Marking the trail with John Hauberg

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By John Willard | Monday, November 13, 2006 11:17 PM CST | () comments

Stacie Combs/QUAD-CITY TIMES A tribute to John Hauberg, written by Conrad J. Bergendoff, was inscribed directly on a granite boulder in Loud Thunder Forest Preserve after the disappearance of the stone's original plaque. The monument originally was dedicated to Hauberg's memory in 1956.

Sheltered by maples along a trail at the edge of the Mississippi River in Loud Thunder Forest Preserve west of Andalusia, Ill., is marker dedicated to the memory of a trailblazer.

The granite boulder honors John Henry Hauberg, a Rock Island lawyer and philanthropist. His civic involvement cut a swath through a broad spectrum of community life ranging from social service and business to history and conservation.

It was his love of the outdoors that prompted members of the Black Hawk Hiking Club, of which he was founder and the president for 35 years, to dedicate the monument on Nov. 22, 1956. The monument consisted of a granite boulder with a plaque.

The monument is a survivor.

The original plaque, with words written by Conrad J. Bergendoff, who served 27 years as the fifth president of Augustana College, once disappeared but later was found in the shallows of the river. It was restored and re-installed on the boulder, only to be stolen and never recovered. Rather than risk the loss of another plaque, hiking club members arranged to have Bergendoff’s text inscribed directly on the stone. The restored marker was dedicated in 2004.

On the 50th anniversary of the monument, let’s take a closer look at Hauberg and the hiking club that he founded.

Son of a German immigrant, he was born on Nov. 22, 1869, on a farm north of Hillsdale, Ill., and held a variety of odd jobs before graduating from Valparaiso University in Indiana and earning a law degree at the University of Michigan. After practicing law for 10 years, he married Susanne C. Denkmann, the youngest daughter of lumber baron Frederick Carl A. Denkmann. The couple moved into her Rock Island mansion, which today is the Hauberg Civic Center.

An accomplished amateur historian, he served as president and curator of the Rock Island County Historical Society for many years and led the move to create Black Hawk State Park, today known as Black Hawk State Historic Site. He donated his extensive collection of Sauk Fox artifacts to the museum there named in his honor.

In 1920, he founded the Black Hawk Hiking Club and led the club on its first hike on Jan. 2, 1920, a day when, according to his diary, fellow hikers braved temperatures of six below zero and sipped potato soup cooked in “pure” Mississippi River water. He served as club president until his death in 1955 at age 85.

Mel Peterson, a retired professor of chemistry at Augustana College and a past president of the Black Hawk Hiking Club, said Hauberg was especially fond of the Mississippi Valley and served on the committee that established Loud Thunder Forest Preserve. The basis for the park, one of five forest preserves administered by Rock Island County, was the 1,240-acre Searle Range purchased from Charles Searle in 1944.

Among the attractions in the park is the Hauberg Trail, which winds through scenic woods and offers spectacular vistas of the Mississippi River. At the east end of the original mile-long segment of the trail, just off Illinois 92, is the Hauberg monument. The boulder, which came from a farm near Cleveland, Ill., originally stood near the parking lot but later was moved to a more obscure location near the river to discourage vandalism, Peterson said.

Even with the move, an attempt has been made to scrape out the word “God’s” in the phrase describing Hauberg as “An inspiring companion to those who would explore the wonders of God’s world near at hand,” Peterson said.

Peterson said Hauberg would be pleased with the success of the hiking club he founded. “The club was one of his proudest achievements. He would be very happy.”

The public is invited to join members of the Black Hawk Hiking Club as they hike the Hauberg Trail beginning at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The hike honoring their founder will begin at the Riverview Campground picnic area in Loud Thunder Forest Preserve.

John Willard can be contacted at (563) 383-2314 or jwillard@qctimes.com