Austin Island

 Austin Island

A hill in lake water

The water of the river

The River Wisconsin

Once a conduit for logs

Logs cut by lumberjacks

Lumberjacks of legend

Who floated them downriver

To a lake formed by a dam

A dam in Rhinelander

Which powered a mill there

To make logs into lumber

To build our State

Lumber was not the only thing

That the lake helped make there

For as the water flooded 

It turned a hill into an island

Soon the island became

The home for lumbermen

When they used logs and lumber

To build a cabin roughhewn

Years later came a family

A good, Christian family

Who spied the island

And made it as home

The father a northwoods minister 

And a down-to-earth mother

Raised two sons to learn there

What’s important in life

The twelve-year-old excited 

To live on an island

Became proficient in building

At a very early age

A couple years later

Built there a cabin

As a teen he did build it

Which gave him great joy

The father he saw it

The joy that it gave him

And when the lad turned 21

Gave the island to his son

In turn, the son, Don Austin,

For seventy years thereafter

Shared the island named Austin 

With family and friends

Now as always it’s a treasure

A natural treasure

A place to connect with 

what is important in life

Don is gone now

But his spirit lives on there

Showing us all forever

What is important in life