the Loon Flyer Fall 2001

Published by the Squam Lakes Association

SQUAM LAKE HISTORY PROJECT UNCOVERS MEMORIES OF THE PAST

SLA’s centennial book about the history of the Squam Lakes region got off to a great start this summer. Author Rachel Carley spent many weeks on and around the lakes in June, August and September. She has not only delved into the wealth of information available in our town libraries and historical societies, but she has also interviewed some two dozen individuals so far. Some, like Mary Elizabeth Nielson, are descended from the original land-grant settlers who arrived in the 1700’s. Others, like Bill Schulz and Daphne Mowatt spent childhood summers on Squam and later decided to build houses here. Still others, like Tink Taylor, have made their living in the region and contribute to the five-town Squam community as permanent, year-round residents. These are just a handful of the many people who have been generous in sharing their recollections, their photographs, and their warm hospitality, and we sincerely thank everyone for their help.

In August we held a breakfast get-together at Judy and Allan Fulkerson’s house, the summer “camp” known as Chimneypots, which was built in the early 1920’s for the William E. Schrafft family. There our research team gathered on the screened porch by the water on a beautiful summer morning as members of the Uhle, Schultz and Closson families shared memories of life on Squam during the prohibition and World War II eras. The day was such a success that we are planning more of these informal roundtable discussions, to focus on specific subjects of interest, such as the history of boating on the lakes. Please let us know if you would like to participate in one of these talks; we would be pleased to hear from you and welcome ideas for topics.

The purpose of SLA’s expansive research project is not only to produce an authoritative book on the history of the Squam Lakes, but also to compile and catalogue an archive of materials that will be available to the public. We also hope to mount a series of exhibits to further share the fascinating information that we are turning up. Another project is to compile loose-leaf binders of letters and written recollections of life on and around Squam. These will be available at SLA headquarters with the idea that anyone stopping in can dip in and read at their leisure. We hereby solicit a page of two or of written memories from any and all.
As many of you may know, the SLA book project is one of three separate but worthy history projects simultaneously underway. The Squam Lakes Natural Science Center is currently undertaking a series of oral histories to provide background and updated information for its nature- and history- oriented boat tours on Squam. A third project is an independent doctoral thesis by Ph.D. candidate Derek Brereton, whose research includes the history of several early family camps on the lake. Inevitably, these different projects have led the various researchers involved to many of the same sources, and we are particularly grateful for the patience and time that so many of you have graciously extended.

SLA’s research will continue over the next two years, with publication of the book scheduled for spring, 2004. In each issue of the Loon Flyer, Rachel will provide snippets of some of the stories and information she is gathering, and she will ask you for specific information that may be missing from her research. Be sure to look for her column in each quarterly newsletter.

We continue to solicit comments, memories, photographs, newspaper clippings, oral and personal histories and ideas of all kinds. No item is too small: What may seem insignificant to you could turn out to be a very important piece of our historical puzzle. Please feel free to contact Rachel Carley at rcarley@hotmail.com or at 39 Hyland Avenue, Woodbury, CT 06798 (phone 203/263-2842. Additionally you can continue to call the SLA office at 603/968-7336.

Notes on Squam History: Stormy Weather

Did you know?

. . . that when the 1938 hurricane blasted through the Squam Lakes region, the devastating storm felled so much timber that U.S. Forest Service teams were called in to clean up?

One particular concern was that the deadfall would cause forest fires. Because there were so many downed trees, much of the timber was marked, then thrown into Big Squam and White Oak Pond. The idea was that the wood, preserved indefinitely when immersed in fresh water, would be retrieved by officials at a later date. Little, if any, was ever picked up by the Forest Service, however, and hundreds of logs are said to rest at the bottom of both lakes.

What timber wasn’t thrown into the water was milled and sold by the board foot. Some of it was also made into chairs to furnish summer camps in the area. If you own any of this camp furniture, know locally as “hurricane chairs,” or would like to share recollections of the hurricane, please let us know. We would also like to hear from you if you have photographs of the Squam region dating from the 1938 and 1955 hurricanes.

- Rachel Carley

MILFOIL UPDATE

In August 2001, Governor Shaheen visited Kimbell Marina and observed the dense infestation of invasive milfoil growing in the cove. The state recognizes the long-term threat of invasive aquatic plant growth and has offered assistance on both local and statewide efforts to manage invasive aquatic plants. Additionally legislation is pending that would substantially increase the state’s ability to manage and eradicate invasive aquatic plants.

At the September SLA Board Retreat, the Board of Directors unanimously voted to address invasive milfoil with a sense of urgency and to commit up to $50,000 for immediate action. These funds will be used to purchase bottom barrier material, hire a consultant experienced in aquatic plant management, pay for herbicide application(s), and provide for temporary or permanent private water supply. The SLA believes that invasive milfoil growth wherever it occurs is a threat to the entire 42,000-acre watershed. Our overall approach is to develop site-specific management approaches that have a core objective of minimizing spreading of plant growth. Based on surveying conducted by the NH Department of Environmental Services (NHDES), SLA staff and volunteers, invasive milfoil growth exists in five primary areas. The following is a description of each area and an outline of the management objectives.

Squam River I — the area below the primary outlet dam for the Squam Lakes to the center of Ashland has a dense infestation of milfoil with an estimated extent of 17 acres. A meeting was held with representatives of the NHDES, the Town of Ashland and the SLA this past summer to discuss alternatives. Although an excessive winter drawdown is feasible, this area was essentially dewatered in the winter of 1998 during dam reconstruction and milfoil quickly reestablished itself. The NHDES and the Town are pursuing using an herbicide and coordinated flow stagnation in the late spring of 2002 with a goal of substantially reducing milfoil..

Squam River II — an area of ~100 square feet of milfoil growth was identified in the boat storage cove at Riveredge Marina late this summer. In early October when the lake level was exceptionally low, SLA staff hand pulled, dug and raked out the area. The area will be inspected in the spring of 2002 and hand pulling will be performed if necessary. If the hand pulling is not effective, then the area will be covered with bottom barrier material.

Little Squam Lake I — the cove occupied by Kimbell Marina has a dense infestation with an extent of 1.6 acres. The NHDES pursued a permit to apply herbicides in early 2001 and the application was denied due to incomplete information. The NHDES then conducted a pilot test using bottom barrier material that had limited success. The SLA has hired a consultant and prepared a detailed permit application to pursue herbicide use in the spring of 2002. If this permit is denied then bottom barrier material will be emplaced in the cove to create a travel lane for boating activity.

Little Squam Lake II — the southeast portion of Little Squam Lake has had a substantial number of milfoil fragments washing up along the shoreline. In several areas off the shoreline, milfoil has begun to take root and establish itself. Handpicking was performed in the late summer of 2001. In the spring of 2002 the area will be resurveyed and any significant growth will be covered with bottom barrier material.

Squam Channel — two distinct areas of dense milfoil growth occur in the channel connecting the Squam Lakes. These areas are immediately proximal to boathouses along the channel and in the center of the channel with a total area of ~2,000 square feet. In mid-October, SLA staff installed bottom barrier material over these areas and performed handpicking in several areas of limited growth. These areas will be resurveyed in the early spring of 2002 for consideration of additional handpicking or barrier material installation.

The CONCORD BEAT...

HB592-FN-A is a bill to create a milfoil prevention and research grant program. Currently a $1.50 fee is collected from boat registrations to fund state efforts for aquatic plant management. This bill would increase this funding and allow municipalities and lake associations to apply for matching grant funds. This bill passed a full House vote on the premise that an additional $3 levied on boat registrations would fund the program. The bill was then sent to the House Ways and Means Committee where it was amended to derive the funding by redirecting the portion of boat registration fees that municipalities receive when boats are registered in a marina as opposed to direct registration to the state. The amended bill returned for a House vote and was rejected and sent back to Ways and Means to readdress the funding issue for this bill.

SB146 is a bill to create a definition for personal watercraft that would include the currently regulated 1 and 2 person ‘skicraft’ as well as the larger 3 or more person craft. This bill would not result in further prohibitions or bans but would allow for consistent regulation of similar craft. In early 2001, a public hearing was held before the Senate Wildlife Committee and the committee re-referred the bill for further study and discussion. In September 2001, a hearing was held with opposing sides presenting their views. An amendment was also presented that would essentially require that all personal watercraft would need to comply with the 150 safe passage rule and create an exemption for personal watercraft use in prohibited areas by emergency personnel.

SB89 is a bill that was passed in early 2001 to establish a legislative committee to study the effectiveness of the Shoreland Protection Act (SPA) passed in 1996. The study committee has met several times and taken public testimony. The committee is scheduled to submit a report of their findings to the legislature in November 2001.

YOUTH SAILING AWARDS

The past summer marked the fourth anniversary of the Community Youth Sailing Program. Beginners were once again introduced to sailing in the Optimists and our growing alumni had the opportunity to expand their abilities in the newly acquired Club Juniors.

This year also marked the inauguration of ‘The Russell Spirit Award’ in honor the late Jack Russell and his wife Betty and their many years of positive leadership and enthusiastic efforts to promote the enjoyment of sailing on the Squam Lakes. The CYSP Committee grants the award to young sailors in the CJ classes who have demonstrated courage and perseverance in pursuing sailing knowledge and skills, and whose team spirit and leadership have had a positive effect on others. This year the award was granted to Kristen Spera and Sam Lovett. The recipients each received a trophy and had their names engraved on a plaque displayed at the SLA Headquarters.

Good-bye Rachel .... Welcome Priscilla
Rachel Brooker has resigned as the Operations Manager after two years at SLA. We wish Rachel good fortune in her future endeavors. Priscilla Bartholomew is the new Operations Manager. Priscilla and her husband Art have lived in Holderness for 22 years and have two children: Maggie, age 21 and Zach, age 17. Priscilla worked as a Town Clerk in Holderness for 10 years before coming to work at SLA.

Camping on Squam
The camping reservation procedure has changed for 2002. Advanced reservations may be placed using the SLA Camping Request Form by mail only from January 14 to February 28. The form and instructions will be mailed to everyone who placed a camping reservation in 2000 or 2001 and is available on the internet at www.squamlakes.org. Camping reservations may be placed by phone, fax, mail, or in person beginning on March 4, 2002, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday.

Christmas Gifts
Order your Squam Christmas gifts from the SLA Store. Check out our inventory on the SLA website: www.squamlakes.org. All purchases help support Squam Lakes Association.

SLA Trail Crew Report

The SLA Trail Crew has completed trail reconstruction projects on the Old Bridle Path, Crawford-Ridgepole Trail and Teedie Trail. Rob Topolski, Trail Crew Leader, supervised four Student Conservation Association (SCA) Resource Assistants: Rachel McKnight, Zane Wheeler, Serena Conkey, and Casey Greenstein. Rob completed the 10-month SCA Conservation Associate position at Bear Brook State Park, where he learned trail construction techniques. Rob’s experience with the SCA was extremely helpful, as he led a variety of restoration projects for SLA.

The Old Bridle Path reconstruction project was completed this fall with the construction of a timber crib staircase and retaining wall on the upper section of trail. Hemlock and white pine trees were debarked and notches were cut in the stringers to hold stair rungs. The crib staircase was carefully constructed to prevent water from pooling and prematurely rotting the structure. The staircase crosses a steep and eroded section of ledge which was causing the trail to widen. The retaining wall was constructed with overlapping stringers to keep the bank from eroding and stairs to reduce the speed of water runoff.

The SCA Work Skills program completed a trail relocation on the Old Bridle Path in May and worked a total of 480 hours during their training program at Mead Base Camp. The SCA trail crew leaders in training constructed 11 timber stairs and 3 rock waterbars on the new section of trail and brushed in the eroded section to keep hikers from using the old trail.

Douglas’ Knotweed, a Threatened plant in New Hampshire was found on the summit of West Rattlesnake by Dr. Rick Van de Poll and was protected from trampling with rock rings. Eric Morse, Natural Areas Manager, placed several signs on the trail asking the public to carry a rock to the summit. The results of the volunteer effort were outstanding and the four vegetative islands containing Douglas’ Knotweed were protected by mid July. The Old Bridle Path reconstruction project was supported by a grant of $4,800 from the Recreational Trails Program, which is administered by the NH Department of Recreation and Economic Development (NH DRED). The SCA Work Skills program covered the 20% match of the grant, which was worth $1,200.

The SLA Trail Crew worked for four weeks on the Crawford-Ridgepole Trail, constructing a rock staircase and retaining wall on a steep section of trail near Sandwich Notch Road. Rocks up to 500 pounds were quarried and transported with a GripHoist winch, by setting up a skyline or hoisting the rocks to the work site. Moving and setting large rocks is very time consuming, but the work will last for many years. 15 stairs were set into the steep trail and 30 more rocks were set as a retaining wall and a waterbar was constructed above the staircase. The project was supported by a Challenge Cost Share agreement with the U.S. Forest Service, worth $3,980.

The Final project for the 2001 season was the relocation of the Teedie Trail, which joins the Eagle Cliff Trail. The steep trail was prone to erosion, so a new section of trail was constructed with switchbacks to reduce the pitch of the trail, which also will be more enjoyable to hike. The new trail crosses a ledge with views of Squam and provides an alternative to the steep ledges on the Eagle Cliff Trail. The Teedie Trail relocation was supported by the Mayer family and the Hike for the Trails fund-raiser.

The SLA Trail Crew lived at Mead Base Camp for the 2nd consecutive year. SLA is pursuing a Special Use Permit with the U.S. Forest Service to establish the Mead Base Conservation Center. The 11-acre property is owned by the U.S. Forest Service and was used by the Daniel Webster Council Boy Scouts of America from 1953 to 1998. For more information, see the History of Mead base on page 5.

Coming back to The Land - A History of Mead Base
by Tom Okie
This excerpt is from a historical report funded by the Quimby Fund and supported by the Sandwich Historical Society and the Student Conservation Association.

George Jackson (Jack) Mead (1892-1949) was from his youth a great lover of the Sandwich Range. In the summer of 1905 he attended a camp in the area that undertook as one of its projects to cut a new trail from Sandwich Notch to the summit of Sandwich Dome (the Algonquin Trail). His wife, Cary Hodge Mead, speculates that this experience “must have awakened in Jack a desire to make trails, because always, throughout his life, he not only love to climb mountains but loved to clear old trails and make new ones.” Indeed, he did a great amount of work on the Wentworth Trail, keeping it open even after the 1938 Hurricane left the mountain looking like “a pile of Jack Straws.”

Although an accomplished engineer living in Hartford, Connecticut in later years, he returned as often as he could to the clean air and tranquility of Squam Lake and the Sandwich Range, and eventually bought an old house in Center Harbor that was later known as Mead Farm.

Upon learning that the Draper Corporation planned some heavy lumbering in Sandwich Notch, from Mt. Israel north, he immediately set out to keep it from happening. He contacted the White Mountain National Forest about purchasing the land for the Forest, but interestingly, they were reluctant to get involved. Mead took matters into his own hands, and in 1943-44 bought some 2400 acres himself, stopping the logging operation in its tracks.

In many ways, Jack Mead exemplified the changing world that caught the Smith homestead up in its whirling winds. His ancestors were of “pioneer New England stock,” and he spent a great deal of time here as a young man, even logging in Sandwich Notch one winter.

Mead had an engineer’s brain, however, and the place for engineers was in the more settled areas to the south. He studied at MIT and worked with engineering firms in New York and New Jersey before cofounding Pratt and Whitney Aircraft in Hartford , Connecticut. He was one of the creators of the famous Wasp R2800 airplane engine, which powered thousands of planes in World War II, and was for many years an important visionary in the aeronautical community.

His remarkable work ethic, though, led him to flee the city for the countryside. Long hours of studying damaged hi eyes and sent him logging in the Notch to restore them; long hours of engineering work sent him into the mountains for physical and mental rehabilitation. Thus he labored on the one hand to accelerate progress and encourage the burgeoning aeronautical industry, while simultaneously working to preserve natural areas for the sanity of people like him. His pioneer forebears doubtless valued the forests and fields for what they could produce; Jack Mead and countless others of the modern world valued it for its aesthetic power. It is to this ethic that we owe the preservation of the Smith homestead and the eventual establishment of Mead Base. In 1944, he bought the farm from Wallace Benjamin to keep the Wentworth Trailhead open to the public.

Winter Events on Squam

Squam Winterfest will take place on Saturday, January 19th at SLA from 12:00 to 3:00 pm. Come enjoy the Chili Fest, skating on Squam, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, animal exhibits by the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center, and dog sled rides. This fun family event is free to the public.

A Squam Skating Tour will be offered on January 5th from 1:00 - 4:00 pm. Jamie Hess, President of the Montshire Speedskating Club and owner of The Nordic Skater will lead the tour. Demo Nordic Skates, XC Skating boots, and ice safety equipment are available by preregistration only.

The Montshire Speedskating Expo will be held at the Laconia Ice Arena on Rte 107 on Saturday, December 1st from 7:00 - 9:00 pm. Watch former US Champion Hilary Linehan and take a lesson from former Olympic Silver medalist Eric Flaim. Free rentals and skating Call (802) 649-3696 or visit www.valley.net/~ice/club/ for more info.

The 3rd Annual Bowman Island Ski Tour, an overnight trip to SLA’s Bowman Cabin, will take place on January 26 & 27. The fee is $75 for SLA members ($85 for non members) and includes breakfast and dinner, two guides and rustic accommodations.

A snowshoe tour will take place on Saturday, February 9th from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm from Mead Base to Mt. Israel on the Wentworth Trail. A cross country skiing tour will be offered on Saturday, February 23rd from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm at NEFFA. Bring your own equipment, warm winter clothes, lunch, and water for these tours. Please call SLA for more information or to sign up for any of these fun winter tours.