“One of the years I think some of the pranks got out of hand with the boys from Camp Mahn-go-tah-see. We had never had any official activities with them, but this one summer there was a mixer, so we got to know some of the boys. We would wave to them when we saw them on the lake and there was some pranking back and forth. One day we got a call on the phone, with the question of what would ten pounds of molasses do to our horses, so while we were at the stables checking, they showed up at the lodge and tee-peed the place, I think Carol Nieman thrived on it, personally, “said Betsy Falvey (1968-75). “She was single, and flattered by the attention since she was young. But, all I could think of was how much work my Mom had done to raise money to keep the lodge and camp going and if it was going to get damaged. I was probably overly-sensitive.”
The banner at the heading of the “Loon” spelled “WAR” in huge letters. “On July 17, 1975, the sovereign and free, peace-loving land of Mahn-go-tah-see served upon Camp Maqua a declaration of war. This was not our first tangle with Mahn-go, but one of many”, the article continued.
“According to the declaration of war, Maqua was the camp that gave cause for the war to be declared. How? Well, on July 13, when some “young ambassadors” from Mahn-go entered our territorial waters, the declaration states that Maqua ambushed their “mere lads”. But, we say these men have nerve calling themselves “mere lads”. They are no more mere than we mere gals, and we know they are not mere. Therefore, these guys should own up to the fact that they came over here looking for some action, and we gave it to them.”
“So, on July 16, 1975, eleven Maqua staffers waged a secret raid upon the lands of Mahn-go-tah-see. The raiding party was successful in their efforts ad the sweet victory for Maqua was at hand. Then on Thursday, July 17, Mahn-go served the declaration, securing their victory for the night. But, a few of the Maqua Marauders made our first land attack by replacing a Camp Mahn-go-tah-see sign with a type of Indian spear. After that it was a Maqua dominated war.”
“On Friday July 18, Maqua’s Medicine Man went out with Jerry from Mahn-go. When he arrived to pick her up, the whole tribe yelled “Mongo Jerry” and of course Medicine Man’s date was terrified. Well. It wasn’t until Saturday that Mahn-go picked up their sign, but instead of saying Mahn-go-tah-see, it read Mahn-go-sis-see. Also on Saturday, our leader JR (Carol Nieman), went out with Doug of Mahn-go. Because our storming tribe had terrified Mahn-go Jerry, they decided to escort Doug to Maqua for fear he may be captured. Although our tribe was afraid JR may be captured, our girls kept a stiff upper lip”.
“On Sunday Mahn-go pulled off a top raid. They phoned us about police, then with some story about high speed and a showdown. Then they phoned to ask what they had done with molasses on our campground. Of course, we checked them out without thinking it may be a fake. When we figured out that it was a fake raid and a fake police call, we called Mahn-go. We explained that the police had just been to Maqua, and were on their way. But, as fate would have it, they didn’t believe”
“So, Rhonda (Thayer) called upon a school chum that had become a policeman; she then asked him to go to Mahn-gp to make the last laugh on them. Well, they did and Maqua scores again. On Monday our non-believers of a war with Mahn-go were made believers as they sat on the waterfront singing to Mahn-go. Well, it was Wednesday that brought about our biggest disappointment. During dinner, Jr. was given a letter from Mahn-go’s director. What the letter amounted to was surrender. And so began and ended the end of the great war on Loon Lake. But, it was a victorious end and a victory!”
“Carol Nieman was going out with one of Homer Robert’s sons at the camp across the lake. We always had a summer rivalry going on with the boy’s camp. Her relationship spurred on the rivalry even more. We had horses on the property and they had a lifeboat off a ship over there. The counselors would steal their canoes or their lifeboat, ” said Rhonda, as she recalled the same incident.
“One night when I was living in the lodge the phone rang in the office. It was a police officer letting us know that there was paint and molasses all over our horses. So, I hopped in that old pick up and checked and they were fine. I figured it was the boys, so I called and told them it was illegal to impersonate a police officer, but that just egged them on. I called my friend Dave, and since he was a police officer I had him go over. The kid on the phone replied he would have tea waiting for him when he got there. Dave and his partner Chuck turned on the lights and sirens and reamed them out. On the way out the door Dave asked, “By the way where is my cup of tea?’ and then the boys got the joke. They replied, ”Boy, those girls play mean!”
The fun and frolic continued and Lois Neering wrote of the prowler at Dutton. “At exactly 1:35 a.m. Sunday morning, Amy Johns saw something in the dark move quickly by the waterfront. “At first she thought it was her imagination”, wrote Lois, “but little did she know it was a Mahn-go-sis-see”. Amy saw him run past, lay in her bed for a few minutes (scared) and finally told an unbelieving Spaz (Cindy Knapp), until they ran downstairs and saw him at the door. Screaming at him, they frightened him off and the moral of the story was “Leave them alone and they’ll go home wagging their tails behind them.”
Do you remember this raid? Did you take part in it?