Farmers Weekly Review

By Sandy Vasko

I do not have the pleasure of living on the river, but that does not mean that my sleep is not broken by the call of the geese from the field or hear that unmistakable sound from the sky.
The Canada Goose is doing well, perhaps too well. But time was, in my childhood, when seeing a wild goose meant you had to drive to the marshes of Wisconsin or southern Illinois. Today, we look at the rise and fall and rise again of the goose.
There was no better place for birds to live than on the Illinois prairie. The upland prairie had quail and prairie chicken, and the lower swampy areas had the waterfowl, geese and ducks of all sizes and descriptions.
One such place was a shallow lake just south of the Illinois River, known as Goose Lake, and it truly was. Another haven for birds was the Grand Marsh in Indiana, the headwaters of the mighty Kankakee.
In February of 1875, the editor of the Wilmington Advocate went on a hunting trip to the Grand Marsh in hopes of coming back with a wagon load. He wrote, “The ‘squawk’ of wild geese roused us on Monday morning; our squad encircled a sort of swamp, say two miles long, and a mile wide; the water in it averaged a foot deep and little tufts of willow on mounds here and there offered the sportsman an ambuscade over which the geese kept flying at frequent intervals for hours.”
“Half a day’s experience in the manner demonstrated that we were rather out of the regular flight of the geese; also, that ordinary charges of powder and bird shot had little effect unless perchance a goose were struck in a vital part or had a wing broken. Our party probably fired 75 rounds that day but often at long range and without desired effect. At evening the spoils of the day footed up but three geese and as many duck.
“Tuesday morning – we must say it – dashed our prospects to the four winds; snow and ice covered the earth, the wind blew a gale and ‘twas freezing keenly. Our horses suffered in their improvised brush stables and some of us proposed a ‘change of venue.’ But we would not abandon the field without at least an effort – not much; donning long rubber boots the party sought their bough houses in the swamps where a few stray and fruitless shots were obtained. Half an hour adventure sufficed; we returned to find our newly made tracks frozen over and the air still growing colder; the thought of breaking two miles of ice in order to get our teams out stared us in the face and we concluded to ‘throw up the sponge.”
Not all hunters were as unlucky as Editor Conley. In April of the same year, he wrote, “Many Kankakeeans have turned hunters of late, and are slaughtering the wild geese and ducks at a fearful rate in various parts of the county.”
By the fall of 1875, he wrote, “Dan, John, and Will Small, accompanied by Frank Pope, left this city last week, bound for the goose and duck ponds of Beaver Lake, Ind. The party returned on Saturday evening and reported their game to be 31 wild geese and 250 ducks – two of which latter, fine Mallards, found their way to the editor’s table. Good enough. Other parties are organizing to hunt next week in the same swamps, which are said to be literally alive with waterfowl.”
This lasted only until the Great Swamp was drained and turned into farm land which began in the 1870s and continued until the turn of the century. The same fate awaited another famous goose hangout, Goose Lake.
In 1882 Conley wrote, “The party of duck hunters at Goose Lake sent home 129 ducks the other day, and the slaughter continues without abatement.” In 1885, “Goose Lake was said to be literally alive with wild ducks and geese on last Saturday evening.” In spring of 1886, “After two days’ shooting about Goose Lake Messrs. Bogart and Blood returned on Wednesday with 73 fine fat ducks.”
But that was to be the end; in the fall of 1886 a Wilmington merchant named Osbourne whose property surrounded Goose Lake began to drain it. We read, “A number of flocks of geese flew over Morris on Sunday. They were headed for Goose Lake, Will County. Of course, they found not their old “Stamping” ground, as the bottom of what was once a large lake is now as dry as a powder mill.
“Mr. N. N. Osburn, of Wilmington, who owned the lands surrounding the lake, has had an army of men engaged in draining the lake, which has been successfully accomplished. Miles upon miles of drain tile has been laid, and by next season this spot, about 1,500 acres, which has always been under water, will be one of the best corn-growing strips in this section.”
Osbourne, however did not keep the drainage system up, and soon as Mother Nature usually does, Goose Lake returned and again became a haven for geese. Forty years later, its final death knell came as we read in January of 1909, “Goose Lake, the famous duck rendezvous, consisting of over 1,500 acres of land to be reclaimed and 2,500 acres benefited. William Anderson, of Joliet, has the contract for draining the property and now has a large number of men at work. William Osburn and W. L Wainwright, of Morris, are the main property owners to be benefited.”
This drainage was county wide, and the necessity for more corn for WWI insured that it would remain under the plow for almost a half a century. But both Goose Lake and the Canada Goose have made a marvelous recovery as they have learned to adapt to man’s reshaping of the environment.