The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-08-05
IOWA
An IOWA MADE LAKE
What Grinnell Has Done to Encour-
age Manufacturing and for the
Peoples Pleasure.
Towns Handicap Removed by the
Public Spirit and Energy
of Its Citizens.
Special to The Journal,

Grinnell. Iowa, Aug. Sin this age of
achievement along every line Of human
activity, enterprises which would have
been considered marvellous a generation
ago, are taken merely as a matter Of
course And so the creation Of beau
t1ful lake just outside the limits OF Grin
nell has aroused merely passing COM
ment. Yet the story of its construction
carries a moral which may we'll be borne
in mind by other towns and communities.
Arbor lake is the material expression of
an idea which has been shaping itself in
the public mind Of Grinnell for several
months. Grinnell has always been with
out saltwater system, and for years
the lack has been seriously felt, since the
city water IS hard on boilers and a seri-
GUS h1ndrance to the manufacturing In
terests Of the town. Spasnodic attempts
We're made from time to time to induce
the city to install a saltwater plant, the
same as 1t had done with the hard water.
Finally the question was submitted to the
voters year ago, and for various reasons
defeated. Those most interested then be-
gan to consider the plan Of forming a
stock company and constructing the plant
as a private enterprise, and this was the
course eventually taken.
company was formed and public
spirited citizens subscribed $4,000 worth
! Of stock. The creek southwest of town
was damned at a favorable place for the
purpose of forming a pond, and the water
was carried thru mains to standpipe and
thus distributed wherever desired. AS a
result. the buggy works, the glove fac
| tory and the electric company are sup
piled with soft water. What is now i'm
portant, the city Is placed in position
| to bid, with some show Of success, fol
| the location here of new industries, or
which, the future growth Of Grinnell, as
| Of most Iowa towns, depends. Already
\ (S,,S-, 10
! cation. The Commercial Exchange: has
now substantial inducements to offer tt
manufacturing concerns of the right kind
and every plant brought here means In.
creased population and increased business
So much for the comm ercial side Of the
enterprise. Not until the lake was bull
did it occur to any one that 1t might bt
made a thing of beauty and pleasure a!
we'll as of utility. Here was body O.
Water-the only one within ten miles o
Grinnell-a mile in length, fifteen to fort,
rods wide and twenty feet In depth. thu
banks rolling but devoid Of trees. VIII.
not park it for a pleasure resort? TIL
a private property, the promoters gener
lously threw it open to the public, and OF
Arbor day, all who cared to SO were givel
an opportunity to. set out trees on tn
blanks. =
4 Several hundred were set out unde
competent direction, and they will in tim
| make Une DanKS OF the lake a. DeauLl1u
grove. BY public vote the name Arbo
lake was given to the place. The Grin
nell Gun club then came foryard wit
a proposition to change itself into an out
ing club, with membership open to al
who. cared to help pay enough to build
clubhouse. The proposal was accerte
and the grounds placed in charge of
joint board of directors from the waite
com pany and the gun club. u.
To-day there is a $1,000 clubhouse, con
taining a lunch counter, lower story fo
the free use of the public, and an uppe
story reserved for members Of the clll
and their families. There are twenty-fiv
boats on the lake and more are being pu
on every week. There are two bathhouse
run for club members and one for tn
public. The small boy has a place t
swim and his elder to while away tn
hot summer evenings. In the winter ther
' will be skating and tobogganing.
The moral of the story is plain. Natur
:, denied Grinnell the possession of a bod
= of water and handicapped the town
= that extent. Public spirit and enterprise
in defiance of nature, has removed tt
handicap. That same spirit which he
made Iowa college in spite of tornao
and fire, the strongest in the state; whic
t has given the town Of 1000 people a mag
:, niflcent public library, seven miles
a sewers and one of the finest systems
= waterworks in the west, has again man
tested itself in the creation Of .Arbor LAX