I’m sure that many of you like myself grew up fishing from the bank at night, listening to the roar of the Coleman gasoline lantern. Aside from the bright light and the considerable noise, the thing I remember most about those days was the pile of dead and dying mosquitoes and their relatives that accumulated around and on top of the lantern as they were attracted by the light and quickly fried by its considerable heat.
If placed near the edge of a dock, a minor feeding frenzy would develop when the local sunfish found the bonanza of dead and dying insects falling on the surface of the water. Occasionally, I or one of my fellow high school-age buddies (I’m 80) would get our monofilament line too close to the lantern and instantly pay the price. I guess I’ve always associated the Coleman Lantern with fishing and good conversation with my friends while waiting for a bite.
While looking through the May 1917 issue of Outdoor Life I came across this ad which brought back many memories as well as educated me on some points. I didn’t know that Coleman Lanterns had been around that long, and they appear not to have changed all that much. I also see that the name of the company back then was the Coleman Lamp Company. I hope this ad causes you to reflect on pleasant memories as it did for me.
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I grew up with Coleman Lanterns, but the propane type rather these older model gas lanterns. I remember having to be oh-so-careful with those fragile cloth mantles (always have plenty of spares on hand!). And the heat and the bugs, yes indeed! I still have 3 or 4 of those old lanterns and bring one with us on every camping trip, though a battery and solar powered lantern assumes a place in our tent nowadays. But for outside use nothing beats a Coleman lantern. Several years ago I wrote a story about old Coleman camp stoves. A heck of a company and one that has earned its iconic status with campers, anglers, hunters and outdoorsmen.
David back in the 70’s my buddy brought a Coleman lantern on our wilderness Canadian canoe trips. The amount of light was impressive but the roar of that lantern always seemed really out of place 600 miles into the Canadian wilderness, I used to tell him when he finally turned it off that The animals can now come out of hiding–LOL. I understand that Coleman now makes no lanterns or stoves that use gasoline due to lawsuits. My Coleman Peak gas stove still works fine and uses remarkably little gas. A quick way to get back on the water when on a canoe trip. Instant oatmeal and coffee, just need to boil a little water.
Mid-sixties, my brother & I would spend many a Friday or Saturday night sitting in his canoe on East Twin Lake in NW CT, fishing for kokanee salmon by the light of a pair of Coleman lanterns mounted on the gunnel with a reflector directing 90% of the light at the surface of the water. A kernel of corn on a tiny hook, taken down to the 0-25 foot range by a single split shot, waiting for a koke to mouth the bait and hopefully swinging before it got rejected. They didn’t eat the corn, but sampled it. I always credit the reflexes I developed still fishing for salmon with the sense of feel and reaction speed that has helped me develop into a more than passable worm/grub/jig bass guy.
In those days, sitting there waiting on a bite at night, you’d see dozens of Coleman lanterns around the lake. And you and the boat would likely be covered with whatever bugs were hatching at the time — courtesy of Coleman.