Historic Big Rock Creek Farm Fish and fishing were the foundation of what began in the early 1900’s as Big Rock Creek Trout Club, organized by the legendary Horace “Gokey” Thompson. Gokey put together a group of St. Paul businessmen who by 1914 had acquired the lands surrounding the three-mile upper stretch of Rock Creek, a tributary to the St. Croix River half a mile to the west. The “club” was used as a base camp for fishing the St. Croix River and the many nearby lakes. The original club house from this era still remains and is a dominant feature of the Farm. By the early 1920’s Claude and Allan Siems, two of the original members of the “club”, had acquired the Farm. It is at this point the potential of the land and the creek was envisioned to become something more than a fishing club. The Siems brothers undertook the expansion of the fish hatchery operation that began with the Club. The new and expanded operation was a state of the art facility with seven growing out raceways. The remnants of the raceways can still be seen as can one of the original buildings located below the dam. At one time the demand for Rock Creek trout was so great a large facility was built to house the workers who worked at the hatchery nine months of the year. The building was removed several years ago and is no longer a part of the original structures still remaining. It is important to note the Farm still maintains Wisconsin Fish Hatchery License #10. In addition to the fish hatchery the Siems brothers expanded and developed the Farm in areas of agriculture as well with a herd of championship Herfords and 300 Angora goats complete with a full-time herder. The goats were used to eat the undergrowth creating broader pasture acres for the cattle and the wool from the goats was income producing. Throughout the many generations, the Farm has been in operation, the overall concern by both the original Club members and the Siems family has been to provide for stream management. Streams, ponds, marshes and sloughs have been carefully engineered and maintained to enhance the structural framework initiated by glaciations that took place over 10,000 years ago. The water in the Creek is as clear and as pure as it was thousands of years ago when the creek was originally formed. For more information: www.oflannigan.com
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