A British diplomat liked the fishing on the Rogue River so much he decided to build his own lodge along its banks. His Britannic Majesty’s consul to Mexico, Douglas A Collie-MacNeill, had searched the premier fishing streams of the world and cast flies over most of the noted angling waters of two continents before naming the Rogue River as the best.
In 1915, Collie-MacNeill, stopped in Grants Pass with his wife, daughter, and chauffeur during a trip from Guadalajara, Mexico, to British Columbia. With a Grants Pass guide, he landed 12 steelhead, some weighing more than eight pounds.
In 1916, he returned to fish the Rogue again. Obviously hooked – excuse the pun -- Collin-MacNeill bought 20 acres three miles north of Grants Pass in a beautiful grove of trees on the north side of the river overlooking quiet water above the Golden Drift Dam.
His plans called for a six-bedroom lodge with indoor bathrooms, electrical features, a large living room, and porches filled with friends during steelhead season.
MacNeill’s grand plans, however, were thwarted by the demands of World War One, and the lodge was never built.
Source: "Diplomat Will Build Fishing Lodge on Rogue." Rogue River Courier, 25 Feb. 1917 [Grants Pass Oregon], p. 1. Historic Oregon Newspapers, oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn96088180/1917-02-25/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=01%2F01%2F1846&city=&date2=12%2F31%2F2019&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&lccn=sn96088180&index=1&words=fish+fishin. Accessed 3 Aug. 2019.
