Before I start “The History of Sportsmen Part VIII, I would like to thank everyone for their prayers, thoughts, cards and calls during my recent illness.  It has meant a great deal to me. This is a hard time, but I feel confident I will conquer this terrible “C” disease. Now back to our History Part VIII, from a bulletin dated August 1975.

“It was on February 4, 1939, that Sportsmen Inc. made a deposit on seven acres of river front property. With the financial aid of many of the members, who willingly responded to the request of individual loans, the purchase of this property was culminated. This elevated Sportsmen Inc. from a tentative tenant position to an individual land owner. It was the coup de grace of material possessions for Sportsmen. Once the mortgage was paid and the individual loans had been reclaimed, Sportsmen Inc. had cut a niche in the community. It gave them the foundation that would insure their survival under the most adverse conditions. The ultimate achievement of this purchase was not accomplished as easily as this writing may intimate. It was only natural that a club founded on the Democratic concepts as Sportsmen should be comprised of conservative minded people as well as progressive minded individuals. There were some who shuddered at the consequences of so large an undertaking. They pointed with horror to the staggering indebtedness to be incurred. They pointed to the physical impossibility of moving the Sausalito with her hole chopped hull. They pointed to the many improvements that eventually would have to be made into the new acreage. The progressive minded individuals countered the accusations with a line of reasoning of their own. They pointed out that though the opposition points had merit, the apparent benefits were so numerous as to make it a good calculated risk. The progressive minded members were in sufficient number and so satisfactorily presented their case that a harmonious program was adopted."

Continuing the History of Sportsmen Part VII from a Sportsmen Bulletin dated July 1975:

“The year 1935 found the enthusiastic members of Sportsmen Inc. exacting the ultimate of material benefits from their Club House. Many private cabins had been built and were being utilized each weekend as a home away from home. The Club House itself had been secured fast by a group of members, who chopped big gaping holes in the Sausalito’s stout hull. This allowed the incoming and outgoing tide waters to flow through the bilge at will. This eliminated the floating bouncing and wallowing around experienced when the proud Sausalito tugged at her mooring lines.

The next four years were entertaining, productive and enjoyable years for the many members who availed themselves of the club facilities. Many new cabins were added to the Club House. Restaurant facilities were established and keepers were installed to preserve, maintain and police the club’s possessions. The anglers who pitted their skill against finny fish of the San Joaquin were well rewarded for their efforts. The fishermen soon found that that their ideally situated Club House was right in the center of some of California’s best fishing areas. Eventful as this year was, it was only a prelude to the monumental year ahead. A year that will go down in the perpetual history of Sportsmen Inc. in big bold type. A year that will be remembered by one and all as the turning point in Sportsmen Inc.’s fabulous career. I am referring of course to the spectacular year of 1939.”

(For History Part VIII, see the November 2014 Newsletter.)

As promised, I would like to give you “The History of Sportsmen” Part VI:

“Early construction problems were met and handled by Sportsmen, Inc. members in the traditional style that has been one of their characteristics throughout the years. By way of example, let us remind you of the sand dunes that had to be combated on a sojourn to the Club House. This presented quite a problem when it came to packing lumber for construction. This situation gave rise to water transportation. The members hauled lumber from the Antioch Lumber Co. to the Club House via the “Pelican.”  The “Pelican” was a sturdy old double ender owned by the Club and utilized to solve many of the Club’s transportation problems. (The “Pelican” became the property of Sportsmen, Inc. when it was abandoned by D. Ted Werner. It was later raffled off and won by John Cunha.) Those many members who assisted in the piping-in of water and those who participated in the piano parade, the shifty sand dunes at the old leased site will hold many a calloused memory.

All was not peaches and cream with Sportsmen, Inc. They were having real trials and tribulations. The Club was under investigation for a possible tax deficiency of $1,061. As if this was not enough, a reading of one of the bulletins of 1934 tells another tale of woe for the already harassed Board of Directors. We quote, ”Being that the Board of Directors have cancelled forty-seven memberships at their last meeting for nonpayment of dues and with fifty one members behind in their past quarter dues, it has become very necessary in order to maintain the assets of Sportsmen, Inc. which are now very valuable to its members, that the Club House at  Antioch be completed before the winter sets in and that our obligations be met at once. If the fifty one members that are behind in first years quarter are not paid within the next week, they also would be dropped, leaving the members in good standing to 97. Our income from these 97 members is not sufficient to maintain the Club for the years 1934 and 1935; therefore, it has become necessary for our Board to pass on to you, for your consideration their findings and recommendations, i.e. that the Club dues be raised to $1.00 per month or $12.00 yearly.”

For “The History of Sportsmen” Part VII, see the October 2014 Newsletter.

As I am writing this, I am sitting in the Battery Point Lighthouse in Crescent City, California.  Keith and I are the lighthouse keepers for July; this is our third year and it has been very exciting.  When we came the first year, we didn’t know if we would like it.  Well, we found very quickly that it was something that we enjoyed very much.  The next year, another couple was scheduled to be the July Keepers.  When they read the house was haunted, they didn’t want to come so we were asked if we would consider coming again.

This lighthouse was built in 1856 and is still an actual aid to navigation.  One of the responsibilities is to be sure the light is working at all times.  If it goes out, we have to notify the Coast Guard, then change the 750 watt bulb, call the Coast Guard again and tell them it is fixed.  In the early days, they used lard oil, then kerosene, and the light had weights that had to be wound every eight hours to make it rotate.

Keith runs the gift shop and I give the historical tours.  We actually live in the museum.  We have to get up and make the museum (house) look nice to be able to show it and tell about its history.  It is a Cape Cod style lighthouse with the light inside the house, so the keeper didn’t have to go outside in bad weather to tend the light.  It opened on Christmas Day 1856 and has had someone continuously living in it since then.

It is open from 10 am to 4 pm every day, tides allowing. Twelve hours a day it is an island.  When the tides are out, you can cross the bottom of the ocean and hike up to the lighthouse.  It is nice to be surrounded by the ocean, watch whales go by, see Pelicans dive for fish, feed our pet seagulls, and watch beautiful sunsets.

We have met people from all over the world including China, Sweden, England, Norway, Germany, France, Canada, as well as from all over the United States.

I would like to continue the History of Sportsmen from a bulletin dated May 1975.

The day established for the moving operation in 1939  proved to be a stormy, windy day.

Not to be daunted by the fates of nature, Mr. Cook employed the services of the tug boat “Fighting Bob” to assist the prearranged tow boat “Rover.” Mr. Cook and his son mounted the decks of the “Sausalito” and gave the signal to move out. To many observers who saw this procession from the beach, it must have appeared as a funeral procession for the immortal “Sausalito.” In effect, it was just the opposite. It represented the birth of a new era for the gallant ship, a fitting crown for a turbulent career she had established.

The “Fighting  Bob” abandoned the tow when calmer water was reached past Point Richmond. The tug boat “Rover” completed  the tow by leading the bouncing and bobbing “Sausalito” to the new site in the near record time of six hours.

The Sausalito arrived at her home on a low tide and the expected docking crew had run into difficulty in procuring the necessary tie-off cable. Needless to say, they were very conspicuous by their absence leaving the “Sausalito” and crew without berthing accommodations. She laid to, high and dry, waiting for high tide. By the time high tide had come in, the crew was taking a well deserved nap and the ferry boat was adrift. By the time the Skipper on the “Rover” was awakened, she had drifted well up stream toward the Antioch Bridge. The “Rover” went steaming in hot pursuit and secured a tow line on the wandering ferry. With much tugging and cajoling, the “Sausalito” reluctantly held to and slipped into her new berth without further incidents.

Little time was lost in converting the “Sausalito” into a livable clubhouse. Space was allotted and individual members began to convert the allotted space into weekend cabins.

HISTORY PART VI NEXT MONTH

I hope you don’t mind, but I would like to take a break from our 12 part history to once again give you the history of our 4S weekend. With new members, it is important to make sure everyone knows what a wonderful weekend it is. This year it is going to be held at our Club, July 11 - July 13.

This will be the 61st year we have come together. It all started in 1953 when four yacht clubs (Sacramento, San Joaquin, Sportsmen, and Stockton) got together for an Over the Bottom Race. The host club would serve sandwiches at the end of the race.

We have come a long way since 1953. Now it is a three day event with games, food, entertainment and fun.  The 4S is a wonderful event where old friendships are renewed and new friendships are made. It is a weekend like no other. I highly recommend everyone attend; you will have a marvelous time.

I am sorry to say this year Keith and I will not be able to attend the 4S. We have been invited back to the Battery Lighthouse to be the Lighthouse Keepers for the month of July.  The Lighthouse was built in 1856 and is Cape Cod style of architecture with a single tower in the center of the house. I will give historical tours each day and Keith will take care of the gift shop. If you are around Crescent City in July, come by and I will give you a tour and introduce you to our residence ghost.

I plan to once again keep a daily journal to keep track of all the people we meet from all over the world. I will report this to you in the September Historian’s article.

Matt and Marianne Tate have graciously agreed to be in charge of the Museum for our 4S weekend, giving tours and answering historical questions. I am meeting with them to make sure they are up to date on the history of our beloved Sausalito.

HISTORY Part IV, from a Sportsmen bulletin dated April, 1975:

In 1933, the Ferry was sold to Learner & Rosenthal of Oakland. It was from this firm that Sportsmen, Inc. purchased the Sausalito minus its mammoth engine and boilers.

The “Sausalito” has been immortalized by Jack London in his novel “The Sea Wolf.” It was with dramatic finesse that Jack London set to fiction the wreck of this ferry boat “San Rafael,” which was rammed and sunk by another ferry, the “Sausalito” off Alcatraz Island in November 1901. In his novel “The Sea Wolf,” he refers to the lost ferry as the Martinez.

The Sportsmen Inc. purchase of the “Sausalito” was made in 1934. She was anchored in the area that is now the Alameda Naval Air Station. She was in a remarkable state of preservation excepting the fact that her numerous plate glass windows offered enticing targets for youngsters. The local youngsters proved to themselves their superior marksmanship by eliminating half of the windows with their rifles.

The “Sausalito” having been disemboweled of her weighty machinery rose from her nominal seven foot, six inch draft to a precarious perch on top of the water that made it resemble a giant cork bobbing in the breeze.

Transportation of the “Sausalito” to the club site at Antioch was handled by Theo Cook. The firm of Naffey and Easley were employed to dredge a berthing spot for the “Sausalito” at the club site. The firm of Roberts Island Dredging Company were employed to make the tow from Alameda to Antioch. The day established for the moving operation proved to be stormy windy day.

(For Part V see the June bulletin.)

History Part III from a Sportsmen Bulletin dated March, 1975.

“Last month’s article showed how an idea in the minds of a few creative sportsmen, coupled with hard work and enthusiasm, stimulated a functional Sportsmen organization; an organization complete with its own leased recreational area.

At this point in their history, Sportsmen Inc. had advanced to a material stage far beyond the average accommodations of similar groups. These men could well have laid aside their tools of arduous labor and basked in the sunshine of their triumphal accomplishments. However, these hearty pioneers of the early 1930’s were ever restless to improve their lot. Casting their eyes around for further potentialities they hit on a novel scheme, to purchase a moveable club house. This was accomplished with the purchase of the ferry boat “Sausalito.” The Sausalito was a stout mass of timbers and wood built in 1894 by the Fulton Iron Works at North Beach, (now the Marina) in San Francisco. The vessel was designed by J. Dickie for the Northwestern Pacific Railroad. She was a wooden hull boat with a copper sheathed bottom measuring 256 feet one inch overall length and 68 feet beam over guards. Ordinarily, she carried passengers in the day and freight cars at night between San Francisco and Sausalito. She had a seating capacity of 1300 and was fitted with narrow gauge tracks. In 1903, the tracks were removed and the seating capacity was increased to 1500 and she continued in passenger service between the same points until her retirement in 1931.”

History Part IV next month.

For this month, as I promised, I am going to continue HISTORY PART II, from a Sportsmen Bulletin dated February 1975.

 “In the minutes of the December 19, 1931, meeting of Sportsmen you can see that the membership was already launching a campaign for better sportsmen legislation. A letter was sent to Governor Jim Ralph urging adequate appointments to the Fish and Game Commission and passage of Bill 672 (prohibiting the selling of striped bass as a commercial venture). This letter, plus letters to similar organizations and the solicitations of commercial markets, gave Sportsmen the distinct honor of spear heading an attack that gained such force that the net result was inevitable. The Club can well be proud of the effort of this action, for it was the biggest single bit of legislation in this state to protect the abundance of striped bass for our enthusiastic anglers.

As the progressive organization gained momentum, its founders still held to their original aim of providing its members with a recreational area. It was a plot of ground facing the San Joaquin River and stretching out through the sand dunes to Wilbur Road. After a thorough investigation of the site by the membership, it was unanimously agreed to lease this site from Ben Morris. On July 1, 1932, a lease was negotiated and one of the Club’s earliest dreams became a reality. This was the fundamental step that started a chain reaction that to this day is paramount in the acquiring and improving of accommodations for members of Sportsmen.

The leasing of the site proved an immediate success as was evidenced by the many picnics and gatherings perpetrated at the grounds. This memorable improvement was not without financial complications. The Club rose to meet this condition with the spirit and understanding that has marked its steady progress throughout the years. The initiation fee of $5.00 was raised to $10.00; however, the annual dues of $6.00 was maintained. The ensuing year was one of great rejoicing, the amiable comradeship of the fast growing membership was expressed in bountiful Cioppino dinners, frolicsome picnics and enjoyable Bar-B-Ques.”

(Part III next month.)

Recently, I was looking through some old bulletins, as I often do, and came across some history written for the Club bulletin in January 1975. To some of us that doesn’t seem very long ago, but do the math, it is almost 40 years ago. With this year’s theme, WE ARE SPORTSMEN, I feel it is a very appropriate time to share it with you. It is titled “HISTORY PART 1.”

The following is from a Sportsmen Bulletin dated January 1941: