What’s the deal with the Wau-Pse-Ke Club and its cabin? Though the stamp, and presumably the postmark with it, were torn off this old postcard, we know the cabin dates back at least to 1911 and was on the Lester River.
The back of the card doesn’t offer much for historical detail, but internet searches provide three old tidbits.
From the Journal of American Bankers Association and Bulletin of the American Institute of Banking, December 1911.
Duluth Chapter opened the social season with a cabin party Wednesday evening, November 15th. About forty of the boys took a Lester Park car soon after work and went to the end of the line. From there we walked up Lester river for nearly a mile. Trailing single file through the woods with the spruce and balsam, pyramids of snow with the falls of the river singing to the whispering of the wind in the pine trees — on a clear frosty night — it was some trip. As the trail wound along the rocky banks we would catch glimpses of the prettiest scenery in the world — a typical north shore stream tumbling through the Laurentian granite down hundreds of feet to old Lake Superior. It was a superb setting. Some of the boys said it was slippery and tried to fall in. When we were becoming somewhat cold the trail began to descend and we saw the “Wau Pse Ke” cabin nestling close beside the river, steep cliffs on either side, on a bench of water-worn gravel — it was prettier than a picture. And inside! Oh say!! The fire roaring in the fireplace certainly looked good to us. This cobblestone fireplace doesn’t smoke — it blazes. The cabin is built of unpeeled cedar logs and is finished appropriately with birch bark trimmings. Someone turned loose the phonograph and served sweet melodies of canned music.
From the Duluth Herald: Aug. 22, 1912:
Misses Lois and Edith Curtis entertained at a card party yesterday afternoon at the Wau-Pse-Ke club cabin on Lester river. In compliment to Miss Florence Bowden of Los Angeles, who is spending the summer in Duluth. The cabin was prettily decorated with evergreen boughs and sweet peas and Miss Bowden won both the guest and the card prizes.
From the Duluth Herald, Dec. 15, 1913:
A Christmas party is being planned by a group of girls to be given on Friday evening, Dec. 26, at the Wau Pse Ke club cabin on Lester river at which their guests will be the club members. There will be a Christmas tree and dinner party.
So, who can tell more about the Wau-Pse-Ke Club and it’s cabin? Did they both die out a hundred years ago?
