Early 1900s - Main Street in Princeton

I found this photo in a facebook group for people from Princeton, WI.  If you spend any time in town, this street scene is pretty familiar.  Except for the horse-drawn wagons and muddy streets, most of those buildings are still there and look pretty much the same.

The poster, Roger Bartel, notes that if you look closely you will see an automobile on the left.

History Mystery

Found on e-bay from a seller in Germany, a postcard labelled "The Beach at White Lake Beach, Montello, WI".  The picture on e-bay was low-res, but can you tell where it is?  I think I have it.

It was only $2, so I picked it up.  It won't be here for a month or so, but I will get a better scan then and we'll confirm.

Back to the 80s - High Water in Spring 1988

Many thanks to Mike Forest for sending me some pictures from the Forest photo albums to remind us that this isn't the first time we've seen high water on White Lake.  See this link for how it looked in the Spring of 1988.  If you don't see my comments on the right side, click the little 'i' in the upper right corner.  This is about the same water level that we are seeing today.

High Water in Spring 1988

This problem was discussed extensively at the White Lake Property Owners Association meeting on July 6th.  Mike Johnson of the White Lake Management District summarized the progress on trying to restore the natural outflow that used to exist.  Some pumping options have been considered as well.  If you'd like to learn more about it, plan to attend the August 3rd White Lake Management District Meeting in Montello.  They will send a notice to all Lake Property Owners, but I believe it will be at the bank in Montello across from the Holiday convenience store.  They typically start at 8:30 or so.  I'll update this page when I have the details.

My family calls this part of the lake, 'Buck's Point', because until 1966, there was a resort called Al Buck's Cottages in the Pines that operated here.  It's directly across from the main point where the Duck Blind was.  Want to read more about this history of White Lake? I wrote a story about it here.

Al Buck's Cottages in the Pines

2019 White Lake POA Annual Meeting and Picnic (and Peacock Triathlon)

The 44th Annual White Lake Property Owners Association Meeting was held on July 6, 2019.  This is an annual event for White Lake Property Owners and their guests where we connect with our lake neighbors, discuss what is going on at White Lake (mainly high water this year) and adjourn to a delicious brat picnic lunch prepared by Mike Coursey's grilling crew, Jane Terry's picnic crew and Leo Souder - the man who has everything - who cleans up the WLMD lot and brings all the coolers, garbage cans, tents and beer.

Meeting minutes are forthcoming.

As he has been doing for the past 10 years or so, Ken Pientka and his wife Marilyn host the Peacock Triathlon.  22 participants either did the entire thing or swam, biked or ran as part of a team on a beautiful Sunday morning.  Here are some pictures.

2019 Peacock Triathlon

Make plans for next year.  The 2020 meeting will be held on the 4th of July (It's always the Saturday closest to the 4th), so we will have the meeting and picnic (morning), annual boat parade (evening) and the Peacock Triathlon on Sunday morning.  See you then!

June 2019 Fish Survey at White Lake

by Eric Elfner

Updated July 9, 2019 to include additional surveys received at the annual meeting.

In 2002, the White Lake Property Owners Association sponsored a fish study where Aquatic Biologists visited the lake.  They went to different areas of the lake, shocked the fish with electricity and counted and measured what they found.

June 2019 - Nice Large Mouth Bass caught
and released on White Lake

For the past few years, we have talked about whether the WLPOA or the White Lake Management District should sponsor another shock survey to see how things had changed.  The fish thought it was a terrible idea, and when we spoke to Aquatic Biologists again, they told us that because the sample was so limited, we would probably get as good an idea if we surveyed fisherpeople and other observers of the lake to see what they are seeing.

In early June 2019, we sent out a survey to all property owners asking everyone to tell us what they are seeing when they fish or spend time on White Lake.  As of July 9, we have received 43 responses.  Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond!

Here is a summary of what we found.  Our first question was how important fishing was to the property owners.  27.9% said fishing was 'Very Important' to them and another 51% said it was somewhat important.  We also asked how the respondents were observing the lake and over 58% were observing by 'Fishing' or 'Fishing and Something Else'.

When we asked what months people were fishing and how often, the most common responses were 'Most Weekends' and 'May-October', but we have some serious people who fish every day and all year round.

Then we started asking what people were trying to catch.  Bass, Bluegill and Perch topped the list, but people were trying for everything else too, except Catfish.  The one we had not asked about, but one person reported was 'Rock Bass'.

Next we asked what people were actually catching.  Bass and Bluegill were the clear leaders at 84.38% of people reporting they had caught Bass and 75% reporting Bluegill.  The interesting thing is that all the other species, even the non-targeted catfish, were represented so there is some good diversity in the lake.  Rock Bass and Pumpkinseed were the two we had not asked about that were reported.

The survey left a spot for additional comments and we asked people to report size ranges there.  Here are some of those responses.

• Large mouth bass are typically 10" - 15" 
• Observe frrom pier and boat caught Bass 12"-20" Have observed 36" Muskies, Rock Bass
• Bass in the 1lb range. Hand sized bluegill and small perch
• Bass -1-4 lb, perch small, 41" inch musky, 1-3 lb northern
• Rock Bass 12", Pumpkin Seed 8", Bluegill 11', Bass 15"
• Caught some very large bluegill, but 80% of them looked like they have a parasite.

The last comment probably deserves further investigation.  If you have noticed that as well, please let us know.

Here are the results from the 2002 study.  It seems to support the results of our new survey and indicates that things have not changed that much.  The main conclusion of that study was that bass were the apex predator of the lake and suggested we remove any limits on bass.  The idea being if that predator were not so prolific, perhaps other species, like Perch, would increase in number.  Someone on the current survey made the very same suggestion.

If you would like to see the entire 2002 Fish Study, you can find it here:  2002 White Lake Fish Study

The White Lake Management District asked us to ask the property owners whether they supported the WLMD using Lake District dollars for fish stocking.  The question was worded like this:  "For the past seven years, the White Lake Management District has allocated dollars to fish stocking of White Lake.  It works out to cost about $34/year per property.  Do you feel that this is something the WLMD should continue investing in?

34 people (82.93%) who responded said 'Yes', the other 6 (17.07%) said 'No'.  We will share this and other comments from the survey with the WLMD Board of Directors.  If you want to discuss this and other important WLMD business will be discussed at their annual meeting on August 3, 2019.  We also be discussed preliminary results of this survey at the WLPOA meeting and picnic on July 6th.