The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-05-13
LAKE MZV7VEIONXI IS
A MECCA FOR BUYERS


eral way also, because of transports
ton competition. The three steam
railroads serving various parts of the
lake will be compelled to give better
service, otherwise cottagers will take
the trolley line to Excelsior and then
boat passage to the lake points they
wish to reach. Frequency Of train serv-
wish to keep in the favor of the lake
jewellers. Already the Great Northern
road is planning to put in the best serv-
ice it has ever furnished to the lake,
including extra afternoon trains and an
earlier morning train from the city.
The st. Louis road has been moved to
do even better, as it is in more direct
the Milwaukee road officials are forced
to operate their Roswell Park line
themselves this summer they will do
at least as we'll as they have done for
merly, and their service has been uni
formly good hitherto.
1t has been figured out that, besides
furnishing a daily lot of transient
patrons for the popular summer resorts
at Excelsior, Tonka Bay, Spring Park
and elsewhere, the, improved transport
tation service offered by the railroads,
vided by the trolley line, will draw
permanent residents to the lake as we'll
as cottagers who will remain only thru
the summer. Either of the last two re-
suits will create a good demand for
| property for sale as we'll as a call for
cottages to rent.
Transition Of Minnetonka..
Minnetonka has been sleeping for
years. Two decades ago it was a great
resort for southerners, who spent the
summers at the big hotels, such as the
Lafayette, St. Louis, Chapman s, the
The business was ephemeral, however.
The tourists came, crowded the boats
and pleasure resorts, spent a few short
weeks at the hotels and then fitted
away. The season was short. In time
the big hotel and the big steamboat
stage was past. Cottages began to
spring up along the shore and the
launch and the small steamer replaced
the immense craft of the type of the
City Of st. Louis and the Belle of Min
netonka. Small hotels sprang up at
Keewaydin, Maple Heights Inn, del
Otero and Buena Vista. The cottages
were generally. Of light construction
making them fit for only summer occu-
pancy. Pretty soon the heavier-built
houses, with furnaces and other pro,
t%ections against winter, came into use
and cottagers began to stay out the
year round. Another phase was the
buying up of large estates and the es'
tablishment of great summe homes
particularly in the lower lake and on
the south shore of the upper lake
Meanwhile the constant buying was sc
quiet and apparently so insignificant
that values continued low. Very soor
the demand for summer cottages ex
ceeded the supply and property-owners
such as S. G.. Gale on Carson's Bay, be.
gan to build more. All Of these move.
ments and changes led up to the rea.
boom which burst into form when the
street railway company stuck it's first
shovel into the right Of way of it's new
line. $780,
Cottage Room Scarce.
A situation is going to develop soo1
which will have a still further bullisf
effect on the market. 1t will be dis
covered, when the sudden demand
: comes from the city folk who want t.
emigrate to the lake, that the suppl,
l of small lots is not tremendously large
This condition has arisen from tn,
t fact that men of financial means hav
been. buying up large tracts of Ian,
: along the shore for their own use, par
ticularly in the upper lake. For man.
t years the upper lake had been regarde'
e as a good place to 90 to only for a pic
mic or a steamer trip. It was sort o
lwild in it's scenery and the i~nfrequenc