Conservation Fish-Net Patrol Near Beaver Island in 1945

Summary

The June 29, 1945 Charlevoix County Herald feature describes a trip from Charlevoix aboard Conservation Department patrol No. 1. The 75-foot diesel craft left at 9:30 a.m. on a regularly scheduled trip to inspect fish nets and was commanded by “Cap” Charles J. Allers, whom the article describes as a native of South Haven and Beaver Island.¹

The patrol narrative names Erwin Belfy as assistant supervisor and first mate, Richard Lahti as a conservation worker with earlier Isle Royale service, and Emil Pischner as the engineer-cook. It describes the vessel traveling toward High Island and serving a fish-net inspection route in the archipelago.¹

The crew

The article gives each named crew member a short sketch. Allers, called “Cap,” is described as a native of South Haven and Beaver Island whose father had been a “salt water man,” owner and master of sailing schooners out of South Haven; the family resided at St. James around 1911, when the father owned one of the last sailing vessels operated on the Great Lakes. Erwin Belfy, besides serving as assistant supervisor and first mate, is said to have doubled as an aide to the bartender-proprietor at the Shamrock Inn, the island’s tavern and social center. Richard “Dick” Lahti is called a “story-telling” conservation worker who had served seven years on Isle Royale before what the article calls “the great forest fire” there. Emil Pischner, the engineer-cook, is credited by the writer with the finest whitefish dinner served aboard while the patrol was en route to High Island.¹ The article gives the distance from Charlevoix to the Beaver Islands as 32 miles by a boat traveling about 10 miles per hour, and situates the patrol’s grounds among three archipelagos on Lake Michigan’s northern rim: the Manitou islands off the Leelanau peninsula, the Fox islands, and, farthest north, what it calls “the eight Beavers,” naming Beaver, Garden, High, Hog, Squaw and Whisky among them — six named of the eight claimed, a discrepancy this article preserves rather than resolves.¹

Evidence and limits

The source is a feature article, not a dated patrol log. The event therefore uses June 1945, the issue month, rather than an exact trip date. It does not identify the patrol craft’s official number, ownership, complete route, catch inspection results, or the agency records behind the crew titles. The article’s descriptions of earlier careers and family connections are retained only where they are explicit and are not expanded into separate genealogical claims.

Read the document

8 pages, rendered from the held scan.

All 8 pages

1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4
5. 5
6. 6
7. 7
8. 8

Added 1 August 2026 · revised 9 August 2026. Recent changes