(1948/1949) Newaygo, Mi, William "Bill" Loomisbow

[450 marlin]

Lansing MI Craigslist has a new listing for a  (1948/1949)  Newaygo, Mi, William "Bill" Loomis bow like the Grummly

[Jon Stewart]

My dad died this past July I aquired all of archery things from his old archery shop and a Loomis bow was in there.  Had some glass separation  on the top limb.  I gave it to a Loomis collector here in Michigan.

[johnnyrazorhead]

Finally got around to taking a few photos of this bow.I ended up talking with the gentleman that had this bow and we worked out an agreement so I now have the bow.
 Bill Loomis was an archer from Newaygo,Michigan,one of only two counties in the state of Michigan that was open to bowhunting during Michigan's first archery only season back in 1937.Bill hunted with and was friends of Fred Bear and Nels Grumley as well as many other early Michigan bowmen.The gentleman that had the bow said it belonged to his father and was made for him by Bill Loomis.His mother and father were from Newaygo and knew Mr. Loomis.He also told me that there is another bow similar to this one in the Newaygo Historical Museum that was made by Mr. Loomis but I haven't been over there yet to see it but plan to make the trip whenever time permits.
 After seeing the bow and seeing how nicely it is made,I couldn't help but notice the similarities it has to other bows I have in my collection made by Nels Grumley.It makes sense to me that these two pioneer Michigan bowmen swapped their bowmaking knowledge and ideas with each other.Even the finely selected staves of osage used to make the bow look similar to those found on many of my Grumley bows.Perhaps Nels let Bill "borrow" a couple extra ones he had lying around the shop.Just thought I would share these pictures of some more great early Michigan archery history.
 This first two pictures show the nicely made pigskin wrapped grip.There appears to be a quiver bushing mounted under the leather grip.
 
 

 This picture shows the Loomis bow's grip(bottom) compared to a Grumley made bow(top):
 

 This next photo shows one of the limb tips.Very similar to the built-up brush nocks of a Deerslayer or Bush bow:
 

 Here you can see the tip)bottom) compared to a Grumley Deerslayer(top):
 
 

 One more comparing the grip areas of the two bows:
 
 The bow appears to be backed with either rawhide or a clarified calfskin.Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

[zepnut]

Very nice John.

[450 marlin]

Glad to see someone work out a deal on this bow from an early Michigan bower.

[johnnyrazorhead]

Roy,
 Thanks for the initial heads up on the bow here on Tradgang.I was out of town when I first saw the listing and the asking price was pretty high.I figured if it's still available when I returned home then perhaps it was meant to be and I could work something out.The guy that had it was very nice and was glad to see this bow with early Michigan bowhunting roots stay here where it was from.
 Hope to compare it to the other Loomis bow in the Museum and get some pics of that one too.
 
 Here's an old photo from St. Helen Michigan around 1940 with four early Michigan bowmen sitting around a campfire for an afternoon break.They are left to right- Barney Grenier,Nels Grumley,Bill Loomis and Fred Bear.    
   

[wooddamon1]

That is a cool photo!

[Bjorn]

Way to go John! Great pics and story!!      

[Wade Phillips]

John,

Nice Loomis bow. It is cool that a collector in Michigan got it.

The 1938 photograph is one of my favorites. Your photograph (Pat's 21st century textured version) is severely cropped and much of the information is lost in that cropped image. In the full size photograph you can see the ends of the two bows next to Fred, which have radiused recurves (no brush nocks).

The 1938 photograph was taken 4 years before Grumley's first Deerslayer with the large brush nocks, that you show as the upper bow laying on the photograph.

Don't really know when Loomis began making his brush nocks that are more Grumley Bush Bow style. Grumley made his first Bush Bow in 1941 according to what he had written in the scrapbook of his that I have.

[johnnyrazorhead]

The guy that had the bow advertised it as being a later 1940's bow so that would make sense.I notced too the missing bows,or most of them anyhow, in the larger photo as compared to the original but it's such a great photo.To me it really captures the feeling and spirit of those early bowmen,truly brothers of the bow.Makes me wish I was sitting right there with them.
 Wonder who the fifth person was that took the picture?Hmmm.....

[Wade Phillips]

John,

The full size version hangs in my grate room. It is one of my all time favorite photographs for many reasons. It pretty much tells the story about the romance of traditional archery.

The list of candidates as the photographer would be extensive. You probably have a list of all of the 1938 Bow & Arrow Deer Season License holders to use as possible suspects.

The original photograph is extremely high quality and Fred was known to have high end camera equipment.

Possibly looking for the identity of a "fifth person" might prove to be something like looking for the "one armed man."

Fred was also known to have devices to make the shutter snap without the need to have a person holding the camera.

So perhaps there was no "fifth person".

A little research about high end 1938 vintage still cameras might prove useful in establishing a plausible theory.