Le-Ki-Re Ranch Properties
On July 1, 1848, Samuel "Sam" Lynard Homesteaded Document 25225 40 acres in NW 1/4 of the SE 1/4 Section 2, Hustisford Township 10, North of Range 16 E, Dodge Co., WI.
On January 1, 1851, Samuel "Sam" Lynard Homesteaded Document 34803 40 acres in SW 1/4 of the NW 1/4 Section 11, Shields Township 9, North of Range 14 E, Dodge Co., WI.
On May 1, 1855, Samuel "Sam" Lynard Homesteaded Document 35787 40 acres in SE 1/4 of the SW 1/4 Section 10, Shields Township 9, North of Range 14 E, Dodge Co., WI.
On May 1, 1855, Samuel "Sam" Lynard Homesteaded Document 38047 40 acres in SW 1/4 of the NW 1/4 Section 10, Shields Township 9, North of Range 14 E, Dodge Co., WI.
On May 3, 1858, Samuel "Sam" Lynard Homesteaded Document 35773 40 acres in NE 1/4 of the NE 1/4 Section 15, Shields Township 9, North of Range 14 E, Dodge Co., WI.
Samuel "Sam" Lynard died July 25, 1887, at his home, Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI. Buried in St. Bernard's Cemetery, Watertown, Jefferson Co., WI.
The Juneau Telephone, Juneau, Dodge Co., WI, July 29, 1887
Death of Samuel Lynard.
The town of Shields is once more called upon to morn the death of one of her oldest citizens. Mr. Samuel Lynard peacefully passed from the earth, at his home, two miles-west of Richwood on Monday, July 25, 1887. We have known the deceased as far back as our memory reaches and can testify to the fact that no community was ever blessed with the personage of a better neighbor, or an honester man. Always pleasant, witty and entertaining, socially, Sam, as he was familiarly called was the life of every gathering he honored with his presence. He always looked on the cheerful side of life, had a pleasant word for everybody and never, we believe, knowingly did anyone a personal injury. He was keenly sensitive to the feelings of others and rather than impose deserved censure, would wisely keep silent. If ever called upon to do so, he would speak of the faults of others more in pity than in blame. He was strictly temperate, in his habits, pious in his devotions and ever-countenanced anything but the purest conversation. In speaking well of the dead, we have no desire to flatter the living relatives. We speak of Mr. Lynard in death as we knew him in life, and understanding the merits of our subject, we are conscious of our inability to do his memory ample justice. His funeral rites were conducted by Rev. Father Tierney, in St. Joseph's church, Richwood on Wednesday, and the remains followed to St. Bernard's cemetery, Watertown, by a large concourse of mourning friends, where all that was mortal of the good man, were tenderly entombed in mother earth, there to await the resurrection morn. The deceased was born in Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland in 1812. At the age of 32 he emigrated to the new world and settled in Farmington, Ontario Co., New York. He came to Wisconsin in 1846 and settled at Hustisford, Dodge Co. In 1848 the family settled in Shields and four years later, took up his abode on the farm from which his remains were carried last Wednesday. He leaves a wife and five daughters to mourn the loss of a kind husband and indulgent parent. His surviving children are Mrs. George Donovan and Mrs. Daniel Rutledge, of Emmetsburg, Iowa, Mrs. Timothy Warner of Jefferson, Wis., Mrs. Patrick Joyce of Youngstown, Ohio; and Miss Lizzie, who remained with her parents on the old homestead.
By 1905, Friedrich Charles "Fred" Sommerfeldt owned with a mortgage the Ranch land in the Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI.
Friedrich Charles "Fred" Sommerfeldt died February 22, 1934, in Watertown, WI. Buried in St. John's Lutheran Cemetery, Watertown, Dodge Co., WI.
In 1940, Fred's son, Milton Sommerfeldt (age 30) is an unmarried Farmer, and 5 years ago was living in the Same House, and with 4 Years of School.
In anticipation of the time when Mr. Bickett can retire from more active life, he acquired a number of adjoining farms representing a total in excess of 700 acres, and it is his plan to convert this into a ranch, specializing in the raising of steers, sheep, poultry, and the usual line of grain crops. This project will be known as Le-Ki-Re Ranch duplicating the dude ranches found in the western states.
During the mid-1940s Mr. Bickett decided the time had come to buy the farmland he said he always wanted to buy, to replace that which his grandfather Adam Reed Bickett had lost following the Civil War, so he bought several farms totaling 734 acres near Richwood, in the Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI. One of the farms turned out to be completely unsuitable for farming operations, so he decided to dredge it out, creating a pond, and turn it into a wildlife refuge. This was an extremely expensive operation, and he had a difference of opinion with the Internal Revenue Service over his claims he had been advised this was an operating expense and should not be capitalized. He contested the tax assessment, without success, and of course with prolonging the affair the penalties grew larger. His preoccupation with this matter had a greatly adverse effect on his health. Financially the whole affair of the "ranch" was a disaster. Before his death he agreed to sell part of the farm property to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and this area is still used for wildlife.
By 1930, the road was named Sommerfeldt Road.
By 1940, the road was named Tom Ready Road.
By 1958, the road was named Ranch Road.
Emil Otis Kelm had 3 years of School.
The above Plat Book images, in chronological order, include the lands that LeRoy McVey "Roy" Bickett purchased late November, 1944 in the Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI. The last of his land holdings were sold 1966 - 1971 by his daughter, Helen Means (Bickett) Fiegel.
The bottom three pictures show the former Bickett land holdings as of 2025.
On July 11, 1940, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture performed aerial surveys of the Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI.
Several images extracted from the 1940 aerial photos of the Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI, show the existing land use and structures. LeRoy McVey "Roy" Bickett purchased his lands in November, 1944, when snow covered the lands. In the Spring of 1945 it was discovered that one of the farms turned out to be completely unsuitable for farming operations, so he decided to dredge it out, creating a pond, and turn it into a wildlife refuge.
Two views of a typical Quick-Way Truck Shovel and Dragline, which was used to create the fishing lakes at Le-Ki-Re Ranch, about 1945.
The Tree House at Le-Ki-Re Ranch, Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI, about 1945.
Leigh Rex Larson, Reed Allan Larson, and Victor Kirt Fiegel. Taken at Le-Ki-Re Ranch, Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI, about 1945.
Back row, left to right): Ruth Gertrude (Bickett) Larson, Victor George Edward "Vic" Fiegel, Gertrude Pearl Patricia "Gertie" (Baker) Bickett. Front row (left to right): Reed Allan Larson, Leigh Rex Larson, and Victor Kirt Fiegel. Taken at Le-Ki-Re Ranch, Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI, about 1945.
LeRoy McVey "Roy/Pal" Bickett with grandsons Leigh Rex Larson, Victor Kirt Fiegel, and Reed Allan Larson, at Le-Ki-Re Ranch, Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI, about 1945. The dog is the Larson family dog, Dinah, a Cocker Spaniel. Please note "The End of the Trail Tree" created by an earlier local American Indian tribe.
Picture 1: the rear of the bunkhouse. Picture 2: Leigh Rex Larson, Victor Kirt Fiegel, and Reed Allan Larson, on the roof of the front of bunkhouse at Le-Ki-Re Ranch, Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI, about 1945.
The Milwaukee Journal, Milwaukee, Milwaukee Co., WI, Sunday, August 17, 1952
Egrets Flock to Wisconsin Wild Life Haven, By MARY DECKER
Three grandsons for whom Le Roy Bickett, Watertown, Wis., named his square mile farm and wild life oasis are shown on the edge of the marsh with their grandfather. The boys (left to right) are Leigh and Reed Larson and Kirt Fiegel. The Bickett holdings, roosting grounds of hundreds of white egrets, are named from the first initials of the boys: Lee-Ki-Ree ranch. Ducks and geese also visit the marsh.
Watertown, Wis. - Sub-marginal farming lands, diked to hold the waters of 15 springs on the mile square holdings of LeRoy M. Bickett, have been converted into a wild life oasis which in a period of several years has come to be the evening camp of more than a thousand American egrets. They come when the night comes and stand silently tall like white unlighted candles in the treetops. Lying along the great marsh which stretches north to Beaver Dam and Fox lakes, Bickett's wild life oasis was a barren land for the most part when he took it over in 1945. A roile of dike was laid and tamped and the pools soon grew to reeds, sedges and all the rest of the blooming marsh plants. Then the birds came: Marsh wrens, black capped night herons, members of the rail family, ducks and geese and finally, three years ago, the egrets. Only 200 came that first year, but since then they have come in greater flocks until now, along with their lesser cousins, the snowy egret and the little blue heron, they fill the evenings with calls of contentment as they settle out of the sky to roost. More than 60 years ago the government came this way. A pipe was driven many feet into the ground to test the subsoil, and it spurted a white plume water until an unthinking teamster hitched his horses to the pipe and broke it off. Even before that day the Indians used the marsh. Still standing is a tree bent away over to the ground to mark the trail's end and to signal that at this point the trail was no longer passable. Bickett calls his farm the Lee-Ki-Re ranch, a combination of the first initials of his three grandsons. "It is for them," Bickett says stretching a hand out toward the land, "for their enjoyment and for their education." The youngsters call him Pal. He built a tree house big enough for the three to sleep in. They idolize the Watertown industrialist and roam the farm with him. The new pools harbor trout and Bickett says he will allow anglers to fish them. Trees have been left standing on the hummocks of land to break the skyline, and the handiwork of man is no longer discernable under the lush growth of greenery. That is the Lee-Ki-Re ranch, a new monument to practical land use under a new order of reclamation which provides room for the wild as well as the domestic animals and birds of the earth.
Leigh Rex Larson, Lee Victor Dornfeld, and LeRoy McVey "Roy" Bickett, Le-Ki-Re Ranch, Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI, Summer, 1954.
This picture was painted by Helen Gamroth of Watertown, WI, and was forwarded in February, 2022, by her son, Thomas Frederick "Tom" Gamroth, who now has it at his home. Helen was obviously inspired by the "The End of the Trail Tree" shown above.
Bruce Dean Larson at Le-Ki-Re Ranch, Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI, ca. 1953.
Bruce Dean Larson at Le-Ki-Re Ranch, Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI, ca. 1954.
The two-page subscription letter sent to prospective members to join the Le-Ki-Re Ranch, Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI, January 22, 1955. This particular letter was sent to Mr. A. J. Gamroth of Watertown, WI, and was forwarded in February, 2022, by his son, Thomas Frederick "Tom" Gamroth, who found it among his father's records.
Bunkhouse layout at Le-Ki-Re Ranch, Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI, ca. 1955. Drawn by Leigh Rex Larson.
This partial 1955 topography map for the Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI, shows the gravel road constructed by LeRoy McVey "Roy" Bickett that proceeds east from Ranch Road through swampy lands, then passing north through the woods, going past the sand and gravel pit, and exiting to the east at Walton Road.
Promotional letter for the Le-Ki-Re Ranch Fish and Hunt Club, Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI, April 26, 1956.
This partial June 38, 1956, aerial picture for the Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI, shows the gravel road constructed by LeRoy McVey "Roy" Bickett which proceeds east from Ranch Road through swampy land, and then curves north through a woods.
Promotional letter for the Le-Ki-Re Ranch Fish and Hunt Club, Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI, September 21, 1956.
LeRoy McVey "Roy" Bickett created his Last Will and Testament on January 8, 1957, and advised that after providing for the well-being of his wife, Gertrude Patricia Pearl "Gertie" (Baker) Bickett, the residue of both his Personal Estate and his Real Estate would go solely to his daughter, Helen Means (Bickett) Fiegel.
Prior to his death, and in contemplation of his death, several land parcels lands in the Town of Shields were transferred from LeRoy McVey "Roy" Bickett to Victor George Edward Fiegel and his wife, Helen Means (Bickett) Fiegel.
LeRoy McVey "Roy" Bickett died May 4, 1958, at St. Mary's Hospital, Watertown, Jefferson Co., WI, at age 75. Buried in the Bickett/Fiegel plot, Grave 9, Lot 6, Block 32, Oak Hill Cemetery, Watertown, Jefferson Co., WI. Primary cause of death: Bleeding Duodenal Ulcer due to Generalized Arteriosclerosis. Secondary cause of death: Diabetic Acidosis.
Following the death of LeRoy McVey "Roy" Bickett, the the lands containing the dredged ponds, and environs, were sold by Helen Means (Bickett) Fiegel to the State of Wisconsin (Conservation Commission).
The Factory Building and the Bickett Personal Residence were inherited by Helen Means (Bickett) Fiegel.
The Swamsauger property was sold by Helen Means (Bickett) Fiegel.
The Pine Lake property was sold by Helen Means (Bickett) Fiegel.
The remaining inherited lands in the Town of Shields were eventually sold by Helen Means (Bickett) Fiegel.
The pre-death transferred lands in the Town of Shields were eventually sold by Victor George Edward Fiegel and his wife, Helen Means (Bickett) Fiegel.
This partial July 4, 1964, aerial picture for the Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI, no longer shows the gravel road constructed by LeRoy McVey "Roy" Bickett that proceeds east from Ranch Road through swampy lands.
Reed Allan Larson's locator map, compiled in 2022, showing the historic roads on Le-Ki-Re Ranch, Town of Shields, Dodge Co., WI.