The Treatsye Twelve
and the Story of the long lost Bedrock #601
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April 1st. 2014
By: Mark A. Reed
While driving through the Smokie mountains on vacation looking for Antique tools, hand planes and the ultimate fly fishing spot, we discovered a small artisan community nestled in the mountains with several old buildings all connected by a creaky covered walkway.
On the end was a small antique store that apparently used to be Bailey’s Fly Rod Shop. We went inside hoping to find something special and Boy, did we! There was rusty gold everywhere. Antique tools and farm implements, whiskey jugs and wash boards and wooden planes like you’ve never seen.
I was excited to find a nice Stanley #8 hand plane, a #18 block plane with a sweetheart blade and a Stanley #604 plane in the original box….. Holy Cow! I thought I found a gold mine! So, I looked around to see what else I might find.
In the back of the store sat an old man at a workbench covered in wood shavings making what appeared to be a bamboo fishing rod. There was bamboo stored in the rafters above, hand tools scattered here and there, balls of twine and bits of feathers sticking out of a chest of tiny drawers.
As a woodworker myself, I’m always fascinated by another craftsman’s work bench so it was hard not to stare as he slowly planed the long strips of bamboo. As a fly fishing sports fan, this was like watching a scene from the past.
I’d read stories about the origins of fly fishing and knew they used bamboo as well as lancewood and whalebone but I’d never seen one made. He was completely immersed in the rhythm of his work and I felt it would be rude to interrupt. So I stood quietly and watched.
Eventually he noticed me standing there and came to a stop. I almost asked him to keep going – don’t mind me but he smiled and walked over to the counter. He saw the planes and said “You got some real beauties there, Mister.” I was grinning from ear to ear so he must’ve known they were going to a good home.
I bragged a little about my small collection of hand planes and how I just finished reading about the history of the Stanley tool company while he rang up the sale. That’s when he looked at me and said,
“See that sign above the door? ... See that name on the front of that plane? ... That was my grand pa.”
I couldn’t believe it. Here I am talking to a descendent of Lenard Bailey, the man who invented the hand plane as we know it. Could this be true? That’s when he said to me, “ All that stuff you read about …ain’t none of it true.” I began to think I’d said something wrong.
Then, he says, “Want to hear a story?”
Like a kid getting tucked in to bed I quickly sat on the bar stool by the counter and said, “Sure!”
He slowly wrapped one of the planes in newspaper and put it in a bag. Finally he says. “Ever wonder why it says Bailey right there?” as he’s pointing to the front of the plane. I figured he was about to tell me so I just smiled.
He says,” That was put there in memory of my grand pa, Frank Bailey, the young brother of Lenard Bailey who you probably think invented them planes.”
He says,” The real story is my grand pa invented them planes. But he never got no credit ‘cause he was eaten by Cannibals!”
Is this a joke? No way is this true, I thought to myself.
He says,” See, most people don’t know much about these parts cept’ what they read in them books, but if you notice, all them books say the same thing.”
It occurred to me at that moment that several references in my research were indeed worded the same.
He says,” Back in the day, rich people took a real shine to fly fishin’. Why, they’d come from all over to buy my grand pa’s handmade bamboo fly rods and fish right over there. Bet you didn’t read about that, did you?”
I didn’t dare answer and just sat there listening . He went on to tell me things that blew my mind.
It all started back in the 1450s when a book was published called A Treatyse of Fysshynge about the art of fly fishing including a list of twelve flies. A secret society of twelve wealthy fly fishermen adopted the name,
The Treatyse Twelve, in reference to this book.
A list of the men included:
President Dwight Eisenhower who was an avid fly fishermen.
Rockefeller, John D who donated Five hundred thousand to preserve the trout streams in the Smokie mountains.
Ivan von Hart who invented the Aluminum fly reel
Lenard Bailey, a retired tool company owner
Frank Bailey, a tool inventor who worked for Henry Stanley as a shop foreman.
Orvis Wilson, the owner of a large manufacture of fishing gear.
Oren Mclure, who discovered Tonkin bamboo from the banks along the Sui River in southern China.
Lenard Kelsen who perfected making handmade flies
Samuel Philippe who was the first person to assemble what is the traditional hexagonal (6-sided) fly rod.
The first all-bamboo rods originated in England and were made from bamboo that was imported from India called “Calcutta cane”. The competition was fierce between the American aristocrats and the arrogant Brits.
They invented new techniques like the dry fly, cork handles and the false cast.
But the Brits had discovered a new type of bamboo rod from the islands of new Guinea called Tonkin cane. They were also using feathers never seen before. The Americans decided to travel to the islands to find the native made bamboo rods and the source of the exotic feathers used to make the flies.
The Americans couldn’t buy the cane rods with money so they brought hand planes, tools and trinkets to trade for the bamboo and feathers. They had to get permits from the British consulate to travel there but no one told them there were also cannibals on the islands.
A few months before they’d arrived there was an incident with the natives. A group of British fishermen had visited the island to trade for the bamboo rods. But they landed on the wrong island and were attacked. Five of the tribal chiefs were killed and robbed of their ancestral head dresses for their feathers.
The Americans had landed on that same island and were also attacked. Everyone escaped except Frank Bailey. They skinned him alive and ate him for dinner! The wealthy Americans and Brits were afraid of the media backlash towards the natives and never reported the horrible incident.
Now, here is where it gets really interesting. In 1961, Michael Rockefeller jr. went back to the islands to find out what happened and gather artifacts for his family’s museum. But, he was also killed and eaten by Cannibals!
They just released a book about young Rockefeller’s adventures but they never mentioned this fact.
After the Americans returned home empty handed, the group of fly fishermen faded into obscurity and no one knows for sure whether the group still exists. Lenard Bailey was so distraught about the horrific death of his young brother, he retired early and discontinued work on his brother’s three hand plane patents.
Lenard Bailey won his case against Henry Stanley who claimed ownership and the hand plane designs were shelved and the prototypes were destroyed, except for one. The other two patents were never seen again.
But one tiny hand plane was designed and a few were manufactured specifically for the pigmy natives to use to make bamboo fly rods.
The old man finished his story with a big sigh, almost as if he was glad to finally tell someone. I was amazed at what I just heard, I mean, this was unbelievable.
$60.00 for the planes was half what they’re worth. I think he knew it too. So, I paid with cash instead of credit, handed him a 100 bill and said, “Thanks, keep the change.”
As I was about to leave he called me back. I thought I left my glasses or something but when I returned to the counter, he says, “I got something to show you.” I followed him back to his work bench and watched while he cleared his bench of wood shavings and set the fly rod aside he was working on.
He used a screw driver to un lodge a tool that was imbedded upside down in the massive wood bench.
Out popped a beautiful hand plane I’ve never seen before. It was a small Bedrock # 601 with flat sides.
He dusted it off and reset the blade back into the body, looked at it for a moment and handed it to me.
He says, “Been there since 1924. But, seeing how you like my planes, I want you to have it.”
I stood there with my mouth open, not sure just what to say. He went on to say he’s been looking for someone to give it to but all his family is gone and no one seemed to care anymore. I felt honored that he would give it to me.
He made me promise not to sell it or tell anyone about it until he passed away. I received a letter from his estate, which was worth millions that he had died a week ago.
I wanted to tell this story sooner but I promised I’d wait.
So now you know the real story about the missing bedrock #601 plane!
copy of the original #601 – available online at the Superior Works.