Algoma Boat Club and the Founding of the Rescue Squad

The recent death of Algoma's Jackie Jorgenson marked the end of an era. Christened John, Jackie was the son of Blackjack Jorgenson, an original member of Algoma's Boat Club.

Recreational boating was still in its infancy when Syd Holub, George Hudson and Maynard Feld were talking in the Feld driveway one 1948 day. By the time Holub and Hudson left, the idea of a boating club was born.

First meetings were held upstairs in an old barn behind what is now Algoma Sewing Center. A short time later, when Foxy Kashik and his brother Cuts joined the fledgling group, meetings were held above Kashik's Meat Market at 222 Steele Street, now the site of Harmann's Studios. Just before Christmas 1950, the men of the newly organized Boat Club offered a vote of thanks to the Kashiks for the use of their facility as an early meeting place.

At 21, Jackie Jorgenson was the youngest when he accompanied his dad to the meetings at Kashik's, which was about the same time that Skinny Henry and the Laurents - Johnny and Al - joined the club. Those men, Frank Golotka, Frank Tiedtke, George Thomas, Pat Patzlaff and Stan Fitscher talked about the need for a clubhouse. But where?

Dutch Detjen and Maynard Feld owned a boathouse on the south side of the Ahnapee River immediately west of the 4th Street Bridge. Just after World War ll, Dutch and Maynard were two of the few men in Algoma with recreational boats, rather than commercial fishing boats. By 1949, the men had decided to use the 16' x 16' boathouse (left) as a club house. The boathouse - four walls and a roof - was moved farther west to Charles Schmitt's land adjacent to the river, behind the Farrell Lumber Co. A club house became a reality. Access was provided to the west off the south side of 4th Street just before passing over the bridge.

It was not until Fall 1954 that Schmitt's company was paid a land rental. Six months after John Schmitt was named an honorary member, negotiations began with Farrell for the purchase of adjacent land. The desired pie-shaped piece was not to exceed $850 plus legal fees for the affairs handled by attorneys George Miller and S. Dean Pies.

Most original club members were employed at U.S. Plywood and when a new clubhouse was built in 1955, the beautiful and exotic woods were purchased from the Plywood, ensuring that the new building was a showcase of and a tribute to the exceptional products manufactured at the Algoma company.

Though the club was a social organization formed to promote recreational boating, its members were community oriented. Working together, the men promoted and supported Algoma while effecting positive change.

When the Youth Club organized the Variety Show, Prof Cmeyla and Skinny Henry entered a skit. When Algoma had a Home Show at the Dug-Out, the club advertised with signage and offered drawings for free boat race tickets. Community Chest received Boat Club support as did the 1952 centennial parade, Christmas and other parades. The club supported a drive to get new uniforms for the men of Algoma Fire Department and encouraged other community organizations to support their efforts. The men encouraged voting and assisted at the polls on Election Day.

Algoma residents had fun and vied for a savings bond prize when the Boat Club ran a contest predicting the date and time at which the ice would go out on the Ahnapee River. Ralph Detjen built a plywood penguin and club members rigged a raft with a flag and clock to be set in place near "the bend," the area now known as Olson Park. When the ice went out, the clock dropped and stopped.

When Edgar Nell organized a dance benefiting the American Heart Club, the club supported John Laurent's daughter Pat as a queen candidate. When funds were being raised to remodel the Youth Club, the Boat Club responded. March of Dimes was the recipient of profits from a venison lunch. Cerebral Palsy was also supported and Algoma and Hunting and Fishing Club was among the organizations borrowing the club's bar, tables and chairs. Supplies were furnished for the children in county's special education school at Rio Creek and ring buoys were purchased for safety at Krohn's Lake. Even the animals were not forgotten. Funds were designated for planting seed upriver to provide food for waterfowl. The Coast Guard was often recognized and receipts from a Christmas party were donated to the Coast Guards' Dependent's Fund. When the club bought a pram in 1965, the Boating Education Committee set up rules for use. Safety materials were always furnished. The club sponsored the Explorer Scouts, Post 612 of the Boy Scouts of America and allowed the Sea Scout boat to tie up at the Boat Club dock. Then the club offered winter storage.

Blackjack Jorgenson represented the Boat Club at a county board meeting that was considering the 1955 opening of Krohn's Lake, a project favored by the public. Urging the city to back the bill for deepening the channel completing the St. Lawrence Seaway project, letters were written to Algoma's Harbor Commission as well as to, then. Senator Joseph McCarthy and 8th District Congressman John Byrnes.

Programs provided for membership education. Bob Runke taught artificial resuscitation and Ed Wells presented programs on Indian relics and Wisconsin lore. Safety and boat handling were always issues of importance. Green Bay Power Squadron presented ten week classes and there were trips that were educational as well as social.

Algoma Boat Club's most lasting contribution came following suggestions from Coroner Buckshot Cherovosky and Sheriff Hogan Kuehl that the club organize a rescue squad. At its 9-year anniversary in 1965, Mayor Art Dettman noted that rescue squad appropriations received less criticism than any other city department. As early as 1958, the club voted to loan the Rescue Squad money for a boat and trailer if the city refused to provide the funds.

Built in Maynard Feld's workshop with materials obtained from him at reduced prices, the launch was christened Clarice Ann in honor of Feld's wife and daughters. The hull, from Cruiser Inc. of Oconto, was built of 3/8" lap strake fir plywood over oak framing, put together with brass screws and bolts. The 19' boat had a teak wood forward deck and a 7' 2" beam with a high freeboard for safety in rough water. Equipped with an automatic bailer, the Coast Guard-registered boat was powered with a 40 h.p. outboard motor mounted on a bracket allowing extra freeboard on the stern to provide for shorter turns. Future plans included an extra motor in the event of trouble in the first engine.

Gordon Mercer emceed the September 1958 christening ceremonies at the Boat Club ramp along the Ahnapee River at the rear of Farrell Lumber Co.  Mayor Dick DeGuelle was among the dignitaries in attendance. The Friday christening kickoff  preceded a benefit dance held at Kolstad's Hall in Kodan that evening. Funds were raised to provide additional equipment for the active squad, which numbered 36 men. During that first year of operation, when low water was a significant problem, Boat Club members marked stones and rocks that were a threat in the riverbed.

An inboard cruiser from the Chicago area was about a mile offshore north of Algoma in August 1966 when the boat hit a rock and began sinking. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Muench saw the flares and called the Coast Guard, which in turn called the Rescue Squad because it had a boat. Night was approaching and the cruiser had run out of flares. By the time the squad arrived, the four boaters were huddled on top the cabin, the only part of the 25' boat above water. Commercial fisherman Toot Wenniger sent two of his pond boats to salvage the cruiser and tow it to Algoma Marine, Inc.  The rescue brought praise in an Algoma Record Herald editorial, however it bothered the editor that Algoma had a boatless Coast Guard staff, thus necessitating that rescue operations were left to civilians.

It wasn't only water rescue. In October 1858, the men assisted in the search of a Kodan woods after two young hunters found a human skull. A few years later, tribute was paid to Jackie Jorgenson whose squad training saved a fellow employee at Algoma Plywood. Business leaders were receiving training using a mannequin when the newspaper too this 1956 photo. Mayor Art Dettman is 3rd from the left.

Throughout its 50 plus year history, the Boat Club has reflected the ideals of its membership. Original members would no doubt shake their heads in astonishment, stunned to know what their efforts accomplished. Jackie said, "It is a story that needs to be told." However, the full story will never be known. It is neither in the sketchy minutes nor in press releases. It is buried in the hearts of the original men who shared a vision.

During Summer 2012, a monument dedicated to the men of the fire and rescue squads was built on the bluff along Crescent Beach. Names of many who served since 1873 are engraved on the granite panels making up the monument, but few of the Rescue Squads' original members are recognized. In 1956, the men gave generously of their time and monetarily underwrote the beginnings of Algoma Rescue Squad. They've been forgotten by the community for which they did so much, however they live on in The History of Algoma Boat Club, c. 2005, and the microfilmed files of Algoma Record Herald found in Algoma Public Library.

Information and pictures are taken from the above referenced history and are used with permission. Undated newspaper clippings come from private collections but, no doubt, originated in the Record Herald. Helmet and insignia in the author's collection.

Algoma has been called a place of nicknames. The baptismal names follow what some would call the men's real names. Jackie Jorgenson, John; Blackjack Jorgenson, Virgil; Foxy Kashik, Leon; Cutz Kashik, Urban; Skinny Henry, Charles; Pat Patzlaff, Erwin; Dutch Detjen, Wilfred; Prof Cmeyla, Quentin.