HUNTING AND FISHING GROUNDS AND PLEASURE RESORTS. 
the million, while it is the great halting 
field of the geese, swan, brant, duck and 
crane, in the Fall upon their flight to the 
South. Many of these lakes the hook of 
the angler has never disturbed, while 
myriads of the finest fresh water fish 
sport in their limpid waters. A colony 
of English farmers, some of them grad- 
uates of Oxford, hospitable and refined, 
have located around Fairmont, and ap- 
pear te enjoy all the luxuries of rural 
life. They have brought-with them the 
English taste for field sports, have a 
kennel of twenty-four hounds, some fine | 
imported Euglish hunters, and are al- 
ways ready for a fox or wolf hunt, fre- 
quently chasing the wolves twenty miles 
before they are captured. They are a 
jolly set, and are very kindly spoken of | 
by all the farmers in the vicinity. 
Nine miles west of Fairmont is the 
West Chain, which contains ten lakes, 
the largest, ‘‘ Okamuanapadee,” seven 
miles long and very deep; the southerly 
half of the lakes flowing into the Des 
Moines and northerly ones into St. 
Peter’s River. Outside of these chains 
are fourteen other lake equally as at- 
tractive. 
From Tenhasson, on this chain, forty 
miles westward, on the same grand and 
fertile prairie plateau, passing endless 
beautiful lakes, and now and then a 
homestead settler, is Spirit Lake, in 
Dickinson county, Iowa. This and the 
Kast and West “‘ Okaligi” lakes, all con- 
nected by outlets, are growing to be 
quite a resort for sportsmen and anglers 
from the East, Boston and New York 
furnishing their annual quota. They are 
large, clear, beautiful lakes, and filled 
with fish of every variety. A gentleman 
who tried his hand at fishing, although 
the wind was blowing a northwest gale 
at the time, caught thirty-two fine fish 
49 
from off the bridge between Okaligi and 
Spirit Lake, aggregating over one- 
hundred pounds in weight, embracing 
pickerel, wall-eyed pike, muskalonge, 
and green bass, the three last offering 
fine sport, as they came to the shore 
with great reluctance. It is no unusual 
thing in the season to see a ton of fish 
taken with the hook upon this bridge. 
The Scandinavian farmers, who compose 
a majority of the settlers, salt and dry 
them for Summer use. Indeed, if one did 
not tire of such food, fish and wild game, 
with little labor in taking them, could 
be made to supply the table all the year 
round. 
‘The sportsman and angler should by all 
means visit the Chain Lakes in the Fall, 
and to every one in search of invigorating, 
pure, bracing air and consequent health, 
no better resort can be found inthe Uni- 
ted States, the only drawback being suit- 
abie accommodations for families: For 
fishing and hunting parties everything is 
ready. Every farmer in the three coun- 
ties will welcome you as a brother, and 
no danger of the Chain lake fiasco being 
repeated among these hospitable fron- 
tiersmen, most of whom were eight years 
ago homesteaders. 
NEW GAME FIELDS. 
The extension line of the St. Paul & 
Pacific railroad having been completed 
to its terminus at the British boundary 
line, has made accessible a splendid 
game country to sportsmen. The com- 
pletion of this extension, in connection 
with the Pembina branch of the Cana- 
dian Pacific, makes a continuous line of 
four hundred and eighty-three miles, and 
binds together by ties of iron the capi- 
tals of Minnesota and Manitoba, This 
line of railroad has not only opened up for 
settlement in its whole length, the Red 
