The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1891-09-23
Hawkeye watering-PIaces.


There are number Of modest sum-
mer resorts in Iowa despite its unpre-
tentiOus character rs a prairie State,
says correspondent writing from
Spirit Lake. They are watering
places" i'm the sense that most OF
them are in the vicinity of body of
water of more or less pretension.
Two of these places-Clear Lake and
Okoboji-have meritOrious claim to
attention. Neither one is conspic-
uous in the presS-nOr on the map,
for that matter The first is the
Mecca of the Methodists, who Ge-
light in carrying out upon its shores
and holding vigorous midsummer
seance with Satan; the last has been
overshadowcd by its less worthy
neighbor, Spirit Lake, which has
been the patient subject Of a persist
ent "bOom."
Up in Dickinson County, Iowa,
there is chain OF effective lakes.
The bodies Of water which mark
either extremity Of this chain are OF
respectable size, and have many
claims to attractiveness. They are
linked together by series Of ponds,
weedy and muddy, which the fevered
imagination Of the aforesaid boomer
has dubbed "lakes."
On Spirit Lake the Burlington,
Cedar Rapids and Northern Railroad
has built a big hotel. In the sum-
mer time it is largely tenanted by
the officers Of the railroad, who, with
their wives and friends, make gay
colony
Spirit Lake itself is like big bowl.
It's water is beautiful blue. The
fat shores have a pastoral beauty,
soothing to the nerves, perhaps, but
with a tendency toward mOnotony.
Even the fish caught in the lake
seem inflicted by sullen solidity and
stolidity. When served at the table
d'hote they have sOggy insipidity
which leads one to turn in despair to
the unimpresSiOnable steak.
About the shore of the lake are
clustered many effective cottages,
those of President Ives, Charles A.
Clark, the well-knOwn lawyer, +. &.
Harnel, and others being conspicuous.
Few Of these cottages are preten-
tious, but they are all in good taste,
and are generally clever examples Of
summer architecture.
Several wheczy and more or less
rickety steamboats, which sadly suffer
for want Of paint ply between the
Orleans and West Okobojl at the far
end of the lake chain. Navigation
here is not perilous, but requires skill.
There are number Of drawbridges Of
one kind and another to be passed,
there are stony points to dodge and
mud bank to scrape over. Occasion
ally the pilot yells from the wheel
house, Ladies' and gents, please
move fOrrard." Then everybody goes
up on the bow and the boat hobs
along over the mud until it is time
for everybody to go aStern, when the
procession is reversed and the stanch
ship slides over the hidden reef. This
kind of thing is eXhilarating. One
can imagine ones self shipwrecked
half dozen times, cast away on a
desert island like Warner Miller's
party to Nicaragua, discovering prints
of patent-leather pumps in the sand
like Robinson Crusoe, or swashed
around among the weeds on the bot
tom like any other old salt who goes
down to Davy Jones' locker.
But when one finally lands on the
shore Of West Okoboji it is perpet-
ual delight. The lake is the largest
in the series. It's shores are bold and
irregular, denied with charming bays,
punctuated by rugged promontories
and headlines, which stand out in
miniature aggressiveness. The water
is as tender as the sky in shade, the
breezes blow upon it with a kindly
playfulness. In places the lake is $50
feet deep and you can fish for pickerel
with a hundred and fifty feet Of line.
Arnold's Park is the hotel which
affords shelter to the wayfarer here.