March 2002
Issue
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisconsin Favorites
Timeless Travail
|
|
ARCHIVES |
|
TheUltimate Trophy Room
The Brush Trophy Room Museum
brings animals of the world “back to life”
Many hunters have “trophy rooms”—perhaps a
den or family room with mounted heads of a few animals they
have shot or fish they’ve netted—even a bearskin
rug.
But their trophy rooms pale beside the offering of Jim and Cindy
Brush, rural Galesville. The Riverland Energy Cooperative member
has recently completed the Brush Trophy Room Museum, the largest
bow-and-arrow–harvested animal museums in the world. It
showcases more than 300 full mounts of wild animals from all
parts of the world. All are in realistic poses showing them
in the act of typical behaviors, surrounded by natural habitats
blending painted panoramas with three-dimensional features,
such as mountains, snowdrifts, and vegetation. A sound system
adds to the realism.
All the animals have been shot by bow and arrow, according to
Brush, except for a few small birds and mammals, such as squirrels,
inserted to make the vignettes more realistic. “About
95 percent of the animals were shot by me personally,”
Brush said. “The others were shot by my wife, Cindy; my
son, Travis; and John Freismuth.
Wonders of the Museum
Brush said workers broke ground for the museum
in May 1995, but itwas not ready to be opened for visitors until
last year. “It was years in the making due to the complexity
of the exhibits and the staggering number of animals to be mounted,”
he explained.
Visitors approaching the Brushes’ property will be awed
by the sheer size and beauty of the building, crowned by the
Brushes’ imposing residence on the top level. The site
is impressive, too; the museum and home perch on a hilltop,
surrounded by 2,000 acres if rolling, wooded hills and open
meadows. The Brush is also home to a private hunting lodge where
hunters can bag a trophy buck raised right on the premises.
Travis Brush takes care of this portion of the family’s
enterprises.
The Trophy Room Museum itself occupies the lower level of the
main building. The octagonal room consists of 14,000 square
feet, with 24-foot ceilings at the center, sloping to 14 feet
around the perimeter. Visitors circle past a series of vignettes
depicting natural history in many parts of the world. Displays
along the edges of the room are backed by hand-painted murals
depicting such scenes as Kilimanjaro, the African steppes, or
a glacier-rimmed Arctic lake; all paintings were crafted by
Mike Klafke over a period of some eight months. Each compact
vignette holds a variety of animals from a particular portion
of the world. Some are familiar; others have never before been
seen by the average person. Many are world-record specimens.
All are posed realistically and are interacting with others
in their habitat just as they would in nature.
The center of the room is dominated by a rugged mountain. As
the viewer progresses around the room, he sees elk, mountain
goats, and mountain lions romp on the crags that were once home
to them. A real waterfall provides the backdrop as a world-record
Russian bear scoops salmon from the stream for his dinner.
Throughout, realism is enhanced by the broadcast sounds of many
animals on display. The elk bugle, the wolves howl, and the
lions roar, drawing visitors deeper into each exotic environment.
Five automated scenes also add to the feeling of first-hand
adventure. Bears amble in and out of their cave. A pride of
African lions hunts hapless wildebeests. Another lion defends
its kill from hyenas. Eight whitetail bucks leap as they ride
a rotating carousel. And the unwary guest’s heart is momentarily
stopped when a world-record crocodile suddenly slithers toward
him, huge mouth agape for the attack.
Ongoing Taxidermy
Though Brush himself came up with the overall
design for the museum, he credits many people for making the
construction of his Trophy Room Museum a reality. “Special
credit goes to brothers Michael and Joe Klafke. Their talents
in taxidermy combined to design and create the lifelike mounts
for the museum,” he asserted. “Without their efforts,
this museum may never have taken shape.” The Klafke brothers
were aided by taxidermist Troy Hanson and Debbie Klafke, Joe’s
wife. Jim and Travis Brush assisted in many phases of the design
and actual construction, along with several others.
Today, Mike and Joe Klafke’s studio, Whitetail Wonderland
Studio, occupies a permanent corner of the museum building.
The brothers continue to mount Brush’s trophies while
also offering taxidermy services for those who hunt whitetail
bucks at the Brush Ranch.
Happy Hunting
Though Brush’s chosen profession is printing
(he owns Empire Screen Printing, a 350-employee business in
Onalaska), his overriding passion is hunting. “It’s
a great part of my life,” he said. “I enjoy the
challenge. I want to hunt; I need to hunt. I will defend my
right to hunt until I die.”
Brush did not take up bow hunting until the age of 27, but the
bow almost immediately became his weapon of choice. Since then,
he has become a legend in the field, bringing down literally
dozens of world-record animals. Despite his success, he still
lists several animals that he hopes to stalk, with a polar bear
topping the list.
A self-professed loner when it comes to hunting, Brush nevertheless
confides that one of his best secrets is to surround himself
with smart and devoted people. These include guides, bow-hunting
friends, and his family—his son, Travis, and his wife,
Cindy.
“Travis has grown up with hunting,” Brush said.
“He is more than my son; he is a friend and partner on
many of my hunting adventures.” In one memorable trip,
Jim Brush got a Russian bear that currently ranks number two
in the world, while Travis bagged the bear that ranks number
one. Cindy has not been hunting nearly as long as Jim and Travis,
but she is rapidly catching up, with several world records of
her own.
Last year, Brush published The Silent Hunter, a hard-cover book
sold through the Brush Trophy Room Museum. Besides containing
many photos of both the museum displays and the Brushes with
their kills, it offers vivid accounts of many hunts, allowing
readers to share in the thrills, the dangers, and the hunting
tactics that have worked for Brush. But more important, according
to Brush, is that readers will learn more about the world’s
animal populations, the respect that Brush accords to all species,
and his philosophies about hunting.
“In my book and in my museum tours, an important goal
is to let people know that hunting is not a negative thing,”
Brush said. “It is important for people to hunt in order
to control and manage our wildlife. Hunting protects our wild
animals, and I feel privileged to be able to help in this endeavor.”—Linda
Hilton
The Brush Trophy Room Museum is located at W22660 Sobye
Lane,
Galesville, WI 54630. To get there, turn off of Hwy. 93 onto
Fox Coulee Rd., between Trempealeau and Arcadia. Turn left on
Sobye Lane. The museum is open Monday to Friday from 9–3;
Saturday, 10–5; and Sunday, 12:30–5. It is closed
holidays. School tours are welcome. For further information,
call 608/539-5030
|
TOP
|
Church
Revival
Congregation bands together to create
addition that revitalizes country church.
Brick by brick, window
by window, and fund-raiser by fund-raiser, the members of Little
Elk Creek Lutheran paid for the addition so dearly needed by the
country church. Bright ideas for augmenting the building fund,
plus a lot of volunteerism and an even bigger helping of faith,
helped the congregation realize its dream.
The Little Elk Creek Lutheran Church, rural Menomonie, is on Dunn
Electric Cooperative lines, as are many of its 331 baptized members.
Its intern pastor, the Pastor John Mikkelson, is also intern pastor
of the Downsville’s New Hope Lutheran Church.
When R.E.C. News visited the remodeled church, our eager guides
were church members Jesse Singerhouse, member services director
at Dunn Electric Cooperative, and Eldon Hilson, general contractor
for the church addition. Both are members of Little Elk Creek
Lutheran and also members of Dunn Electric Cooperative. Though
Hilson was too modest to sing his own praises, Singerhouse divulged
that the contractor had “practically donated” his
many months of work on his church, taking time from his business,
Hilson Construction in Menomonie, to make the addition a reality.
Something for Everyone
One of the main objectives
of the renovation, Hilson told us, was to make the house of worship
more accessible to the elderly or handicapped members. “The
only way into the original church was via a steep flight of stone
steps,” Hilson explained. “Members who could not climb
them had to be carried up to the foyer, or they could not attend.”
The problem of accessibility has been solved by building a two-story
addition, with the top story on the same level as the existing
sanctuary. The ground-level floor’s foyer is easily accessible
to anyone who has trouble with the stairs, and the piece de resistance
is an elevator that painlessly lifts worshippers to the sanctuary
level. The new addition also contains badly needed handicapped-accessible
restrooms.
Another concern of the Little Elk Creek Church members was the
need for additional space. The new portion of the building houses
rooms for meetings or for overflow from the existing kitchen,
dining room, and Sunday school, as well as providing plenty of
space for storage.
MatchingNew with
Old
An important consideration
for the church members was to make the addition meld seamlessly
into the existing structure. “No one wanted the addition
to stick out like a sore thumb,” Hilson said. “But
matching the two parts took considerable doing, since the existing
building was built in 1920, when two congregations—from
“The Froen,” a church built in 1858, and the Elk Creek
Church just up the road—combined.”
Hilson and his subcontractors took such pains to duplicate the
exterior of the existing church that the average observer would
be hard pressed to differentiate the new wing from the old. For
instance, the old structure was constructed of bricks made in
Menomonie in the early part of the 20st century. Similar bricks
were bought in Indiana, and the old exterior was pressure washed
to make the walls identical.
Light sandstone from the Dunnville quarry was used for the original
foundation, and farsighted church members have been laying in
a supply of matching stone for several years so the new foundation
could match the old. “Some matching sandstone was salvaged
from a barn in 1993,” Hilson recalled, “and some came
out of an old auto repair shop in 1955. We cut all the stone—42
pallets of it—into 8-inch pieces and saved it until the
time came to use it.”
One of the large existing stained-glass windows, now priced at
$150 a square foot, was moved from its original place to the new
front wall, and a Chippewa Falls artist was commissioned to craft
three smaller windows to match the old one.
Congregation’s
Consensus, Contributions Essential
Hilson said the addition
had a price tag of about $289,000—an expenditure that was
rejected by the congregation when it was first proposed at the
1993 annual meeting. “It’s hard for some people to
visualize the outcome of a project like this,” Hilson commented.
“You’ll never get 100 percent in agreement, so you
have to get a little creative to get the majority. The second
time we proposed it, I made a little three-dimensional model with
walls made of Styrofoam board, and it passed.”
Though the price seemed steep, the congregation soon devised innovative
ways to fund portions of the project. Members who might balk at
an outright contribution to the building fund were eager to participate
in various fund-raising activities. “We needed 17,000 bricks,
for example,” said Hilson, “so we ‘sold’
them to people for 50 cents apiece. Some members just bought five
or ten—perhaps in memory of a family member who has passed
away. Others bought many more.” Eventually, all 17,000 bricks
were paid for. Three members also bought the three new stained-glass
windows as memorials for family members.
In the summer of 2000 and again in 2001, the church held a festival
to benefit the building fund. At the most recent event, scores
of members and their friends gladly paid for a roast-pork dinner,
prepared with two pigs donated by North Town Ford. Additional
revenue was realized by a dunk tank; a bake sale; and an auction,
in which church members bid for antiques, tools, crafts, and other
items donated by fellow members. Adding to the fun was an antique
car show, as well as hayrides and a petting zoo provided by Dunn
Electric Co-op members Jerry and Danielle Mensing. The latest
festival netted almost $4,500 to help pay for the addition.
Also helping to keep costs down was the generosity of church members
who offered their time and talents to finish the addition. Duane
Grimme made and painted the large cross that marks the new façade,
while many volunteers helped with the painting, tiling, and others
chores.
Last September, after many months’ work, the new addition
of Little Elk Creek Lutheran Church was dedicated. The ceremony
included the laying of the cornerstone, with a time capsule tucked
behind.
“Finally,” Singerhouse remarked, “our elderly
and handicapped members can attend church with ease. And there
is finally room for all the church’s activities. The entire
congregation can be proud of its efforts. Eldon Hilson and everyone
else involved created an addition that is both beautiful and functional—a
real asset to our rural community for decades to come.”—Linda
Hilton
|
TOP
Timeless Travail
Bruce was one of those “image”
guys—a corporation executive who hyped the capabilities
of his conglomerate’s products to the point where the
public and his employees believed in their utter infallibility.
But after years of public success and acclaim, the true structural
fragility of Bruce’s enterprise was suddenly revealed,
and in short order a seemingly invincible venture plunged.
Thousands of trusting souls were put in peril by the foundering
and collapse; many lost everything. Bruce managed to sidestep
the calamity at the last minute. However, he became a hated
man, reviled by government officials, the media, and the families
of those devastated by the debacle he had a hand in creating.
Can you say Enron?
If this sounds like the all-too-familiar story
of a slippery, opportunistic Enron executive, it’s supposed
to.
Enron officers built and promoted their giant company to be
the envy of all other energy-trading firms and retail-competition
proponents in the electricity business. The trouble was, it
was propped up with a financial structure convoluted to conceal
its great and rising debt. Reports of escalating profits were
basically illusions, but they came with enough Enron persuasiveness
and clout to keep stocks rising.
When collapse came, it unraveled everything quickly, but not
before some key execs dodged the ruin that was to befall the
rank-and-file workers. That the Enron higher-ups demonstrated
a final lack of compassion for employees—and an apparent
willingness to plunder at their expense—comes as no surprise.
Years ago we editorialized about former Enron Chief Jeffrey
Skilling’s oft-quoted formula for becoming a more competitive
player in the energy marketplace: “Get rid of people.”
But back to Bruce.
Despite the Enron-esque description of his
saga, Bruce wasn’t engaged in energy marketing. His line
was transportation. J. Bruce Ismay was president and managing
director of International Mercantile Marine, parent company
of a firm that was to suffer at great financial—and human—expense.
It will be 90 years ago next month that Bruce hopped aboard
the last lifeboat to leave his company’s pride and joy:
R.M.S. Titanic.
The Buck Stops
In the months following the sinking of the
supposedly unsinkable ship, congressional and other government
investigators blamed imprudent speed as a major factor in the
fateful collision—a mistake for which the showy Ismay,
by numerous accounts, seemed to have been personally responsible.
Then there was the matter of not having enough lifeboats, another
error to lay at the feet of the White Star Line’s ranking
executive.
Under questioning by a congressional committee a few weeks ago,
Enron’s Skilling—by all accounts a shrewd, detail-oriented
manager—said he had no reason to suspect Enron was in
financial trouble at the time he left, just before the big slide.
Yeah, and when Bruce got in the lifeboat, he wasn’t aware
the ship was taking on water….
|
TOP
Year-Round
Environmental Fun
Whatever the season, Wisconsinites can learn
more about the environment while having a whole lot of fun at
the MacKenzie Environmental Education Center near Poynette.
Managed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the
center is situated on 280 acres of rolling fields and forests,
affording plenty of space for family outings, picnics, hikes,
or classes’ out-of-school
adventures.
When you visit, you may want to start at the conservation museum
and the non-native plants and animals museum. Then follow the
signs to the live native Wisconsin wildlife area, where you’ll
see everything from hawks to bison, deer to bobcats.
For an eagle’s-eye view of the center, be sure to climb
the fire tower. Once safely back on the ground, hike one or
more of the seven self-guided trails—two of them handicapped
accessible—or browse through the arboretum. Guidebooks
are available to guide you in your self-guided tour
of the center.
A resident center serves as a yearround overnight facility for
organized groups (5th grade and up) studying the environment.
The bunkhouses sleep up to 80, and a main lodge offers dining
and other facilities.
The grounds of the MacKenzie Center are open dusk to dawn, yearround,
except deer gun season. The wildlife exhibit and museums are
open Monday–Friday, 8 –4, from mid- October through
April 30 (closed on winter holidays). From May 1 to mid- October,
exhibits and museums are open daily, 8–4. No matter when
you go, you’ll have fun while learning something fascinating
about our Wisconsin environment.
To reach the MacKenzie Environmental Education
Center, turn east off of Hwy. 51 at CTH Q & CS, near the
north edge of Poynette. Drive 2 miles; watch for signs. For
more information, call 608/635-8110
|
TOP
|
