The Oskaloosa herald., 1907-10-24
THE ouTsIpER,

According to the Herald and other
Oskaloosa papers, Indian summer
reigns supreme over beautiful Iowa.
In fancy the Outsider enjoys 1t with
you; the distant hills yelled in blue
haze, the woods aflamc with red and
yellow leaves, the soft southern
breezes that are like caress, and over
all the sun shining with a mellow. sub
duedslustre, known at no other time of
year
The leaves must be commencing to
fall and the careful Oskaloosa house
wife as she sweeps them OFF each
morning. looks at the maple above her
head with sigh and wonders when
her labors will be ended by the chill
drcn's bonfire The leaves were unus-
ually thick In Iowa this summer, The
Outsider would really like to know
how many bushels of leaves will fall
from that huge old maple in front OF
the old Trask house on Second avenue.
But Iowa has not monopoly on In
DIAN summer, though for long time
the Outsider feared North Dakota did
not enjoy that beautiful season. But
1t has come to US now, and we have
the same mellow sunlight, the same
blue haze. The foliage is nearly all
gone here, however, for the frosts have
been severe, and only few yellow
cottonwood leaves rustic in the
breezes. The air is dry, crisp, and in
MIGRATING and stimulates to action
even in these dreamy autumn days.
TO the Outsider, the chief difference
between Iowa and North Dakota is
not in climate, soil or productions, but
in breadth of vision. Down in Oska-
loosa you can see across the street
to your nearest neighbor-if he has
trimmed his trees-or if you are at the
outskirts of town you may see a mile
or so till hill or woods bounds your
horizon. In North Dakota we look
from our windows over a rolling prai-
rio stretching miles in every direction.
To the north, west and east are the
grain fields where threshing is still
in progress; to the south the low, un-
cultivated land whose boundary is the
lake shimmering in the October sun.
As we walked to church Sunday morn
ing the miniature mountain, Devils
Heart" twelve miles away was dis.
tinctly swathed in the Indian summer
haze.
Was it not a queer notion to name
so many objects hereabouts after his
Satanic majesty? Not only is the
town and the lake so named, but we
have this little mountain, commem-
Grating Satans heart, range of hills
near his Backbone, and queer little
collection of billocks,--his Knuckles.
The lake itself was named by the In
dams Minnewaukon, that is, Spirit
Water" and seems to have been re-
garded by them with great generation,
or perhaps had better say supersti-
ton The tale is this:
Many, many moons ago-(does not
that start right?) two great tribes, the
Sioux and the Chippewa, were engaged
in war At that time the Indians used
the lake freely, and it happened that
the war canoes of each party met OH
its bosom. They engaged in battle
and fought so fiercely that they did
not see the approach of storm which
swept down upon the combatants and
put an end to the fighting by drowning
them all in the waters of the lake.
From that time on the Indians regard
ed the water with great fear and SUI
perstition as the "Spirit'-or Evil
Spirit Water, and it is said they never
put boat on it. Il but tell the tale
as it was told to me-"
The good roads problem is not such
a vital one in North Dakota as in Iowa.
At least 1t is not so in this section.
There is peculiar alkali formation
here that dries readily after the heav-
lest rain, and does not seem to cut
into ruts and mud holes. There is not
a foot of paving in the town, but the
streets are well graded and as we
drove up from the depot the July night
of our arrival here, we strangers re-
marked what fine paving there was on
the streets Looking from the bus
windows it seemed like asphalt Judge
our establishment next morning on
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