NORTHERN LAKES. 21 



For many miles along the line between Spooner and Ashland the 

 railroad follows the general course of the NEMA KAGON — a 

 stream justly famed for its finny inhabitants. At almost any sta- 

 tion until Long Lake is reached, the Nema-Kagon or a tributary is 

 close at hand, and that means trout, bass, etc., to the heart's content. 

 Indeed; one can scarcely go astray in this the fountain head of 

 many waters, for the speckled beauties are truly without number. 

 They glide through tho transparent waters, or dash over a miniture 

 rapid, that ripples and foams like the laughter of happy children — 

 all unmindful of the patient angler standing just below with an 

 alluring fly ready for his prey 



The Nema Kagon begins its existence in a lake of the same 

 name, situated some eight miles east of the railroad, and not far 

 from Long Lake No. 1. (There are several lakes in the state that go 

 by this name.) 



NEMA-KAGON LAKE contained formerly great numbers of 

 sturgeon, and this fact gave it the Indian name which signifies 

 where sturgeon are found or Sturgeon Lake. 



Twenty miles north of Hayw^ard, nestling among the hills of the 

 great " divide " from whence waters flow to the Atlantic Ocean and 

 to the Gulf of Mexico, is the beautiful serpentine 



Long Lake, 



Nowhere is there a body of water so charmingly and conveniently 

 located. It is not a lake in the usual acceptation of the term, it is 

 rather a collection of bays or lakelets united by a broad, deep 

 stream. Bold wooded shores encompass the whole, impressing the 

 beholder with a sense of awe and at the same time with a feeling 

 that the beautiful scene spread out before his delighted eyes, was 

 intended all for him and his companions. A sort of kingly feeling 

 —I am lord of all I survey. The scene is like an Arcadian dream, 

 so wild, so still, so grand, amid the forest giants— the grand old 

 pines, the majestic oaks, the hemlocks and the maples. Here breathe 

 we the life-giving aroma, so potent yet so unappreciated by those to 

 whom it has given renewed life, and by those who might, if they 

 only would, be benefited. 



Long Lake is about eigiit miles in length and averages two in 



