PUBLIC PARKS OF IOWA 179 



Dr. T. H. Macbride in a letter to the Board, makes the following com- 

 plaint and urges that this be not done: 



"I learn from reliable sources that the retaining dam across the outlet 

 of the system of lakes involving Spirit lake and the Okoboji's is objec- 

 tionable to some people and that these are attempting to have it re- 

 moved. 



"As I understand it, the dam has been built at the expense of the 

 state and is practically under state control. I sincerely hope that the 

 efforts of those making the attempt to break it up may not succeed. 

 It would change the level of the water in the Okoboji system five or six 

 feet and would be disastrous to the shores of the lake in a great many 

 places. It would make weed patches of the so-called Gar lakes. 



"I beg to call your attention to the situation, confident of your in- 

 terest and readiness to serve the large number of property owners along 

 the shores of Okoboji lake, as well as the people of the commonwealth 

 in general. I am writing you as a member of the Iowa Conservative 

 Commission." 



Dr. Pammel wrote this in reply: "I am in receipt of your letter of 

 January fourth and I am surprised to learn that an effort is being made 

 to remove the dam across the outlet of the system of lakes. I certainly 

 think this is the property of the state and should be retained. I certainly 

 hope it will not be pulled up. It would seem to me to be a short-sight 

 policy." 



THE LAKES OF IOWA. 

 By Thomas H. Macbride, President State University. 



It is a rule with landscape artists that a glimpse of water is essential 

 to a perfect vista. Doubtless the meaning of the rule lies deep. All 

 sorts of men enter into the enthusiasm of that famous body of soldiers 

 who on occasion, in school-boy memory shouted "the sea! the sea!" 

 Perhaps rivers and lakes and seas were the natural guides of men in 

 their earliest wanderings and migrations so that they learned to look 

 with comfort upon some peaceful expanse as of lake or river. 



Be this as it may, men of refinement, at least, the world over, have 

 delighted always in the changing beauty and restfulness of inland waters. 

 From Switzerland to Scotland the lakes year by year, summon expectant 

 hosts of happy travelers. In our own country, lakes quite as attractive 

 are not so common; those of New York and Wisconsin, however, are 

 already famous, and those of Iowa are just entering upon renown. 



The prairie lakes are all too few, in the great state of Iowa scarcely 

 a dozen, but some of these are very beautiful and will all one day be 

 prized. The finest are as fine as any. Indeed, men who have seen 

 the landscape of England's lake district aver constantly that our Spirit 

 lake-Okoboji group rivals the best in either England or Scotland and 

 except for attendant mountain scenery is as beautiful as any inland 

 water in the world. 



