AmericanCanoeAssociation.docVIP

“Camp Grindstone” Written by Robert L. Matthews posted on December 13, 2010 07:19 “Camp Grindstone,” written by Henry Eckford and illustrated by William Allen Rogers, appeared in the August 1885 issue of The Century Magazine. The article deals with the fifth annual meet of the American Canoe Association [ACA] held during the summer of 1884. This month’s article will be part one of a two part series and will provide a brief history on the ACA as well as background information on Rogers. His illustrations will be divided between the two articles. Rogers was born 1854 and while he attended college, he failed to graduate. His artistic prowess was self taught and at the age of nineteen he was hired as an illustrator by the Daily Graphic in New York. Four years later he went to work at Harper’s Weekly to do political cartoons and remained there for the next twenty five years. After his tenure at Harper’s, he continued to draw cartoons for an additional twenty years primarily at the New York Herald but he also accepted assignments from other publications such as Life, Puck, Century and St. Nicholas. Rogers was well known as political cartoonist but many believe his best cartoons were those associated with World War One. While cartoon illustrations were Rogers’ specialty, he enjoyed painting with oils and water colors, print making, frontier reporting and engraving. Somewhere along the line, he and President Teddy Roosevelt became friends. My guess is that Rogers’ political cartoons may have brought the two together. Places fortunate to have Rogers’ art work are the White House, Washington, D. C., the Great Plains Art Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska and the Newberger Museum of Art in Purchase, N. Y. Rogers retired in 1926 and five years later passed away at the age of seventy nine. The ACA had its beginning in 1880 [John Henry Rushton was a founding member]. In 1901 the association purchased the 47 acre island known as Sugar Island, located a couple of miles from Gananoque. In