize disturbance to the crop. 

Nevertheless, it was quite apparent that many potential bushels of a farmer’s crop are destroyed whenever crop circles are laid down, the stalks bent so that the combine head won’t pick them up during harvest.  This is a fact, and if the particular farmer isn’t tuned to the universe in exactly the same manner as the circlemakers – and if he believes it is the work of hoaxers from the nearby village – well, then, he will be very displeased.

In one instance, on our last day after having visited Stonehenge that morning, we drove to the Tidcom Causeway and a hill adjacent to the ancient roadway used by Romans.  This crop circle, named the “clothespins” by internet analysts who like to give each of them names, was freshly laid the night before. 

A donation for the honesty box,
crop circle near Tidcom.

We were among the few visitors there when we arrived.  The farmer, to his credit, placed an honesty box bolted to a steel drum near the edge of his field, and he had also blazed a convenient path through his crop from the roadside.  These were inviting, friendly things to do, and we dropped in the requested 3-pounds each to walk on his land and visit that circle.  As tourists, we didn’t find this to be an unreasonable request.

Make no mistake, that some in Wiltshire County do understand the value of crop circles from a tourism standpoint, and they will point out the perpetuation of this craft over a several decade period, much as one might proudly point to the work done by a colony of artists.  The mysticism and spirituality of crop circles may be mentioned, but credit is generally given to local “artists,” whoever they may be.  

According to the magazine Wiltshire Life (Sept. 2013 issue) the Wiltshire Police “are taking a hard line against the circle makers and are encouraging farmers to report any circles as criminal damage, as soon as they appear.  However, arrests appear to be few and far between, and the hoaxers have yet to fully explain their methods, timing and stealth during midnight hours.

“Witnesses claim time and again to have seen small balls of light over fields, and in the morning a new crop circle revealed.”

The chances of elaborate designs occurring over large areas, sometimes several fields in one night, without their originators standing up to take full credit, after several generations of such phenomena, seems to me slim and far-fetched.  Yet, it is also hard to imagine crop circles as the work of beings from elsewhere in this universe.

Faith in our beliefs may be strengthened, or weakened, as we choose.  These experiences we’ll continue to ponder.  

- Dick Purinton

WET WEATHER CONTINUES

Washington Island -

The photo of our Island post office was taken Thursday morning, around 7:35.   It was a dark, foggy morning with rain during the night.  A few cars were out.  Dump trucks were running dredging spoils to the Town's site on Gunnlaugsson Road.   A few patrons were next door at the Red Cup.  In many respects, though, it was a very quiet day, heading into the first of November.

Unfortunately for youngsters who were looking forward to trick-or-treating, the day didn't improve much from this point.  By 4 p.m. rain put the damper on an outdoor Halloween activity at school, with accompanying temperature in the lower 40s.

Danish Mill - a wet but inviting scene in the early morning hour.

Rain doesn't stop dredging.  In fact, the good thing about these past days was the low daily wind speed.  However, a windy stretch is forecast, and the Roen crew may take the next two days to reunite with family members.  A broken pin on the excavator bucker in mid-week required switching back to the crane with bucket for a few days, until the new part was obtained.   The material dredged in the previous 48 hours was as rocky as any thus far.  On the one hand, it's a good thing the excavator can dig through those areas.  However, the offloading into trucks is slowed because the stones (combined with some softer material) is harder for the crane bucket to grab and place into trucks.

Water levels fluctuated greatly in recent weeks. Today, Sunday, the level is as high as a month or more ago.  But we've also seen dips in the level when the wind is northerly.  The Army Corps measurements indicated Lake Michigan was approximately 7.5 inches higher than at the same time last year.  At least that's a net gain for the year, so far.

For the month of September, Island Weather Observer John Delwiche reported rain fall amounts a few hundredths over the historical monthly average of 3.21"       For the year, however, we are nearly 7.5 inches above average, which accounts in part for the overall increase in lake level.

-  Dick Purinton

FALL IS IN THE AIR

Spectacular cloud formations and lighting over Hog Island,
coupled with high winds and seas, made for an entertaining
drive during a power outage Saturday morning, Oct. 26.

Washington Island, Wisconsin -

Following is a short excerpt from the NOAA weather forecast for the Near Shore in our area earlier today (written Saturday, Oct. 26th):

FOR WATERS WITHIN FIVE NAUTICAL MILES OF SHORE ON LAKE MICHIGAN

LMZ521-541-262215-
THE BAY OF GREEN BAY SOUTH OF LINE FROM CEDAR RIVER MI TO ROCK
ISLAND PASSAGE AND NORTH OF A LINE FROM OCONTO WI TO LITTLE
STURGEON BAY WI-
LAKE MICHIGAN FROM WASHINGTON ISLAND TO STURGEON BAY-
1152 AM CDT SAT OCT 26 2013

...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM CDT THIS EVENING...

.REST OF TODAY...NW WIND 15 TO 25 KTS WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 30
KTS. LOCALLY HIGHER GUSTS POSSIBLE NEAR DEATHS DOOR. WAVES 3 TO 6
FT. MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS OR SPRINKLES.
.TONIGHT...NW WIND 15 TO 25 KTS WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 30 KTS IN THE
EVENING…

Cloud formations layered over the lake
on a calm Saturday, October 19.
Peterson Bay is in the foreground.

Lake freighters held in port or anchored behind land forms late Friday, in response to the evening's forecast for high winds and large waves (the off shore NOAA report predicted possible waves to 28 feet in the open lake.)  Peak winds were brief, but enough to get lake swells rolling, and the Roen dredging crews were able to work through the day Saturday by locating their dredge in the harbor's northern portion of the channel, where better protection was offered.

The type of clouds seen this time of year are unique to fall, laden with moisture and updrafts.  The puffy plumes over Lake Michigan and Green Bay, even on a calm day, can bring enjoyable viewing this time of year in this latitude.  Looking out my window late Saturday afternoon, I was surprised to see sheets of ice pellets moving across the harbor in a wind-whipped squall.  But such conditions were short-lived.  I glanced away for a short time, then back again a few minutes later, and the icy screen had already lifted and winds had moderated.  

Sand Dunes Park proved to be a good vantage point to
observe "Hawaii Five-0" type combers as they ripped
into the East Channel shallows, tops blown back by
westerly winds - Sat. Oct. 26.

We took advantage of a power outage Saturday morning to skip making breakfast and to drive around the island.  Then, I recalled that the Danish Mill had a back-up generator, and so we stopped there first to buy bakery and coffee, making our leisurely wind-leaf-and-cloud drive all the more enjoyable.  Not a single car was encountered on our entire drive around the east side, from the South Shore Drive to Hemlock Drive and then along Lake View Road.  We had the morning - that time of morning, at least - to ourselves.

Within a few weeks leaves will be off the trees almost entirely and deer hunting season will begin. Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays quickly follow, and the build-up of colder days that precede real winter.  Until then, the often spectacular clouds and sky provide us with a backdrop and lighting to energize the changing of the seasons on Washington Island.

 - Dick Purinton

ISLAND DREDGING - A REALITY

One of approximately eight dump trucks that hauls dredging
spoils on the six-mile route to the
town gravel pit, off Gunnlaugsson Road.

Detroit Harbor, Washington Island -

The Detroit Harbor dredging project, the digging and hauling part of this project, is now in week five, and approximately 25% of the total project depth for the channel has been achieved.

That figure, 25%, is an approximation that is based on counts of barge-loads of spoils.  Actual figures will be derived from the differences calculated from pre and post-project depth contours.  But, the estimates show weekly progress in what is not necessarily straight-forward digging by the primary contractor, Roen Salvage Company of Sturgeon Bay.   When weather permits, an excavator digs on a round-the-clock basis.  Off-loading of the spoils barges and trucking occurs only between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m.  This window for trucking - most of it during daylight - is intended to reduce noise for residents when the trucks pass by homes and businesses.  It also enables better and easier monitoring of loads, road conditions and dumping at the spoils site.

It's surprising and annoying that with what should be considered a positive project with the island's welfare in mind, that there are still a number of detractors.  Whether they're driven by personal business reasons, ego magnification, or just plain small-town pettiness, the complaint calls (some anonymous), whether about trucking, digging or otherwise managing this large project with many pieces, it gets old after awhile.

We've heard some rumbling about those occasional large stones that were dug from the bottom of the harbor, then set aside on the Potato Dock because they're too large to fit into dump trucks without removing the tailgates.  To whom do they belong, and, aren't they Town property?  

Perhaps the Town of Washington might wish to mark the Community Center parking lot with those beauties.  For now, at least, those stones considered too large to haul in trucks (because they would require tailgates to be removed) have been set aside along the western edge of the Potato Dock, just to get them out of the way.  Perhaps they'll be moved later, and perhaps not.  It's up to the Town.

We should make clear, once and for all, that use of the Potato Dock facility for this project (a private property leased by Washington Island Ferry Line) is being made available at no cost to the Town or to any contractor.  The pier, given its geographic location a short distance from the channel, is a logical place to unload dredge spoils, moor barges, and position other related equipment.  We've called it "our contribution" to making this project work, and it further reduces the overall cost of the project.   WIFL does not intend to charge "tipping fee" for stones placed on the Potato Dock, whether such placement is permanent or temporary.  Perhaps the Town of Washington will offer these stone as souvenirs to interested citizens who may bid for them and pay for trucking to their properties.

Let's get real, people!

Thankfully, detractors of projects such as this  (who, by the way, always have the better solution) are a very small minority.  The majority of Island citizens and visitors plainly see the need to get this work done, and they understand that when you dig and transfer mud and stone there will always be dust, minor spillages, busted blacktop and the associated noise of engines and machinery.  All of this comes to a halt when the project depth is achieved, or it will come to a temporary halt when freezing and ice enters the picture.

Dave Hanlin runs two of the trucks for the offload.  Shown is Rich Ellefson,
unlocking the tailgate of the truck he's driving for Hanlin. 

It looks now like the change in seasons with freezing temperatures will shut down dredging operations in late December or January, before this project is completed.  If that is the case, then dredging would resume when the ice is melted and when WDNR permits allow for the continuation of digging.

Economic benefits, too

Everyone knows that without a harbor deep enough to navigate, the Island's economy and our community would be in jeopardy.  But along with this necessary and considerable work being accomplished by a number of contractors and workers, there is a positive economic spin-off.  Dollars are spent in motels, restaurants, stores and other establishments.  Workers engage in twelve-hour shifts, and during that time they eat lunches purchased locally.  When not on duty, they sleep and eat on the Island.  Lunch breaks for truckers consist of food grabbed on-the-fly, resulting in hundreds of dollars in food each week from restaurants and stores.  (Two trucks were parked briefly at the Albatross one noon, as their drivers ordered lunch-to-go.)

 A loaded material barge approaches the Potato Dock.
The shore-based crane swings the empty away from
the pier to make room.  The dredge is in the background.

We should also recognize there are Wisconsin taxpayer dollars, paid to Wisconsin contractor companies, and to their to workers and subcontractors, workers who, with few exceptions, live in our state and pay Wisconsin income taxes.  The primary contractor is Roen, Sturgeon Bay based, and most of their men are from Door County.  The trucking is nearly all by island men, and the trucks are owned by Islanders.  How much more local can we get in terms of keeping these dollars near home?   Paychecks, fees and products purchased result in multiple turnover of dollars, further helping to strengthen local and state economies.  Nowhere will the impact be appreciated, however, as much as at our local, Island level.

Remember the visit from Senator Feingold about six years ago, with whom the topic of dredging of the Detroit Harbor federal channel was first broached?

Given the long run-up to achieving a shovel-ready, fully-funded project, I count myself among those pleasantly surprised by the way things have thus far progressed.   This is a huge undertaking, with major expense, and we need to thank our lucky stars it is happening today. (We need to thank our key legislators, too, for their steadfast support resulting in funding legislation).  Future generations of Islanders and Island visitors, we hope, will not be adversely impacted by low water in Lake Michigan, such that it could jeopardize ferry transportation or drop property values.

-  Dick Purinton

CATCHING UP

Young eagle trying to perch on a
small pipe. (photo by Atlas Beneda)

Detroit Harbor, Washington Island -

Its been nearly one month since my last post.  The days have flown by with a variety of activities.  Island colors are now approaching the full palette of greens, reds, yellow and shades in between.  Long grasses and reeds have suddenly, it seems, taken on golden colors, although the grass along roadside and in lawns has never looked greener, given the abundance of rainfall in the past weeks.

We had over three inches last weekend in occasional downpours, before seeing glorious sunshine Sunday noon.  And its been one beautiful, week since then.

The first Washington Island Literary Festival was a tremendous success in so many ways.   We had just over 80 registrants, and what was so memorable was that each participant, whether audience member or  presenter, seemed to be filled with a highly congenial spirit.  Beginning with a reception at Red Cup Coffee Friday evening, then unexpectedly entertaining and informative presentations Saturday, and excellent dinner with poetry Saturday evening at the Island Dairy, through the trips on the Karfi in rain and heavy overcast, then coming out of that for two afternoon sessions...the weekend had more the feeling of a retreat with only positives coming from our experiences.

My only photos were taken Sunday morning, when some of us were waiting for the first trip (with extra chairs) to Rock Island.   That morning was a personal highlight, because I had the opportunity to talk about Thordarson and read a few pages from my book.  Our audience was just over 50, not a bad turnout considering how gloomy and wet the early morning had been.   But the crowd was enthusiastic,  considerate, and patient - and as it seemed from comments, highly appreciative of the setting for this event inside the Thordarson Boathouse.

Privileged to be named as presenters at Rock Island:
Poets Ralph Murre, Sharon Auberle of Baileys Harbor, who
read from their book of poetry, and Richard Purinton who
read about Thordarson.

For a turn-around in roles, imagine yourself reading to Norman Gilliland!  Norman, known for reading Chapter-A-Day on Wisconsin Public Radio, and who read from his newest book, Down East Ledge, Saturday afternoon, and Amanda Gilliland, were Festival participants, too, attending the Rock Island event.

"What a privilege to carry..." goes the church hymn, and it was this Sunday morning.  It was in a slightly different setting that we counted our blessings among those gathered on Rock Island.

Mary Beth Volmer and Sandy Peterson, among
those aboard the Karfi Sunday morning were
dressed for the weather.  By noon, rain had given
way to clear, blue skies.

There were so many highlights from that weekend, but the pleasant enthusiasm of everyone we encountered ranks at the top of my list.  There is no formula that can create such an atmosphere.  It just happened.  But, I believe it was fostered by the positive attitudes of Festival organizers Helene Meyer and Betsy Wallman, and then underscored with Jean Feraca's welcoming remarks Friday evening.  This wave of energy with upbeat tempo swept us along the next two days.

Other noted Island activities

Wednesday, October 9th, I took my final turn of the season aboard the Karfi as skipper.  It was another outstanding October day: sunny, blue, blue sky, temperature in the upper 60s, with a pleasant southerly wind.

Among our passengers headed to Rock Island on that first morning run were naturalists Melody Walsh and the Lukes, Roy and Charlotte.  Their mission:  to locate and measure a hemlock spotted in a previous visit several weeks ago, a new, possible Door County record.  (Eclipsing Plum Island's hemlock.)   Later that day when they boarded again, smiles indicated they were successful.  It takes time to collate measurements and have them accepted by the State, but it appears that within a few weeks we may hear Roy's announcement in his column about this tree.

Roy and Charlotte Lukes,  returning
from Rock Island.

In her lifetime, Charlotte has identified 596 different fungi species in Door County. At least,  and that was her count before this most recent field trip.

She had recently added 25 new fungi finds to her Rock Island list (now at 70 and still counting...) when she and Roy visited September 24 & 25.  Their mushroom hunting was aided, she said, by the extremely wet fall weather that increased the fungi production beyond anything previously witnessed.  She held a plastic bag of possible new fungi samples as she boarded the Karfi for the return trip to Jackson Harbor Wednesday.

Some day, Charlotte acknowledged, she may publish a book about her finds.  She photographs discovered specimens in place, then she brings a representative sample to her home for closer examination under a powerful microscope.  Each is cataloged by shape, color, spore patterns and so on, comparing each with previously noted species and reference book information.  As long as new species continue to present themselves for discovery, her book on Door County mushrooms will remain incomplete.

It is incredible to have two such naturalists in our midst who dedicate themselves to increasing the body of science about our surroundings, all with such little fanfare.

Such dedication to what we might term a "lifetime pastime" for the outdoors!   Their  passion for field and forest is uplifting.

A word about the eagle shown at the top of the page:  this young eagle had tried to capture one of the several brown trout seen in Detroit Harbor in recent weeks, but the fish was too big to pick up.  With a lack of grace and agility, it tried to perch on the top of a 3-inch pipe supporting our pier.  Later, it was observed to land on a lightly constructed kingfisher roost, a tall wooden post with a stick attached to the top.   Grandson Atlas took the eagle's photo, one of many taken over a period of ten minutes or so, while it appeared indifferent to its surroundings.

We've managed to fill another blog without even touching on the dredging project taking place in Detroit Harbor.  Next time!          -  Dick Purinton

A LITTLE SURPRISE

White sphinx hummingmoth feeding on
a large impatiens plant near our front door.

Detroit Harbor, Washington Island -

Yesterday was our grandson's 11th birthday, and as we headed outdoors so that he could try his new pellet gun, he noticed what we at first thought was a hummingbird feeding on the pink impatiens flowers.

Except, at closer examination, it was a moth and not a hummingbird.  It seemed not bothered that we were nearby, as it circled the plant for over five minutes and at one point landed on Atlas's boot.  Unlike hummingbirds I've observed, this moth had great flying skills but was not nearly so quick.  And, it came back to the same blossoms repeatedly, instinct coupled with zero memory.

I emailed Roy Lukes, sending him these same photos.  Roy's nature column for the Peninsula Pulse covers a different topic each week, and he's considered Door County's dean of observers and foremost authority on local natural history topics.  He is also an excellent nature photographer.

Roy's reply to me was as follows:

"...this is not the hummingbird clearwing moth, but rather the white-lined sphinx moth.  The clearwing hummingbird moth is also considered one of the sphinx moths.  Both the clearwing hummingbird moth and the snowberry clearwing moth are usually not seen after the first week of August, while the white-lined sphinx flies even into the first week of October, the latest of the sphinx moths.  I agree with you that its a beautiful creature, so unafraid of humans, too!

Roy continued, writing that he and Charlotte were coming to the island this weekend to study mushrooms, something they do regularly county-wide.  I believe Charlotte has identified nearly 600 different mushroom species in our county (about 60 species identified here on Washington Island), with a goal of some day publishing her findings in a book.

Because this has been a wet summer, and now a rainy fall, there might be better-than-usual mushroom hunting and identification opportunities.

 -  Dick Purinton

ROCK ISLAND FERRY

Karfi working to weather on a dirty day.
(Jim Morris photo)

Washington and Rock Islands -

The purpose of this is not to scare the pants off future visitors to Rock Island, but rather to demonstrate that the show must go on, that when people are on Rock Island and the weather picks up, we attempt to get everyone who wishes back to Jackson Harbor.

On this day, July 23rd of this year, Jeff Cornell was captain and Hoyt Purinton was his crew.  The winds gradually picked up, then became 35 mph and greater, and one last trip was made.   Park employees rounded up Rock Island State Park visitors for the final trip of the day (1:15 p.m. departure from the boathouse, I believe it was).   Passengers on board no doubt found it to be a thrilling ride.  Jeff went north as far as he could, running under the protection of the island, such as it was, then headed across the mile or so of open water toward McDonald Cottages.

(Jim Morris photo)

On Rock Island, Jim Morris with camera handy took these photos as the Karfi headed out.  Said Hoyt, on his first such windy trip on board the Karfi, "It rides surprisingly well, popping up over the waves each time.  There were easily 8-footers, and it rolled and bobbed, but the boat handles extremely well."

(Jim Morris photo)

The winds were more northerly to begin with, which makes the landing at the boathouse somewhat protected.  But as the day wore on, winds backed more NW, exposing the entrance which is right on the rocky shore, and velocities also increased.  I must say, that with my rather limited experience if I was operating the Karfi that day, park visitors might have had to quickly find campsite partners with extra tent space.  After many decades as a crew member, then as skipper, Jeff is an accomplished hand at the Rock Island crossing.  He knows the limits and capabilities of his boat.

Jeff Cornell (behind passengers in short-sleeve tee shirt), and
Hoyt Purinton (on the pier to the right) prepare
to depart Rock Island.  Smiling passengers are cautioned to
please remain seated!   (Jim Morris photo)

You, too, ought to consider a Rock Island outing!

Let me say, in a small marketing message, that not only is my book now available, but I will be reading at the Rock Island Boathouse on Sunday morning, October 6th as a presenter for the Washington Island Literary Festival.  The registration deadline has been extended to September 20th for the $75 registration fee, and I'm hoping to see many of you there (weather permitting, of course!).   Within this spectacular setting for this first-time local literary event, I will attempt to invoke pleasant memories of Thordarson and his accomplishments.   See you there!

-  Dick Purinton

First look with Kathleen Dixon.

Washington Island, Wisconsin -

A Wisconsin Commercial Ports Association annual meeting was held here Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, with representatives of many of Wisconsin's ports, governmental agencies and professionals who design and build port structures, including dredging.

The conference ended at noon, Friday, and when I went to the Island Ferry Office I learned that my anticipated book shipment of three pallets had arrived late the previous afternoon.   Our crew had put the books in the steel storage building.   Because one pallet held just four cartons, I placed those boxes on my truck.  On the way home I decided to stop first at Kathleen Dixon's IslandTime bookshop, next to Red Cup Coffee and the Post Office.

There, in front of her store, we opened up one of the boxes.  This was the first time either of us had a chance to see the finished product.  I had expectations and knew what it should look like.  Kathleen had   taken a number of advance orders from customers, but she hadn't seen any of the material, other than my description of its contents.   She hailed Cooper Henkel, who was sitting nearby on the Red Cup porch, to take several photos.

Small book shops are important for the sale of books of regional interest, I've found, and although I've developed a website that will now permit direct sales by credit card, many local readers and island visitors enjoy browsing and picking up books with a local flavor where they can thumb the cover and scan pages.  Right now, for a few days at least, Kathleen's shop will be the only store handling the book.  When I have more time, in the coming week, this book will become be available at other outlets, including mainland book shops.

Next Saturday, September 21, I'll have a signing party at the Ferry Terminal lobby, from 2:30 to 5:00 pm.

I should mention that Kathleen is a valuable member of the Island Literary Festival Committee.   She has been a participant with the Key West Literary Festival for many years, and she knows how such an event can be successfully run.  Her knowledge of writers - local, statewide and national - is tremendous.  Naturally, I'm pleased that she mentions my name to her customers.  Many people I've met aboard the Karfi this past summer received book information from Kathleen, along with her recommendation.

So, after several hours Friday spent fulfilling my own backlogged list of customer orders, I have, more or less, two pallets of about 1400 books remaining to be sold.  I expect this to be a long-term process, over several years, maybe.  But we're off to a great start, and I'm looking forward to receiving reader book orders and comments.

  -  Dick Purinton         [For book and order information go to:    www.RichardPurinton.com]  

CROP CIRCLE CONFESSIONS

Crop circle, Hackpen Hill, Wiltshire County.  (MJ Purinton photo)

Washington Island, Wisconsin -

The title of this blog, I admit, resembles tabloid journalism.  Confession #1.

We took a trip to England that included, among many other extremely interesting and varied sights, the stones carefully moved and placed by ancient people in the landscape, most notably Stonehenge, but also Avebury and Kennet-Longbarrow.  These people were magnificent stone stackers, something we marveled at when we saw them in person, and have often thought back on since.

Stone stacking on local beaches was a topic, on a much more modest scale, that I recently wrote about here in a somewhat derogatory, chastising tone.  Confession #2.

Mary Jo and I signed up in January for a tour expressly for the purpose of seeing and experiencing crop circles.  When I boarded the plane to England, I believed I would have an open and objective mind toward the circles and their purpose.   I returned uncertain as to who or what created the many intricate, fantastic designs in the croplands of Wiltshire County, but I was also changed by the experience.  I concluded, after being in and around perhaps a dozen crop circles, several of freshly laid overnight in the wheat fields, that there is more to the story than a "couple of guys late at night on skis with a GPS."

I was one of seven (the others were women!) led by Barbara Lamb of California, who has been visiting crop circles in England for 23 years.  She leads groups, mostly Americans, to see these phenomena.  With internet and smart phone connections, photos of both older and recent crop circles are uploaded and posted on sites where anyone can view them.  Often, they will be further analyzed and geometrically diagrammed.   (Go to cropcircleconnector.com to see the many, varied patterns that appear in the fields of barley, wheat, and occasionally, other crops.)  By checking in every so often, we were kept current and the site also helped us to locate older crop circles.   By recent, I mean "last night's production," crop circles only hours old.  Nearly all of them were within a 20-mile radius of where we stayed, our B & B at Court Hill Farm, a very pleasant stay with the owners and their dogs in Potterne, near the larger town of Devizes.

It is possible for men with skill and practice, having first a great basic geometric design, to create such patterns in a night's work?  A few men have proven this to be true.   But the ongoing reality of crop circles popping up over an approximately 25-year period of time (that is about the length of time of the currently recorded phenomena), sometimes two circles in the same night miles apart, in complex patterns of laid wheat or other grains, in the dark... well, it gives me pause at least.  And given man's tendency to tire of their successes over time, even when such efforts are well-publicized, leads me to agree with others that there could be more heavenly energies behind the creation of many of the crop circles.

Exactly who or what those origins might be, I am at a loss to say.  As a traditional Christian believer, if our creator could bring signs and miracles to people throughout history, if then why not now?  If we as believing humans can marvel at the similarity of the Virgin Mary in a piece of burned toast, then why not crop circles?  In fact, in precision, execution and geometrical cleverness, there is no comparison between burned toast and crop circles.

What, then, are crop circle designs telling us?  There again, I confess to having no clue other than there seems to be energy within those patterns deemed "genuine" (not made by the obvious clumsy feet of man) and the energy within them can be felt even by a rather dull point of earthly contact such as me!

For those who know of dowsing rods, there is a definite reaction for dowsers within vs. without a fresh and "genuine" crop circle.  Rather a dramatic difference, in fact, as the hand-held dowsing sticks open wide upon entering the circle and close up when exiting.  I must add that, in crop circles quite definitely man-made (i.e., highly imperfect) the rods do nothing, and even in the center of such crop circles where energy seems to concentrate, the rods are unmoving.

I fell asleep several times while laying down upon freshly-patterned wheat crop.  It was a pleasing, satisfying experience that could maybe partly be attributed to jet lag.  Others who entered the circles celebrated the energy in other ways more personal to them.  I respected and admired those who seemed to be more receptive to the energies than myself, but I was also contented with the beauty of the rolling landscape, the smells of earth and damp wheat, the sounds of the wind in the crop, and occasionally harvesters working in adjacent fields.  The hours spent in crop circles were most satisfying, peaceful and renewing in a way I can relate to the most meaningful minutes I've spent in church.  That would be confession #3!

I acknowledge other interpretations that have been made, some that seem too far away from our workaday world for me to grasp, especially hard to accept when concentrating on that paycheck or concerned if our government is making the right decision on this or that.   (And in this same Salisbury Plain, by the way, the British army regularly conducts exercises with tanks and weaponry.  We saw three Sikorsky helicopters fly over the nearby hillside late one afternoon.  At several locations along the road to Stonehenge there were "Caution, tank crossing" signs.)

My appreciation for each of the people I was with grew during the week as we gained trust and support for one another.  I had the opportunity to "navigate" several days, seated to the left hand of our driver, Barbara, as we rode in our rental van over hill and dale, through deeply rutted sod lanes and on narrow asphalt roads.

Mary Jo took advantage of an opportunity one day to fly over crop circles, something several pilots specialize in during the summers as a means of earning additional income.  These pilots track where the circles are, and were (the ghosts, or remains of old circles, often appear through new crops).  For uneasy passengers the pilots completely put them quickly in their trust, enabling them to bank low over crop formations and other local landmarks such as the hillside horses scribed into the white chalk.  The flight was a highlight for Mary Jo and others in our group.  I remained on the ground during this time, happily reading and cheering the planes onward, beyond the nearby hills.

My occasional role as front seat navigator in the rental van - perhaps earned when helping change a flat one afternoon - also prepared me for our second week in England when we rented a car for four days.   Those experiences - which were wonderful - lacked the inter-connectedness of our first week.  We had decided back in January:  while we're there, why not see more?  And so, we did.

Next: Crop Circles - a few theories explored.

 - Dick Purinton

BACK AGAIN

Sunrise over Detroit Harbor following night of heavy rain.

Detroit Harbor, Washington Island -

No excuses for no blogs.  Just been away awhile.

Lots of activities to wrap up our Washington Island summer after our two-week trip to England (which I may report on in an upcoming blog).  There was the Death's Door BBQ, several days of very heavy rain (several reports of 7 inches falling one day), the Labor Day holiday weekend, and for me, days working on the Karfi and driving the Cherry Train.  With temperatures in the lower 50s Labor Day Monday morning, it feels good to catch up on a backlog of items at home.

An important milestone was reached in the progress of my book, Thordarson and Rock Island.  I'm now expecting a delivery date of Friday, September 13.

Two days before boarding a plane to begin our trip to England, I passed the last of the edits to Amy Jorgenson.   Amy then made final changes and sent the files to Worzalla, the printer in Stevens Point.

We had been through many edits in the previous four months, with the help of five volunteer readers.  By the time I boarded the plane Sunday, August 4, I held that any remaining mistakes would have to be overlooked by myself and readers.  Then, from England  I continued to email both Amy and the printer, and the 4-color cover was approved.  However, final text and photo page approval awaited when I came home.   Those I elected to thumb through, more for formality and as a requirement by the printer  in order to keep the project moving, knowing that any changes at that point would only cost more and add to the delay in printing.

So, September 13 is now the date I'm counting on to receive my books, and with some confidence this is a done deal, I'm happily taking orders now on my new website:       www.RichardPurinton.com        You may wish to visit that site if for no other reason than to read more about the process of finishing and publishing this book.    

With editing finally in the past, sales and promotion have taken priority.

First time event:  Washington Island Literary Festival October 5 & 6

As it happens, my new book and a new Island event will coincide.  The Washington Island Literary Festival will be held Saturday and Sunday, October 5 & 6.  This event will center at the Trueblood Performing Arts Center on Washington Island, with additional activities at the Historic Island Dairy Saturday evening, and a trip to the Thordarson Boat House on Rock Island Sunday morning, weather permitting.

An Island Literary Festival was the idea of Helene Meyer's, honoring her late husband, Gene Meyer.  Helene enlisted the help of Betsy Wallman, who in turn named a committee of six other persons. I believe that our first meeting was in mid-July.  Tremendous progress was made since then in planning the program and obtaining presenters, given the comparatively late start date.

This Literary Festival emphasizes Wisconsin writers and their literature, and it's designed to give readers - the audience - the opportunity to meet and hear a range of authors with strong Wisconsin roots, and who may also write about Wisconsin.   Below is a poster developed by committee member Mari Anderson for this occasion.  I'm proud to be among those writers asked to be a presenter.  Timing of the publication of my new book is such that I anticipate receiving it in the next two weeks, in time for an event in the Thordarson Boat House Sunday morning, October 6th.  There, in the great hall of the structure most often associated with Thordarson and Rock Island, I'll read and talk about Thordarson.

The Washington Island Literary Festival Registration is being taken now, and you can sign up via the Trueblood Performing Arts Center website.  Cost is $75 per person.  You'll meet writers who include well-known former Wisconsin Public Radio host Jean Feraca, who is also an author.  Jean will also chair a panel discussion.  Listeners of WPR's Chapter-a-day will also recognize the voice of Norman Gilliland who will speak Sunday afternoon.  Norman will have a new novel out this October.  Former Wisconsin Poet Laureate Bruce Dethlefsen will read Saturday evening after dinner,  and he'll also lead an open-mic, joined by other poets - including Ralph Murre and Sharon Auberle of Baileys Harbor who recently co-published a new book of poetry.  Ralph and Sharon will also read in the Thordarson Boat House Sunday morning.

Besides admission to the presentations by writers, your registration will include dinner at the Island Dairy Saturday evening, early morning coffee and pastry, break refreshments, and the Sunday morning ferry ride to Rock Island State Park aboard the Karfi.  For anyone who enjoys literature, especially authors and books with a Wisconsin flavor, you will want to send in your registration soon.  (The registration fee jumps to $90 after 9/15/13.)

This blog doesn't begin to catch up on old news, but it's a start.  I hope to see many of you at the Island Literary Festival.  It should be a fun and rewarding experience.

-   Dick Purinton

EARLY DETROIT HARBOR PASSENGER VESSEL SERVICE

Detroit Harbor, Washington Island -

A light rain is falling, and there is a temporary lull in tourism this afternoon, a good time to consider a new blog.  I've had some of these images on my computer screen for months, waiting for that opportunity to string them together with observations.

What got me started on this was the topic of dredging and dock work, and how one thing builds on another over the years and decades.  The present island ferry dock was formerly the property of Ole Christianson who had a boatyard and marine railway there.  If you're interested in more details on that yard, a letter from Ole to Thordarson is included in the about-to-be-published Thordarson and Rock Island.  Thordarson, it turns out, was interested enough in Ole's boatyard to exchange letters with him and get a price.  Ole, it is assumed, was what we call today a "motivated seller" because when Thordarson didn't bite, William Jepson who operated the ferries from the shipyard location at the far end of the harbor did.  Jepson moved his ferry landing and began to make dock improvements.  (This move would also have entailed the improvement of a road for motorized vehicles to and from the Lobdell Point area.  John W. Cornell recalled walking to work along a footpath when he first expanded his dock, where the current Island Outpost dock is now situated.)

North Shore moored inside the slip.
Barrels are lined up along the Standard Oil
dock to the north.  Chambers house is
in background (right).

In the first photo I think we can safely say the North Shore is backing from the location that is also the current ferry landing, backing "into the channel" so-to-speak.  Since the exact year isn't known, there might not yet have been a dredged channel, only a naturally deep waterway. (It was first dredged in 1937.)  Jepson wasn't the only operator to carry autos.  But he appears to be the first to do so, and the first to operate a regularly scheduled service using two ferries, the Welcome and the North Shore, built expressly for passenger and auto service from the Island to the Door Peninsula.

Earlier passenger service?

Eric Bonow provided the 1909 timetable below that outlines early passenger service options to upper Green Bay ports, including Detroit Harbor.   The larger Bon Ami or Sailor Boy made the main run between Sturgeon Bay and Marinette-Menominee, and then north to Escanaba.  A smaller vessel, Thistle, was used to call on smaller harbors along the Door Peninsula.  If someone from Washington Island wished to go to Escanaba, for instance, they could board the Thistle from Gislason's dock (near present day Shipyard Marina), and then transfer near the harbor's entrance to the northbound Bon Ami, which then continued on its way to Escanaba.  When southbound, the Bon Ami or Sailor Boy would stop in Washington Harbor, but apparently only when there was demand.

The fact that trains could be met at Sturgeon Bay or Marinette/Menominee (also at Escanaba, although it is not stated on the Time Card) made it a convenient means of scheduling travel.   It was with such possibilities that C. H. Thordarson often arrived in Escanaba, Michigan, from Chicago by train in later years.  A smaller boat trip completed his last leg to his Rock Island estate.

 Although it is hard to read the fine print, Eric highlighted the Thistle's name in yellow.  Passengers who wished to disembark in Detroit Harbor would also transfer from the larger Hart Line boat to the smaller Thistle near the harbor's entrance.  Then Thistle and her crew were optimized with an offer of "cheap excursion rates outside of Detroit Harbor every pleasant afternoon" to help fill time before she began her run south.

A promotion ran in the Time Card:  if passengers continued to Escanaba, they would arrive in the evening, "Giving all our passengers a chance to approach the city by night and view the immense ore docks lighted by electricity, which is a beautiful sight."

Other early Detroit Harbor vessel activity

Another Eric, Eric Greenfeldt, sent me a volume of great information in the form of early newspaper article reprints.  These clippings tell of the very first beginnings of  ferry transportation on Washington Island.  Here is a sampling:

The Door County News (DCN) of 22 May 1919 reported Capt. Carl Hanson of Washington Island, owner and master of the gasoline freighter Marion, stated his intention to make twice daily round trips from Detroit Harbor to Garret Bay (west of Gills Rock).

In the next few weeks, Hanson apparently sold (or leased) the Marion to William Jepson.  The June 26, 1919 issue reported the first trip carrying an automobile, the ferry Marion under Jepson's authority.  Success of the undertaking, it was noted, depended upon the "patronage of the public." But a "large increase in the number of autos during the past and first of the present season" was optimistically noted.  Also described was "a dock being built at Gills Rock for the ferry to discharge the autos conveniently and expeditiously, and the work will be completed by the end of the week."

Highways and automobiles led to a decline, then the end, of around-the-bay services such as the Hart Line offered.

The Marion's schedule and rates as advertised in the July 10 DCN:  Trips were twice daily.  Round trip rates were $5.00 for small cars, $7.00 for touring cars.  Passengers were 75 cents each, one way.  An accompanying column noted that "The line promises to become a popular mode of travel when brought to the attention of the outside world."

[We're still working on that...]

Competition was in the wings.  The following account appeared in the April 21, 1920 issue of the DCN:

Pete Anderson, the Mail Carrier, Will Carry Cars Across the Door In His New Boat

Washington Island is to have a ferry service again during the coming summer for the accommodation of the inhabitants of that part of the county as well as the tourists trade.

Pete Anderson, the hustling mail carrier, is the man behind the proposition and he will combine it with his regular business of handling Uncle Sam's mail and carrying passenger s back and forth.

During the past winter Pete purchased the big gasoline yacht Navarre which formerly belonged to Judge Turner, now deceased, and during the past couple of weeks, he with Thos. Johnson and George Jorgenson have been busily engaged at Two Rivers in converting the craft into a business boat.   She was thoroughly overhauled below the waterline and is now as good as new.

On Monday, Mr. Anderson, accompanied by Messr. Johnson and Jorgenson, arrived in the city with the boat on their way to Washington Island, stopping only long enough at the yards of the Fuller Goodman company on the west side to take on a load of material with which to finish the craft.  It is the intention to put in exceptionally heavy beams and decks for carrying automobiles.  The upperworks and decks will be put in at Detroit Harbor during the ensuing month, it being the intention to have her ready for commission along about the first of June.  The Navarre is 56 feet long and 15 feet wide and will be capable of carrying three cars handily.  She is an exceptionably fine boat.  The owners will also have accommodations for passengers as well.

Mr. Anderson has not as yet figured out just what schedule he will run on , but this will be announced at a later date.

There are a large number of autos owned on the Island, which together with those of people who wish to visit the place should provide a good business for the ferry.  
(Note:  In this early newspaper article the word "autos" appears with an "e," similar to "potatoes," a new word then for editors and readers alike.)

Well, enough for one rainy day.

Eric Greenfeldt sent me quite a few column inches reporting discussions leading to that first official auto being carried by Jepson on the ferry Marion in 1919.  When it rains again, and tourism doesn't require my services, we'll continue with this subject.

-  Dick Purinton

NEW WEBSITE - NEW BOOK IN WORKS!

Detroit Harbor, Washington Island -

Over the past number of years while working on projects, each with its own immediacy, I've sat on an idea for a book on Rock Island and its one-time owner C. H. Thordarson.

I had many materials on Thordarson and a notion of how best to use them, but I didn't have sufficient time or confidence to give it the concentration and the push needed to finish such a project.  That changed when I decided to step back from daily duties at the Ferry Line January 1st, and since then I've been concentrating on this history, now titled Thordarson and Rock Island.   Of course, I'm still actively working for the Ferry Line, and the warmer weather and tourism of summer mean I have added responsibilities of operating the Karfi a few days each week in Jackson Harbor and driving tours on the Cherry Train.  But I'm far enough along with the book that those days come as welcomed breaks, allowing me to step back from what becomes obsessiveness to finish what I've started.

Book will be soft cover and will include
over 100 historic images, maps and illustrations.

The time involved to complete this book became far greater than I dreamed.  First, it took me time just to get going, to convince myself I was on the right track, and to make sense of the whole.  New questions cropped up that needed answers, and they were often left hanging (some will never be answered).  As early as March, the endless but essential task of editing began.  I've been fortunate to have the help of a number of friends with a qualifying background (they like to read!), eager to offer comment on what started out as very rough copy.  Through their collective comments the manuscript has become much smoother and easier to read, I believe, vastly improved from both accuracy and grammatical standpoints.  However, that editing is still going on today, with two, final "readers" lending their sharp eyes and minds to necessary corrections.

Although publication was already set back several times, the project is now much closer to print-ready.  But I've said all of this before...and then reset my own deadline.  But deadlines are the only way to bring reality to such a lengthy and multi-headed project, and I need to give several weeks' lead time to the printer.   At the same time, I want a product that won't cause me to cringe later due to egotistical blunders and grammatical errors.

In addition to volunteer readers, Amy Jorgenson is doing my digital page graphics for a printer-ready file.  I coordinate my ideas and edits with Amy.  With so many steps involved, I'm not planning on a sequel.   I hope this one will be a book readers will find informative, enjoyable and error-free.

A sample page:

Added to my research and the writing portion of this book project is the fact that early on I decided the surest way to get this to print would be to self-publish.   While I've done this sort of thing before, this time the steps were multiplied and they were larger steps that ended up stretching my time and my resources.   Along with the decision to be my own publisher, I also take on responsibility for marketing the finished product.  In this, I've been fortunate to have many local readers and the bookshops to sell books to motivated readers, but for this topic on Thordarson I wanted greater reach.

To this end, I wanted my own website to promote book information, sales and marketing, and so I asked Courtney Cauldwell, an Island resident, to help me set this up.

Yesterday, Friday, this website was officially opened at:
   
                     www.RichardPurinton.com

I would encourage you to look at my new website.  Sales of two previous books are also offered, but please note that until later in August the Rock Island book will not be available.  At a future date, advance orders will be taken.  But not yet, please!   I'd like to assure everyone that a product is in hand before commitment is made to an order.

In the middle of the final editing and publishing process is a trip Mary Jo and I have planned to visit England, to view crop circles among other things.  This trip was decided on a winter's whim back in January when the snow was flying and I still had great optimism this book would have been to the printer and back again by now, with a pallet of boxes awaiting orders in my basement.  But not so, as it turned out.   The time to see crop circles is when grain fields are mature, in late July and early August in Wiltshire County.  Nearby are the Standing Stones and many other ancient stone circles, mounds and monuments of earlier civilization.

We're committed to this trip, just as I am committed to finishing this book!

 -  Dick Purinton

STONES - NATURAL BEAUTY IS NOT ENOUGH?

School House Beach stones.

Washington Island, Wisconsin -

Stones can be beautiful with colorful, interesting shapes.  They are useful in construction, to fill holes, create concrete in crushed form, to build masonry walls.  Certain types of stones are considered the ultimate in created beauty, such as when crafted into stone sculpture or stone countertops.

Stones can also be a great impediment, to farming and laying underground cables, a danger to ships when unseen just beneath the ocean's surface, or anytime they appear in their natural state and we find it least convenient - such as in a hole we're digging for a fencepost.

At various times we've all skipped, tossed and collected stones.  However, more recently, the repositioning and stacking of stones as a guidepost or a means of personal expression has become for many a common practice.  For some, this practice has nearly become an obsession.

Where is this piece leading? Why is he bothering to tell us things we already know or don't really care to hear?  It seems intuitive that stones - as common as air or water - aren't usually considered a precious resource unless they are first mined, or specially cut or sculpted, or placed within a wall or floor where they are critical to the structure.

At School House Beach on Washington Island, residents often are asked to defend local policy to visitors, "why the smooth beach stones found there shouldn't be taken."  The apparent and rapid disappearance in the last several decades of School House Beach stones is attributed to visitors taking them home, but a good number may lie at the harbor's bottom, having been skipped in fun by both Islanders and visiting guests.   There is no way these stones can be readily replaced, these wave-polished stones that took centuries for nature to refine, and so we now admonish anyone who takes one for a souvenir.

Another and similar trend, I think, is the movement or our general population to build small piles of stones into cairns.  This has been encouraged through photographs of stacked stones that impart a Zen-like benefit to the builder and viewer that supposedly makes this practice OK on public properties.

The Art & Nature Center of Washington Island currently features a display of stacked stones that are actually ceramic pieces cleverly and skillfully made to resemble School House Beach stones.  The artist includes a disclaimer that he did not take stones from the beach, and that the birch branches framing his piece were taken from a construction site where they were going to be disposed of anyway.   That's commendable and appreciated.  But does his sculpture encourage the building of more stone piles along School House Beach, where already on any given summer day stone stacks exist near the blankets of idle-handed beach-goers?

The Peninsula Pulse recently ran a piece about an art project of Kate Borcherding who stacked stones along Door Bluff on the Peninsula as part of her Memories Diaries Art Project, funded by Kickstarter.  (June 28th-July 5th issue.) The stones she chose were of various shapes and sizes and were stacked and then photographed:  art installation, it was termed.   The impression given to the reader by that article might be that anyone can try their hand to imitate or improve upon such art, and that since it is art, the end product is of a worthy realm, like a Zen object, and therefore we should be encouraged to practice more of the same.

On Rock Island recently, the Friends of Rock Island (quite unwittingly, I'm sure) at the Rock Island State Park Picnic celebrating the Fourth of July sponsored a stone cairn building contest.  I'm not certain of their judging guidelines, whether the goal was to reward the tallest, most massive, or the most unique stack of stones, but the encouragement to take what the glaciers dispersed and reorganize it into our own desired likeness seems wrong, even though any single stone stack seems harmless and temporary. They may seem to many like sand castles which a builder would not displace materials from their "natural setting."  

I read an editorial several years ago that ran in a Green Bay paper where the writer was greatly disappointed when he visited several national parks in the west.  No matter where he hiked, or how remote the location, he observed stacks of stones left behind by clever stone-stacking artists who were probably hikers, like himself.  He wanted to see nature as it was and should be,  knowing that he would encounter trails with footprints here and there left by previous hikers, which for practical reasons can't be undone but will be washed away by nature.  These footprints also come with the presence of man, he believed, but they were less intentional than piled stones. The ever-present rock stacks, he believed, defaced the landscape as would painting your name on a large boulder or carving your initials in a tree or a wooden handrail.

For writing this I may be considered just "an old grouchy bastard" who can't seem to join in the fun or appreciate the benefits of creative release that stone stacks may give its builders.  But, I thought I'd at least like to try getting my point across.

How original are we?  How artistic?  Do we improve upon nature when we stack stones, or do our products become a collective nuisance, such as when stacks of stones proliferate as sometimes is the case at School House Beach?   Better to build than to take them away, some may say, and I tend to agree with that.

In the act of walking down the beach toward the water, each of us is helping push the naturally piled stones further toward the water's edge, one step at a time.  Maybe the pastime of stacking them will bring some of the stones back up the beach line where their march toward the water can start over once again.  But I think there is nothing as enjoyable as seeing that beach, and others like it, after winter's snows have left it in a near-pristine condition, or after a big northerly gale when the forces of nature (and not man's pseudo-artistic hands) have repositioned them flat.

The lake and the lake shore below the high water mark are public property.   There are no laws against stacking stones.  Should we then go along with it, and improve construction methods through the use crowbars and levers, tackling the really big stones, all the more to impress our audience of fellow travelers?

Will an endpoint in stone stacking be reached?  Or will a time come when stacking stones is passe' and no longer a unique form of expression, only a way to pass time?  Will this human pastime ever be seen as a blight, rather than the form of artful construction some now consider it to be?

-  Dick Purinton