Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1917-05-30
THE CHISAeo Lake. COMMUNITY

W. ~UUU~UVOO 60I
A few observations regarding the |
Chisago Lake community which the
writer visited during the recent
church convention may be of interest
to our readers.
Chisago County, like our own, de-
rtves It's name from lakes within it's
borders. It covers, however, only
about One-half the area that does Kan
diyohi. The name has been coined
from the Chippewa designation IKE
chi-sago" meaning large and fair. The
county was originally covered with
heavy timber. Most of this has been
cleared away, but still nearly every
farm has good sized wood lot, and as
the farms are small (ranging from for
ty to one hundred and sixty acres),
the effect on the landscape is still that
of forest land. Chisago is one of the
most scenic counties in our state.
Besides its numerous lakes, the county
is bounded on the east by the St. Croix
river. A considerable west to east
sweep of the river gives Chisago
shoreline of about f0rty-two miles. The
beauty of the Dalles Of the St. Croix
is far famed, and both the states. Min.
nesota and Wisconsin have reserved
tracts for public park purposes, thus
creating an interstate park on both
sides of the river. An artistic bridge
connects the two parts. Taylor's Falls
is village on the Minnesota side and
st. Croix Falls is town on the Wis
consin side. Between the two is dam
and power station which utilizes $4,000
horse power from the falls, and sup
plies the electric current to surround
ing towns and to the Twin Cities. A
high wire fence and guards now keep
visitors away from the dam and sta
tiOn-a grim reminder that a state of
war exists.
The southern part of Chisago coun.
ty, covering about eight congressional
townships with number of small sta
tions, villages and butter towns, is COL
lectively known as "Chisago Lake. "
The community is one Of the mother
settlements Of people of Swedish de-
scent in Minnesota. The Swedish set.
Element began in 1851. In 1854 the
Swedish Lutheran church was organ.
lied. In 1859, Swedish Methodist
church was built. In 1865 the county
seat was moved from Taylors Falls to
Chisago City, and ten years later to
Center City. Whenever you find a
bunch Of Minnesota pioneers exchang.
ing "reminiscences, especially If they
are "Smalanningar," you may be Ger.
tain to hear them refer to "Chisago
Lake." The very early Kandiyohi
county settlers came by way of Chi
sage Lake. A. M. Eklund, one of the
leading citizens in the early Randi.
y0hi county, conducted a store at Cen.
ter City in 1856.
1t was our good fortune to have
Prof. A. A. Stomberg of the Univer-
s1ty as travelling companion on our
trip from st. Paul to Center City. His
wife is Chisago Lake lady, and nat
urally he was able to tell us of the
interesting points as we passed thru
the country on the Northern Pacific
train. There are lakes at intervals all
the way from st. Paul. We passed
Phalen, Bald Eagle and White Bear.
At Wyoming, we boarded the train on
the Tay1ors Falls branch. We soon
reached Green Lake, next the western
Chisago Lake on the shores of which
the village of Chisago City is located.
How the rays Of the warm spring sun
glittered on the ripping waters of
these lakes, arms of which seemed to
extend everywhere! Only a couple of
miles farther on, passing between
lakes, we reach LindstrOm, a busy
trading point. Another run of less than
two miles brings us to Center City,
still with divisions of the lake on both
sides of the railway. Practically all
the way from St. Paul, the lake shores
are studded with summer homes, club
houses and summer hotels. The Chi
sago lakes are about thirty-five miles
from st. Paul, and there are good auto
roads the entire distance, and a good
share of them are surfaced with crush
ed stone. This group of lakes has no
visible outlet, being imbedded in has
in separated by higher land from the
St. Cr0ix river and Sunrise river val
leys on either side.
There is good fishing in the lakes.
The people of this community are
about as generally of Swedish extrac.
ton as those of the Norway Lake com.
munity in our county are of Norweg-
ian. NORWAY Lake" in broad sense
refers to the entire northwestern part
of our county. We have no less than
four NORWAY Lake" Lutheran church.
es, located in Lake Andrew, Arctand.
er, Norway Lake and Hayes towns:
Imagine all these and the three other
Lutheran churches of West Lake, Sun.
burg and Lake Johanna in one large
congregation, with church that would
seat two thousand people, and you will
realize what the ChisagO Lake Swed-
ish Lutheran church means in that
community.
The Chisago Lake church at Center
City is the church home of the peo-
pie for miles around, and has over two
thousand members. The church edi-
flee stands on a beautiful eminence
overlooking the lakes. Altho built
thirty-ive years ago, it is magnid-
cent structure. There is room within
it's walls to place four structures like
the Bethel church of our city. A pipe