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The Boy Scouts of the Air on the Great Lakes is part of a series of books for boys,
published in 1914 and set on Washington Island, WI
I first learned of this book from my Dad, William "Bill" Olson. He saw the book mentioned in an article
by Charlie Calkins from the October 21, 2005 issue of the
Peninsula Pulse newspaper. Dad had a copy of the book ordered
by October 24th and thanks to the internet had the book in a week or so.
Just imagine living about 100 years ago, the tremendous technological and scientific change
that would affect all aspects of life in the USA. Einstein had published his most important
papers. Radio, automobiles, electrical power to the home, telephony, the phonograph and
of course, aviation, were all relatively new and exciting areas for a young person to
explore. Even the Boy Scouts were fairly new, the genesis of which may have partially been a
response to the onslaught of all the new tech of the 20th century ?
This book was written by a man named Harry Lincoln Sayler under the pen name, Gordon Stuart.
Mr. Sayler died before it was published - not much is known about whether he ever visited the
Island or just had access to a map - the book has some details about the island (bay names, Icelandic
heritage) which are correct but also some more fanciful details which are probably best explained
as artistic license or time pressures on a working author. The book follows the journey of four
Boy Scouts from the Chicago area to the summer cottage of the parents of two of the Scouts - and
also covers their adventures on the island and in the Upper Peninsula. It includes meeting the lone island aviator and
checking out his V shaped craft (which were real, try a web search for: Dunne aeroplane ).
Although I haven't seen a copy, the book was apparently republished in 1936 under the title:
Wolf Patrol on the Great Lakes (the dust jacket says "Wolf Patrol of the Great Lakes"). Both
books are available through the usual internet sources.
I hope you'll enjoy reading the book, I'm sure it'll be a "bully" experience, "Whittaker !"
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