Remembering the Wheelmen
Frank Lenz “Around the World with Wheel and Camera” November 1892.
Chicago, all in bustle for the Columbian Exposition, gave an added
interest to my four-day stay in the windy city. Mr. Frank Beaston and I
were ready to start next morning for Milwaukee. The Milwaukee Wheelmen
is the largest club in the city, with a membership of 250. W. C.
Sanger, 
the champion racer of Wisconsin, is a member of this club. The Mercury
Wheelmen have a membership of sixty-five. The Northside Wheelmen also
contain about sixty members, and the Comets about thirty.
With six of the Milwaukee Wheelmen as escorts next morning, including a
mute rider from Chicago, we all started for Waukesha. The country now
becomes slightly rolling. Following a good gravel road, past Wauwatosa
and through Elm Grove, we reached Waukesha for dinner. Here all but the
mute rider (William A. Amory) turned back. He and I visited the famous
springs which abound hereabouts. This watering place has a well-earned
reputation. Its waters are shipped to Chicago and Milwaukee. His was
rather quiet company to me, riding side by side with me for mile after
mile without a word in exchange. Sometimes we would rest by the
roadside, then he would bring forth pencil and paper, and we would hold
written conversations. Parting with him at Oconomowoc, I pushed on
towards Watertown.
(From “Brookfield: A Fine And Fertile Land” by Thomas Ramstack)
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