He was the first we know of to put a barrel on a duck call.” However, the question must be asked, “Was he actually the first to place a barrel on a duck call?” The earliest known written reference to
Introduction
acted as a guide on Lake Senachwine. In later years, he was also a guide for the Hennepin Shooting Club. In 1882, a new hotel opened at the lake which hurt Grubbs financially so he moved to Chicago, working for Von Lengerke & Antoine—a high-end sporting goods store. He also worked at The Fair, a department store which was founded by E.J. Lehman in 1875. The Fair was considered by many to be the forerunner of the modern department store. The store’s philosophy was summarized by the motto, “Everything for everybody, under one roof, at a lower price.” Grubbs’ twentiethcentury ad stated, “We made the first commercial duck call that was ever placed on the market—this was in 1868.” Yet the earliest known advertisement of a Grubbs unproven Illinois Grubbs’ call was in an 1889River Duck Call 1890 Montgomery Ward catalog, which illustrated a metal-banded wooden duck call. Like Allen’s earliest calls, there are no known examples of his earliest calls in any collection. As one can readily see, competition existed between Allen and Grubbs because each claimed ownership as the first to market a commercial call. In Howard’s opinion, there is no confusion. He stated, “He [Allen] was the earliest of the Illinois River call makers. He was the first to use a new tone board design after the tongue-pincher style. He was one of the most significant callers of all. He was the innovator.
(Above) Letterhead from the Hotel Undercliff during the time it was managed by Charles Grubbs.
artificial duck calls, other than tongue-pinchers, yet found is from Joseph W. Long’s American Wildfowl Shooting, 1874, in a chapter entitled “Mid-Day Mallard Shooting—Fall.” Long gives instructions on how to make a “squawker:” “I like ‘calling by mouth’ much better than with a squawker, especially if the ducks are passing reasonably close. I will try to explain to you, though, how to make a squawker . . . First a tube of wood or metal (bamboo cane is chiefly used) is to be provided, about three-quarters of an inch inside diameter, and from four to eight inches long; a plug about three inches long is fitted to one end, and after being split in two, onehalf is grooved to within a quarter of an inch of its smaller end, the
Tom Turpin Cane Call
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