Northern Wisconsin resort owner and entrepreneur Herbert Warner was born near Cass City, Michigan on February 12, 1870. One of fourteen children, Warner began to work at the age of twelve in order to help the family. He first worked at fur trapping, later turning to logging, cooking for a logging camp, and surveying. In 1894 Warner came to Wisconsin where he found work as a timber cruiser and as a handyman and guide at the fishing camp of O.W. Sayner on Plum Lake. There he met Freda Fricke, of Colby, Wisconsin, who was employed as a cook, and the couple were married in 1899. The Warner's first child, Bert, was born in August 1900; he was followed by Margaret (who died at age four), Norman, Frederick (who died at age three), Evelyn, Grace, Jane, Joyce (who died as an infant), and one stillborn child.
About 1898-1900 Warner bought a large tract of cutover land on Plum Lake near Sayner where he established a homestead and a resort, first building a log cottage as a primary residence and later adding a lodge and nine cabins. The lodge, which was completed with the assistance of Warner's brother, Walter, was a large two-story building constructed of vertical tamarack logs. Forest Home Summer Resort catered to the professional classes, and guests came not only from the Chicago suburbs, but also from as far away as Texas and Kansas. In the 1920's the name was changed to Herbert and Bert's Resort in order to reflect Bert's increased involvement in the resort as well as the Warners' concern that a cemetery in Illinois was also named “Forest Home.” Thereafter Herbert devoted most of his attention to the operation of the farm.
Warner was involved in numerous endeavors in addition to his management of the resort. Because of his early work in Vilas County as a surveyor Warner was appointed county surveyor. He also owned and operated a 240-acre dairy farm on land purchased in 1903 which helped to supply food for the resort. In 1906 Warner organized the Lake and River Logging Company and milled “dead heads” (logs cut by various companies which had sunk while being shipped to the mill) in the Wisconsin River and its tributaries north of Rhinelander. In 1924 Warner's mill at Lake Tomahawk burned, and at that time Warner ended his lumbering activities.
In addition Warner served as a justice of the peace, sold Evinrude outboard motors, patented an anchor design, and ran a trap line. He was also active in civic affairs. He was the first Plum Lake town assessor and the first treasurer of the local school board. Warner also donated land for the establishment of the Plum Lake Golf Course and the Plum Lake Community Church. Herbert Warner died in 1952.
Like his father, Bert Warner was active in local affairs. He served one term of justice of the peace and was active in local aviation. He was also a founding member of the Plum Lake Conservation Club, which planted fish in area lakes prior to the stocking activities of the Department of Conservation. Warner and his wife, the former Florence Cook of Eagle River (and his teacher when he was in the eighth grade) raised three children: Florence, Camille, and Herbert. Bert Warner died in March, 1989.
