History
By Tom Mason: Some of us in the last few days have explored the tying of the Hendrickson and we have enjoyed this very much. But what fly was used by the old timers before the Hendrickson came along.
Art Flick states in his classic Streamside Guide that the Whirling Dun was originally tied to imitate E. Subvaria. This is that Fly as per the dressing of Rube Cross.
My Take
It was interesting to me because the “Hendrickson” is so famous I never questioned what was tied before its invention. Tom Mason let me know he “was there” (lol) when the Hendrickson was invented. He also told me he tied it with using dinosaur bone tools lol.