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Grindstone Joe Association History Page 2 of 3 from the Chilean navy, after many years at sea. With an unknown partner, he netted for sturgeon, bass and catfish on the then-flooded Bouldin Island while establishing squatters' rights on what is now our "island". When Joe discovered his partn was skimming profits from the sales of fish in Lodi and Stockton Markets, he angrily demanded that the man get out. The untrustworthy partner left, but not before destroying their indi spe n si b I e grinding wheel. The grindstone fragment became a symbol of Joe's integrity and much later the source of our Association's name. It can be found today permanently mounted • the deck and reproduced on our burgee. With net-fishing banned, there was a need to augment his meager income. By brute strength and stamina he worked with shovel an • wheelbarrow to build up his island and, most importantly, create a roadway link between the island and the levee. He planted trees, the initial flowers and snagged floating timbers to create the first docks which attracted early boaters from the valley and the bay area starting in the late 20's. But from all reports Joe was very stern about whom he would allo to dock. He had rules which he insisted be observed or one could forget about returning. He disliked sailboats, but loved his three dogs. Illiterate but intelligent, he was a stickler for good conduct, warning transgressors "If you come back, I cut your line." He kep his island immaculate and ruled it as a patriarch. Any boaters who respected that the island was his home had no trouble getting alon with him, but those who treated his fief as a public picnic and dumping ground were unceremoniously asked to leave and admonished not to return. A "benevolent dictator", he was proud his little kingdom, reportedly taking in no more that $200 total per month from the boaters he deigned to admit to his few docks. By 1929, according to according to extant photos, about nine pow boats regularly docked at his island in the summer. With the onse of WWII his regular visitors from the bay and delta vowed to retur but on July 31, 1944 Joe was stricken on the road the Terminous, died and was buried in Lodi by a few of his friends, Grindstone founders. Following the war, many of the same boaters returned and organized what later became the Grindstone Joe Association. They organized the fledgling group into a non-profit Corporation and arranged to acquire clear title to our "island" for the sole purpose of R & R, rest and recreation. Today, Grindstone Joe would appreciate the many improvements made on his land by decades of Grindstoners intent on perpetuatin his legacy while respecting his appreciation for nature, the environment and human dignity. http://grindstonejoe.org/history.html 1/31/2019