Looking back to 2001

What were we doing at the beginning of the millenium? For those of you who were not around 17-18 years ago, here's a few facts.

The membership was at 31 in the year 2000. Of those seven are still members and two of those seven, Jim Moore and John Gray are honorary members. John Gray joined in 1956 and Jim Moore in 1972. Both are still active participants, although John has not been to the club in several years.

At the time, there were eight members 20 or more years with the club, and seven with 10-19 years. I had joined in 1993 and had recently decided to help Ken Rapley out as secretary, a job he happily gave up within a year of me starting. John Moore took over as treasurer and his brother Alec was handed those reigns several years later as John decided that being president was more his style. Rob Noel, along with myself, Howie Glase and the others mentioned above (with the exception of Ken Rapley) are still present as members. All of us have history here, have seen many fine days on the lake and can tell you lot's of stories.

The year previous to this we had demolished and built anew the log house standing in front of the beech and know as Cabin 4. The location of this structure was on the footing of the original one room cabin know as the guardian's cabin. The gas house or tool shed, is beside it. This cabin was initially the idea of Jim Moore as a centennial project, and was constructed by Real Lanthier who was the guardian at the time.

In October of 2001, the club authorized the replacement of the tar paper roof on the old cabin 1 with a new steel roof. At the same time the front deck was extended some 4 feet, a larger roof and deck was built off the kitchen and the steel roof extended over all of this. Steel bunk beds similar to those in cabin 2 were removed and log bed frames built in their place. A mattress replacement project was started to replace mattresses in all the cabins.

We switched propane suppliers to Miller propane and at the initiative of John Moore decided to purchase propane tanks as oppose to leasing.

The club had 12 boats in 2002. 10 wooden Vercheres, one aluminum and one fiberglass. We also had a small aluminum boat at Jack Lake.

While it is interesting to note the dues in 2003 were $400 annually ($100 less than our 2018 annuals, members were also charged a per cabin reservation fee of $400 per visit. As the road was virtually non-passable without a 4x4, transportation costs in the guardian's truck along with a tip amounted to another $75-100 per trip. The club was teetering in it's financial attractiveness and many long time members were simply staying in to keep the club afloat.

Next posting we'll see how the club's fortune changed as a result of the 1996 Saguenay flooding.