I am often asked how we came to own the cabin on Little Eva Lake.
In the early 1900’s there was a very successful department store in Elwood Indiana owned by the Leeson family. At some time in the 1930’s or 1940’s this family built a very nice lodge in a border lake, called Sand Point Lake, that sits a few miles down the Namakan River from Little Eva Lake. Even then Little Eva Lake was well known for its spectacular High Falls and the fishing near by.
At that time the only way to get to the Little Eva Lake was by boat and portage from Sand Point Lake. From the lodge on Sand Point Lake, you traveled north up through Namakan Narrows into Namakan Lake and across its far east end. It is here that the Namakan River flows into Namakan Lake. You would then start up the Namakan River and soon encounter Lady Rapids and shortly after that Hay Rapids. These were long and rugged portages but after that you were on Little Eva Lake. It was hard work to make this trek up and back in a single day.
In 1949 King Leeson purchased 1.08 acres from the “Crown” along the north shore of Little Eva Lake. In 1952 he built the log cabin shown in the photo below. Then he could make the trek up the river from the lodge and stay a few days on Little Eva Lake.
About 1963, King Leeson decided to sell off shares of his out-post cabin on Little Eva Lake to some of his younger friends. I believe there were originally 5 shares sold to 4 individuals and King’s son David Leeson. By the mid 1980’s the original 5 shares had been consolidated to two owners: Ernie Reichart and my father, William Crimans.
By the late 1980’s the original stockade log cabin was coming apart with rot and had to be replaced. So, in 1989 the new owners had the current cabin built. In 2006 both Ernie and my father died leaving the ownership to their sons: Brian and Gary Reichart and my brother Thom and me, Pat Crimans.
A search of the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) web site shows no other privately owned land on the lake or any neighboring lakes. There is another cabin on Captain Tom Lake above the stream that flows through Little Falls just west of the cabin. This cabin is owned by a resort on Lac La Croix but sits on leased “Crown Land”.
According to the same MNR site, no land has been sold in this area since 1968. Furthermore, there are no plans for any recreational or other development for this area in the foreseeable future but our cabin is acknowledged as privately owned land.
It is interesting to note that there are, or were, 3 other cabin structures on the lake of which I am aware. If you walk up the High Falls portage as soon as the top of the portage meets the lake there used to be a path leading directly west (90˚ to the right from the top of the portage) to an old logging cabin. When I first started going there in the early 1960’s the cabin was in ruins but part of the structure was still there at that time. If you look down-stream from the top of the portage, you can still see some remnants of some sort of log platform anchored just before the falls start to drop. This is believed to be part of the logging operation for which this cabin was built. It probably dates back to the 1920’s or so.
The second cabin was a trapper’s log cabin built for the native people to use while trapping in the area. This cabin was also a log cabin and was well hidden back in the woods off the lake. For those familiar with the lake, it was located off a small bay that has 3 very small islands in it on the north side of the channel as you travel back to the landing where we now enter the lake. I have not visited this cabin in over 30 years now but even back then it was essentially in ruins.
The third cabin was a replacement cabin for the trapping cabin noted above. Again, it was built for the native people for use while trapping. It was frame construction sitting on log posts and was located due south just across the basin from our cabin. This was built about 1980 but was not maintained and soon fell off of its poor foundation. Like the other trapper’s cabin, it sat far back from the water and I have not walked back to it for many years now. I am sure some remnants still remain but the path has grown over so much now that I could not find it the last time I looked for it. It seems that at about this time trapping was no longer an occupation for the native people so no replacement cabin has been built on the lake.