Chapter 12

The Rhinelander Boat Company

The early 1900s saw the development of the sports enthusiast. Americans had progressed from the subsistence homestead lifestyle, where hunting and fishing were necessities rather than recreational pursuits, to a more automated society where goods and services, including food, could be purchased with cash at the market. People were discovering the idea of leisure time, and a good economy put some extra cash in their pockets. Those with sporting interests were spending money and time on hunting and fishing trips, and they were buying manufactured sporting goods—deer rifles, shotguns, fishing rods, and boats.

Wisconsin has a rich history of sporting equipment manufacturers. Perhaps the pinnacle of the early manufacturers of sporting equipment were the companies that produced exceptionally high quality wooden fishing and pleasure boats during the first half of the twentieth century. The north-central Wisconsin lakes country was home to several enterprises that produced quality wooden boats, the names of many of them largely unknown to the modern-day sportsman.

For collectors or lovers of these boats, those produced by the Rhinelander Boat Company (RBC) hold a special place in their hearts, and those that may own these classic boats guard them jealously.

Some form of the RBC existed from 1903 through the early 1950s. The company-produced rowboats were generally constructed with a white oak frame with cedar planking and distinctive redwood seats. The flat-bottomed “Fisherman” model weighed about 165 pounds and sold for thirty-six dollars in 1934. Fishermen, resort owners, and summer camps purchased RBC boats for half a century. The company also produced beautiful canvas-covered cedar canoes.

There are several chapters to the history of the RBC, much of it unwritten and lost to the years. However, Rhinelander resident Joy Vancos was able to piece together the early history of the company. A local historian with a family interest in early wooden boats—her husband's family owned an RBC boat—Vancos searched old newspapers, land records, and obituaries to compile the little-known story of the birth of the Rhinelander Boat Company.

“Many believe the history of the Rhinelander Boat Company began with the business established by William Cleveland on Ocala Street in Rhinelander in 1910,” said Vancos. “Actually, Cleveland's business is only the second part of the story.”1

“The original Rhinelander Boat Company was founded by Frank Sayner in 1903,” said Vancos. “Sayner was already involved in the boat building business in Vilas County when he purchased property between Kemp Street and the Pelican River in Rhinelander, where he built a three-story boat factory.”²

Interestingly, Frank Sayner was the brother of Orrin Sayner for whom the Vilas County town of Sayner was named. A railroad depot was established on property owned by Orrin Sayner, and the depot was given his name. Sayner established a well-known resort on the shores of Plum Lake.

“Frank Sayner specialized in rowboats and launches,” said Vancos. “The new company enjoyed an extremely good business.”³

Many of the notable residents of Rhinelander purchased custom-made RBC boats. According to Vancos, the most spectacular vessel was the one built for Gene Shepard, the man who would go down in northwoods history as the creator of Rhinelander's mythical forest-dwelling beast, the Hodag. “The boat was sixty-one feet overall with an eleven-foot beam. It was described as being powered by a thirty-horsepower engine and having two cabins, along with a kitchen and pantry, toilet, and bath,” said Vancos.

“Unfortunately, a fire destroyed the boat factory building in 1905,” said Vancos. “For two months stockholders pondered the future of the company but finally decided to reorganize and rebuild. The new factory was considerably different from the old one. Buildings were arranged at ground level only and separated from each other.”⁴

Despite the reorganization, the business affairs of the company began to founder, and Frank Sayner apparently left the scene in 1908.

“In October of 1908 it was announced that the remaining stock of boats would be sold and the business would close,” said Vancos. “An attempt to reopen the company in the spring of 1909 failed, and the factory was closed permanently in 1910.”

According to Vancos, William Cleveland, a former employee of the now-defunct company, began building his own wooden boats in 1910 and called his new business the Rhinelander Boat Company.

A Rhinelander newspaper, The New North, ran a story about Cleveland's company in 1911, whose name was changed to the Oneida Boat Company shortly after its founding:

The plant of the Oneida Boat Company in this city is now in operation and prospects are that it will keep busy throughout the winter and well into the spring. W. E. Cleveland, who is the manager and chief owner of the factory, stated, Monday, that the company has a large number of orders on hand which will necessitate the employment of at least half a dozen workmen for many months to come.

The plant is located on the south side, one block west of the brewery. It is equipped with all machinery for the manufacture of high-grade rowboats, canoes, and launches. Gasoline engine and motor repairing is also one of the specialties of the concern.5

The reborn RBC produced boats until the early 1950s, when lightweight, low-maintenance aluminum boats took over the boating market. Today the old, finely crafted wooden boats are prized by collectors and may sometimes be found at antique boat shows.