The three-hour drive to Okoboji from Des Moines used to be a two-day trip
Faster transportation was an essential element of Okoboji becoming Okoboji
Computers and microchips have been the defining factors of advancement in our society over the past quarter century.
For something like a century and a quarter prior to that, however, an important ingredient of our advancement as a society was the rapidly increasing speed of transportation. There are thousands of examples throughout the world of places that have benefited greatly from the ever-increasing speed of transportation. Virtually every one of today’s popular vacation locations has experienced a tidal wave of increased tourism. One big factor in making this happen is the fact that people can get to these locations much more quickly than they did in earlier years.
One of the more dramatic examples of both tourism and residential growth is in Dickinson County, Iowa, where the Okoboji area owes much of its explosive development to the dawn and evolution of high-speed transportation.
The speed of travel to and from the Okoboji area has increased from 5 miles an hour in the 1870s, when recreational activities in the area first began to draw visitors from regions beyond, to 70+ miles and more (automobiles) and 300 miles an hour (private planes and regional airlines) in the decades following World War II.
The first facilities that attracted summer visitors to Okoboji were erected by Wesley B. Arnold, who, in 1864, acquired the property that later became Arnold’s Park. At the time, all overland travel to and from Okoboji was by horse – either a single rider on a horse or a horse pulling a wagon providing transport for two or more people.
A single rider on a horse could comfortably cover 45 miles a day; a bit more with a good rest, water, and feeding along the way. The horse-pulled wagons moved more slowly, sometimes covering no more than 20-30 miles a day, depending on the load.
The top speed by horseback, however, was a significant factor, politically, beginning with Iowa statehood in 1846. Many Iowa counties, including Dickinson, were laid out in rectangles somewhere in the range of 60 miles, north to south, and east to west. The county seat was usually in the middle of that rectangle. All of which meant that farmers from every corner of the county could leave for town (the county seat) at sunup and be back home by sundown.
Railroads would begin to shorten travel times in the 1840s, when the first localized lines were built in Iowa. The first track across the state was not completed until 1867, however, and even then, the top speed on this track was about 25 miles an hour. Travel time from the Mississippi River to the Missouri River would have been in the range of 14 hours with stops along the way.
The first rail lines heading toward Northwest Iowa began to appear in the 1870s. This would be the beginning of a transportation transformation for the Okoboji area.
Arnold’s property was situated along the south shore of West Lake Okoboji, and he was a visionary thinker. He began adding cottages and buildings to his property in 1873 as he anticipated what the future might bring. The following year, the railroads organized tour groups from Des Moines and St. Louis to Arnold’s property at Okoboji, even though the last 30 miles or more of the trip would have been via stagecoach or horse and wagon.
Arnold could begin to see the future, however. He planned a range of additions and improvements to his property to draw visitors from the South; people seeking recreational opportunities, plus cooler summer temperatures in the years before air conditioning. The rule of thumb was 10 degrees cooler for every 100 miles traveled northward.
Soon, the tents and small cottages he offered were not sufficient. He built a hotel on his property in 1882. Then came a dance hall. He added games – pool, billiards, tenpins, and an annual shooting tournament. Altogether, with his hotel, cottages, and tents, he could accommodate 300 guests.
In 1889, he constructed a 60-foot toboggan-style waterslide from the south shore of West Lake into the water. It drew long lines of tourists every summer. It would become the first tourist attraction in what later would be known as Arnold’s Park.
The Milwaukee Road completed a branch line to Spencer from its main line across the state in 1878, the first rail destination point in Dickinson County. But it took five hours or so to get from Spencer to the Lakes area by horse and wagon, plus hiring a rig to transport luggage.
The first individual lots for summer homes along the West Lake shoreline were offered for sale in 1885, thus setting off a wave of residential development in the Lakes area. Travel options, however, were still limited to railroads and horses.
In 1881, the Burlington, Cedar Rapids, and Northern (BCR&N) Railroad put forth a plan to extend its line to the Lakes area. Thus, on July 11, 1882, the BCR&N became the first rail line to deliver passengers to Dickinson County. The BCR&N soon was providing service to its depot in Spirit Lake from Cedar Rapids, 260 miles to the southeast, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 100 miles to the west.
The Milwaukee Road followed, extending its line from Spencer to the Lakes area. Its first train arrived in the spring of 1883. The historic Milwaukee Road passenger depot became a tourist attraction at the Dickinson County Museum in the 1970s, when it was moved to the north side of Highways 9 and 71 at Keokuk Avenue in Spirit Lake.
Travel to and from the Lakes area by horse and wagon continued, however, well into the railroad era. In 1896, a traveler to Okoboji from Carroll, Iowa, sent a note back to his hometown newspaper after he arrived. His party traveled almost 70 miles from Carroll to Marathon, Iowa, in Buena Vista County, on the first day by horse and wagon. They probably were riding behind the horses for 13 or 14 hours. They camped overnight and then drove the horses another 35 miles to Okoboji; probably 7 hours’ travel time.
In 1905, the Milwaukee offered an excursion (discounted fare) from Des Moines to Okoboji in an advertisement in The Des Moines Register. The train would leave Des Moines at 4:20 a.m. and arrive at Okoboji at 10:40 a.m. The 210-mile trip of 6 hours and 20 minutes, no doubt including stops along the way, worked out to an average speed of 33 miles an hour.
The railroads, however, soon realized that they needed more passengers than they were getting from locations within Iowa to cover their investment, keep their lines running, and turn a profit.
In an era before national advertising of any kind existed, they created promotional pamphlets and distributed them through their agents and depots to thousands of travelers and potential Okoboji tourists over a wide area. The pamphlets were effusive in their praise of the Okoboji area.
The Milwaukee, for example, produced a pamphlet boasting that “the incomparably beautiful Spirit Lake possesses such marked individuality that it has impressed its name not only upon the township in which it is situated and a little town in an adjoining township, but upon the entire district, although it has twenty sister lakes and lakelets within a radius of ten miles.” Lakelets?
Another railroad pamphlet described West Lake as “the most beautiful body of water in the United States” with “picturesque banks; clear, cold pure deep water; her rocky shores, broken at intervals by long stretches of broad sandy beach, her delightful climate and pure air combine to make her peer of any body of water of like size in America.”
Within the lakes area during these years, there were no paved roads, and local travel was mostly by horseback as early automobiles struggled to navigate through the mud much of the time. As late as 1917, the City of Spirit Lake did not have a single paved street.
Watercraft also played a role. The railroads all had their own steamships to transport travelers from their depots to area hotels and resorts, which they also built and owned. Smaller boats – sailboats, rowboats, and later motorized boats – also provided travel around each lake. People wanting to travel to a resort or someone’s residence waited at the end of a dock with a white banner or flag, or even a towel in hand, to wave at a passing boat, signaling for a ride.
Automobiles did not have a significant presence in Iowa until after World War I. There were 2 million people in Iowa in the early 1900s, but a mere 40 automobiles registered in the state in 1900, 5,200 by 1910. By 1920, however, the automobile had become ubiquitous in America. In Iowa, there were 400,000 cars that year, almost one for every five people.
But even in 1920, the roads through the state connecting one town to another were mostly dirt, and sometimes nonexistent. Moreover, the most popular automobile in 1920 was the Ford Model A, which had a top speed of 28 miles an hour.
A road from Omaha to Okoboji was constructed in 1911-12. It was almost certainly dirt in most places, possibly with gravel through some of the towns. The road was marked not with road signs, but with yellow rings painted around the roadside telephone poles.
Beginning in about 1916, a massive road-paving effort to “Get Iowa Out of the Mud” emerged. It was the pivotal issue in the gubernatorial election that year between a mud-roads candidate and a paved-roads candidate. The mud-roads man was elected. Ultimately, however, the concept of paved roads prevailed in Iowa in the 1920s, although it took years to build them.
By the 1930s, roads were mostly paved, and automobiles commonly traveled at 60 miles an hour. Flat tires and mechanical problems were common, however, and gas stops had to be planned in advance.
By the 1950s, automobiles were more reliable and much faster. But two-lane highways and cities with speed limits, stop lights, and stop signs slowed travel times significantly.
Railroads, meanwhile, continued to be a reasonable way for many people to travel to and from Okoboji in the 1950s. Des Moines residents, among others, often traveled to Okoboji by train. The trip included an overnight stay in Fort Dodge.
The Interstate highways provided the final big push in reducing the time it took to travel to and from Okoboji, but it was not until the mid-1970s that this became a reality.
Somewhere along the way, private aviation and, for a time, regional commercial air travel, entered the picture with top speeds in the range of 300 miles an hour. In the 1980s, you could fly commercial between Des Moines and Spencer for $150 round-trip. The trip took no more than an hour. Yes, I flew it many times; I left Des Moines at 5 p.m. Friday, and my wife picked me up in Spencer at 6 p.m. I was at our cottage with our family in time for dinner. My return flight at 7 a.m. Monday got me back to Des Moines in time for a full day at the office. For private planes, the Okoboji Airport provides an even more direct connection.
Basically, however, for the first century of Okoboji’s existence as a summer resort area, you really had to want to get there to make the trip.
Many people did that. But the reduced time required to get to and from the Lakes region definitely has been a factor in the growth of year-round residents, the demand for summer cottages and condos, and the increased number of people attracted to summer recreation and entertainment activities of the Okoboji area.
NOTE TO READERS: I write this newsletter, Arnold Garson: Second Thoughts, as a member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. You can subscribe for free. However, this newsletter requires substantial time. If you enjoy reading it, please consider showing your support by becoming a paid subscriber at the level that feels right for you. Click on the “Subscribe now” button here. The cost can be less than $2 per newsletter.
Iowa Writers Collaborative Roundup
Linking readers and professional writers who care about Iowa.
Arnold- Interesting column. And here all along I thought Arnold’s Park was named after you!
Wonderful history, Arnie! As a kid in Shenandoah in southwest Iowa, I can remember the all-day drives with a neighbor family to get to their cabin on the shore of Spirit Lake. I particularly remember the restaurant and ice cream stops along the way. Being at the lakes -- with go-karts, trampolines, Fun House, bumper cars and roller rink -- seemed exotic to me. It still does, too!