Starting Octoberfest morning with a leisurely paddle seemed like an attractive idea when we planned the Fox-Wisconsin Heritage Paddle 2011 schedule over the winter.
It must have looked even better when people threw up the blinds Saturday morning. The 6.4-mile canoe and kayak trip from Appleton's Lutz Park, through the four Appleton navigational locks and to Kimberly's Sunset Point Park, put 119 boats on the water, carrying at least 150 people.
 |
| See more photos at www.flicker.com/foxriverpaddle. |
This was the last in a series of eight organized paddle trips this year on the Fox and Lower Wisconsin rivers.
The day started with a heavy fog hanging over the river. Knowing it would burn off by the 9:30 a.m. launch made it all the more beautiful. A few kayaks were in the water when I arrived, colorful ghosties floating between fog and river.
With that many boats, the launch went on for a while. We were strung out for much of the short distance from Lutz to Lock No. 1. Measuring 144 by 36 feet, the locks easily accommodate 119 boats — even the two 18-foot replica voyageur canoes borrowed from the DNR and escort patrol boats from the Appleton Fire Department and Outagamie County Sheriff's Department's Water Patrol.
Each lockage went smoothly. Cautioning people to stay away from the draw of the dams and insisting that lifejackets be worn at all times helps to ensure that.
As we eased downriver, I found it satisfying that some people didn't know where they were. Was that the Oneida Street Bridge or East College? That can't be 441 we're passing under. But it was.
That told me these local folks were seeing a different view of the Fox Cities from the water. That was one of the points of the paddle series.
This is not a trip for the eager paddler. Waiting for the water to be drawn down in four locks requires a laid-back approach. We filled some of the time at locks 2 and 4 by having volunteer history buff Christine Williams tell us some of what she has learned in researching the families that lived in the lock tender houses.
This trip brought us in touch with living history — quite literally. Besides experiencing riding the river down in the locks courtesy of hand-cranked gates, we had the pleasure of the company of family members of the lock tenders who worked, lived, and, in some cases, were born at the lock sites.
A reception later for the lock tender families at the Paper Discovery Center brought out stories of life on the river.
Sons and daughters told how they bragged at school that they lived on islands, drawing disbelief from their classmates. Cy Wynboom, whose dad was lockmaster from 1932 to '56, lived at the Cedars Lock in Little Chute with his parents and four brothers.
Wynboom remembered making friends with the pilots of the coal barges and hitching rides to grandpa's house.
"I've got some stories that probably would make OSHA's hair stand up straight," he said.
It was an independent sort of job. Linden Burt, one of four surviving locktenders, tended the De Pere lock. He remembered holding up some pleasure boats while he waited for a family of ducks to paddle out of the lock. "I've got a launch and seven houseboats in here," he told the boaters.
His daughter, Karen, remembered that people boating back from supper clubs would save their leftovers for the Burt family dog.
Patrick Gallenberger's father, James, was lockmaster at Combined Locks and later moved to Appleton Lock No. 1.
"You can't believe living there. We had it all," he said. Despite living in the city, they raised geese, turkeys and pheasants. They had their own waterfall in their back yard.
"It was a wonderful life and it was damn hard to leave there," Gallenberger said.
Just as it is hard to leave the river for another season. But the snow does melt and before long we'll be setting out on Fox- Wisconsin Heritage Paddle 2012.
it will be very interesting to me to see what the feedback is. I also liked the picture
ReplyDelete