TREASURE of NAMAKAGON
TOUR!
This is a free, day-long, self guided trip to see some of the interesting sites from the old lumberjack days and many of the sights found in the book. Bring a camera and keep a close eye on the kids when near any water or roadways. Safety first! You might want sunscreen and bug repellent, depending on the conditions.
For a bite to eat and bathrooms, consider stopping at the LOON SALOON on Lake Namakagon, the Ideal Market or the Brickhouse Cafe in Cable, the Sawmill Saloon in Seeley. Coop's Pizza in Hayward is a great place to end the day. You'll see a huge aquarium, home to many fine fish who will watch over you while you dine on a wide variety of great menu items.
This is a FREE, SELF-GUIDED TOUR. Well, almost free. Except for Tuesdays, there will be an admission charge for adults at the Cable Natural History Museum. All other stops are free or "donation accepted with thanks." Donations to our museums are a great investment in the preservation of our great history. Thank you for contributing. [By the way, if you purchase a copy of TREASURE or DARK at a museum, the author makes an additional contribution to that museum.]
Download and print the pdfs below. If you have a smart phone, you can check back to this website as you travel. We will be posting gps coordinates and more information soon.
Note that this FREE TREASURE TOUR brochure is still under construction. The final version will be available soon.
Whether you begin at Lake Namakagon and end in Hayward or the other way around, THANK YOU FOR PATRONIZING THE SPONSORS OF THIS FREE TOUR. Good luck on your search!
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TREAS TOUR for WORD & pdf.pdf Size : 488.329 Kb Type : pdf |
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TREAS TOUR 8-26-12 INSIDE PAGE OF BROCHURE.pdf Size : 402.634 Kb Type : pdf |
Self-guided, free TREASURE TOUR of historic lumberjack-era sites near Cable and Hayward. ©2012 James A. Brakken. GPS coordinates coming soon!
Accompanies the book,
THE TREASURE OF NAMAKAGON
Visit these stops and experience the rich “lumberjack” history from the 1880s. Many are key scenes in the book. Please remember to not disturb any artifacts and to thank our sponsors for providing this guide. An expanded version with photos and maps can be found at TheTreasureofNamakagon.com where the book can be ordered in standard or large print. Order the ebook for Kindle® and all other e-readers, laptops, and many phones at the same website. Enjoy your tour!
A. Chief’s Island. Site of Chief Namakagon’s lodge in the 1800s. Owned by the State of Wisconsin. Page 224.
B. *Loon Saloon. Great sandwiches and pizza, copies of Treasure of Namakagon, and supplies for your tour.
C. Lake Namakagon dam. First built in 1880s to provide a reserve of water needed to drive logs 100 miles to the St. Croix River. Booms of pine timber were pushed by steamboat across the lake to this dam. Site of an armed confrontation between the St. Croix Boom Co and A J Hayward’s mill hands in about 1883. Featured throughout The Treasure of Namakagon.
D. *(new item coming soon).
E. *.(new item coming soon).
F. Cable Natural History Museum. A fine place to learn about nature in the north. Admission fee.
G. Cable-Namakagon Historical Museum. Great place to learn. Originally a potato warehouse. Loading dock faces the old railroad siding. Book sold here, too.
H. Original site of Cable depot, turntable and water tank. The depot stood where Tru-Value Hardware is now. (It was moved 1/4 mile east of town to the park.) The turntable was north of the present car wash. The water tank was near The Rivers Eatery.
(See map at TheTreasureofNamakagon.com.)
I. Cable House Hotel. Pg. 47. Now the local clinic, the spectacular Cable House stood here in 1882. It burned one year after opening. The fire spread to other nearby pine structures. Soon, Cable was all but gone.
J. *IDEAL MARKET, Redbery Books & The Rivers Eatery. A “must stop” when in Cable. Bev carries a wide variety of books and gift ideas and is skilled in matching books to your personality and preferences. This friendly old building also houses a wonderful pub with local craft beers and remarkable food. (Be sure to try the Eau Clair River pizza!)
K. *The Brick House Café and Catering. A local favorite for morning coffee, gourmet lunches, fine dinners. The area’s finest catering for groups large and small.
L. Cable Trestle. 2.5 mile round-trip walk. From Redbery, go south on the old railroad grade. Pg 219.
M. Ice road. Now River Road, thousands of sleigh-loads of pine came down this trail. Later, rail was laid for timber trains. Some of this ice road became Wisconsin Hwy 25 before U.S. Hwy 63 was built.
N. Rollways. Workers rolled the pine logs off the sleighs and down the steep banks between the road and the river. They would “deck” the logs, chocking them at the bottom to prevent rolling into the river. Timber was stacked high all along this trail all winter. In April, the chocks were pulled, the pine thundered into the Namekagon, and the log drive began.
O. Pac-wa-wong. A wild rice harvest lake for centuries, this widening of the river was also the site of an Ojibwe village by the same name. (Above the parking area.) U.S. Park Service prohibits removal of artifacts.
P. Pac-wa-wong Dam. 200 yards east of the road down the access road. Look for timbers near the spillway. These supported a platform where men stood, directing logs downriver. P. 36, 219.
Q. *Sawmill Saloon. Known for good food and fun. Originally a company store for the lumber mill across the road. Many artifacts are on display. Look for a gabreel in the window of MooseLips and a two-man crosscut saw, tools of the lumberjacks. Check out the calked boots hanging in the theater, too.
R. Hayward Trestle. North of the airport on left side of road. Key scenes in the book like page 111.
S. *MarketPlace Foods. Complete selection of foods and spirits. Copies of The Treasure of Namakagon, too! Site of the old Hayward depot.
T. Main Street fountain and downtown view. Compare with photo on website and in the book.
U. BookWorld. A great stop for books and gift ideas.
V. *McCormick House B & B. Once owned by the businessman who partnered with A.J. Hayward.
W. A.J. Hayward’s dam & sawmill. State of the art mill put up over 330,000 board feet in one day, a world record. Hayward partnered with R. McCormick and F. Weyerhaeuser. They soon squeezed him out of the business. Today, Weyerhaeuser Corp. is among the world’s largest timber industry companies.
X. Lake Hayward. Once a small pond, the 1882 dam created this lake( and a very nice city beach). It was filled with pine logs from spring till fall from 1883 until the mill burned in 1922. P. 222.
Y. Sawyer County Historical Society. Look for a bearskin coat, the page 217 wheelchair, the dugout canoe, and photos from the old “lumberjack” days.
Z. *Angry Minnow. Built by A.J. Hayward, McCormick and Weyerhaeuser. Former headquarters of the North Wisconsin Lumber Company. Now houses an outstanding restaurant with a line of gourmet craft beers that are very popular throughout the region.
* Great food, fun, things to see and restrooms. Tell them you’re taking the TREASURE TOUR!
Buy The Treasure of Namakagon at underlined stops.
Note: It is illegal to disturb or remove artifacts from U.S. and Wisconsin-owned land. And, please do not litter.
Please stop in to thank our sponsors for offering this map.
Much more information is at:
TheTreasureofNamakagon.com