Historical Images of Porter County

Camp Island Six to Two
Kankakee River, Porter County, Indiana

Date: 1920
Source Type: Photograph
Publisher, Printer, Photographer: J. Lorenzo Werich
Postmark: Not Applicable
Collection: Steven R. Shook
Remark:  Island Six to Two was a Kankakee River island located in the far southwest corner of Boone Township originally known as Deserter’s Island; Hunting Island was located west of Camp Six to Two, while Long Ridge Island was to the east.

The area provided refuge for deserters from the Civil War and fugitives from the law. The area was thick marshy timberland that was difficult to access. The island was about one block in area and about 450 feet north of the original channel of the Kankakee River.

Vierling indicates that location is about 1,300 east of the county line between the counties of Lake and Porter and approximately eight-tenths of a miles west of present day U.S. Route 231. The Columbian Hunting Club would establish a camp on the island in 1892 and name it Camp 6 to 2 in reference to the fact that the club consisted of six Democrats and two Republicans. The charter members of the Columbian Hunting Club were Ira V. Fry, George Gidley (secretary-treasurer), George Margison, Charles Miller, Lyle E. Ripley, Jerry Sherwood , Bart Sigler, and Jefferson C. Smith (president); all were Hebron-area businessmen.

Two years after establishment of the hunting club, the membership was expanded to sixty-two members and the camp was renamed Camp Sixty-Two.

Image Source:
Werich, J. Lorenzo. 1920. Pioneer Hunters of the Kankakee. Logansport, Indiana: Chronicle Printing Company. 197 p. [see p. 129]

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Image and related text prepared by Steven R. Shook