---

     
 Northwoods Vacationland Album...

---

  NEXT  BACK   BACK TO NW VACATIONLAND ALBUM MAP

   Trigger a memory - maybe we'll post it! Email us at tomcat7918@charter.net

Mother Nature is sometimes an indiscriminate logger. Lightning, fire, wind and erosion can destroy valuable and scenic timberlands slowly or in a matter of minutes.

Such was the case on July 4, 1977 on the Point O'Pines, the peninsula that was named for its dozens of virgin pines, many of them 100-120 - feet tall.

Visitors to northern Wisconsin have always been impressed by the intensity of area storms. But the "downburst" of 1977 was the worst even the long-termmers like Gen Huss could remember.

It occurred on July 4th just after one of the Vincents' annual Mismatch Open Tennis Tournaments. Harriet Williams Gramlich remembers:

"It was around noon when my husband, Red, went out to our screened gazebo to take a nap. When the storm came up, he came running into the house (around 1:00), then all hell broke loose. It was 120 miles long and 10 miles wide and flattened lots of woods as it went along Route 70 East.

"It took over fifty virgin pines. We couldn't even walk. There were big logs all over the yard and tennis courts. In my mind's eye, I can still see the seven Vincents in their raincoats after the storm, looking like the seven dwarfs, Teddy Vincent in the line saying, 'We've lost the Point!'

"We were without electricity for two weeks, carrying our water and helping with the cleanup. We hired a professional logger who sold much of the downed pine, but who also found a woodworker from Cable who made furniture for our children."

In chronicling the grisly event, the National Climactic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. said it best:

"On July fourth, a severe thunderstorm moved across northern Wisconsin. Damage was somewhat like that of an oversized tornado. The damage swath was 166 miles long and up to 17 miles wide. An aerial survey indicated no evidence of a tornado. Instead, there were scattered local centers from which straight line winds diverged out violently. The heavily damaged areas were identified as areas where downbursts occurred from the thunderstorm cell. The damage extended into Sawyer County between Grindstone and Courte Oreilles lakes where the narrow swath of heavy damage occurred, about two miles southwest of Connor Lake in Sawyer County. The strongest winds were estimated at about 135 miles per hour."

Mary Beth Gollan recalls that they lost a total of 45 trees on Birch Knoll. Harriet Gramlich remembers how saddened they were by the loss of a huge oak tree that had been prominent on The Point.

Priscilla Jenne Herzog wrote a letter to Valeria Ladd on August 9, 1977: "It seems like a thousand years since July fourth. Up to then we were having a blissful vacation, but we have all been completely overtaken by the tornado after-effects all around us. It has been an incredible summer. I must say that my meager knowledge of the Greek myths helped me to keep my perspective on the absolute devastation that lay before us. The tumultuous upheaval of the landscape in one fell swoop within a thirty minute period! Nothing like it has been seen since 1872 in this area. And we had no warning, because tornadoes rarely hit right here. It was 125 miles per hour. All I could think as I tried to hold everyone steady in our shelter, Deborah in particular, was a great stern 'Peace.' as though giants were holding us together, protecting underneath.

"The Point O'Pines was not hit as badly as some areas, but it was nevertheless an absolute shambles. That night (July fourth) we cancelled our fireworks display, but those on the Point went ahead with theirs. If anyone ever looked like a Greek god, it was Harry Vincent - Prometheus defying the gods, shooting off his fireworks for all the kids and saying, 'So there, this is our answer to you!'"

Some families on the Point follow an annual ritual when closing up their cottages, such as ringing bells before they depart. Esther Reed, however, departs simply and quietly. "We just turn the key and say, 'See you next year,' and maybe blow a kiss."

She also made a prediction in the 1980's that could very well ring true in the future.

"I have become convinced over the years that there must be something like a strong magnetic field under the Point. Once in contact with it, individuals have no power to resist its pull, and sooner or later will return. If I could come back here a hundred years from now, I'm sure I would find only descendants of Huss, Williams, Reed, and Jenne in all the familiar places."

And that's The Point!

Special thanks to Courte Oreilles Lakes Association and
Tom and Sue Burgess for permission to use this excerpt from:
Tales of Lac Courte Oreilles
Recollections from those who settled its shorelines

In my mind's eye, I can still see

the seven Vincents in their raincoats

after the storm, looking like the

seven dwarfs, Teddy Vincent in the

line saying, 'We've lost the Point!'

 "I have become convinced over the

years that there must be something

like a strong magnetic field under

the Point. Once in contact with it,

individuals have no power to

resist its pull, and sooner or later

will return.

If I could come back here a

hundred years from now, I'm sure

I would find only descendants of

Huss, Williams, Reed, and Jenne in

all the familiar places."