This continues a series adapted from the book, “A Port Oneida Collection,” Volume 1 of the twopart set, “Oral History, Photographs, and Maps from the Sleeping Bear Region,” produced by Tom Van Zoeren in partnership with Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear. Here we take a look at the old Prause Farm and Shell Lake.
This mysterious old ghost of a farm by Shell Lake (then known as “Prouse Lake”) dates back to 1860 or so, when a Joseph (or Julius, depending on which source you believe) Prause (or Prouse) laid claim to it. Many Prauses followed here and elsewhere in Port Oneida— but we know next to nothing about the farm at that time, or the people who lived there. Mr. Prause’s preemption claim (whereby he was able to purchase the land at a minimal price by occupying and developing it) stated that he had built a 15’x16’ one-story house (which was surely a log cabin) with a pine floor and two windows.
The Prauses eventually moved a short way south to the Goffar Farm, on the south side of Lake Narada—presumably for better soil than the sand & swamp they had been trying to farm. A family named Riggs then moved in at the old Prause Farm, and the lake became known as Riggs Lake. Neighbor Laura Basch recalled that Mr. Riggs’ name was Charlie; that he used to work together with Laura’s father at thrashing bees when she was small; and that he had an old log barn (as most of the earliest pioneers had). His daughter Ruby eventually married John Schmidt of the Schmidt Farm, and the couple moved to the John & May Burfiend Farm and raised a family there (Chapter 5).
