SURFACE FEATURES. 73 



amount of water annually, and consequently have com- 

 paratively little to furnish as water-power fur continuous use. 

 Okoboji lake extends about live miles southward from the 

 point nearest Spirit lake, thence about the same distance 

 westward, and then bends northward again, extending about 

 as far north as the eastern portion does, making a continuous 

 length in all its bendings of about fifteen miles. The eastern 

 portion is comparatively narrow, so that in one of its narrowest 

 places it is spanned by a long bridge, and also at the point 

 where it joins the western portion, by a still shorter bridge; 

 but the western portion is larger and deeper, for which 

 reason it was called " Minnetonka "* by the Indians, to 

 distinguish it from the other. The depth of these lakes was 

 not ascertained, but Minnetonka is reported to be near a 

 hundred feet deep at one point. 



The accompanying sketch gives a good idea of the appear- 

 ance of Minnetonka and its surroundings. The view is taken 

 from its southern end, looking north. The beaches are almost 

 everywhere good, but those upon the right hand shore afford 

 excellent bathing places. The surroundings of these lakes 

 are everywhere pleasant, and they have already begun to be 

 a favorite resort for those in pursuit of health or pleasure. 

 Fish are abundant in them, and in the autumn especially, they 

 are the resort of myriads of water-fowl. 



Clear lake is a pleasant sheet of water, situated upon the 

 watershed between the Iowa and Cedar rivers, in Cerro-Gordo 

 county. It is about live miles long and two or three miles 

 broad, and has a maximum depth of only about fifteen feet. 

 Its shores are mostly gravelly and its banks for the most part 

 wooded. The country around it is undulatory like that around 

 Spirit lake. 



Storm lake is situated upon the Great Watershed in Buena 

 Yista county, and on the line of the Iowa Falls and Sioux 

 City Railroad. It is, like the others, a clear beautiful sheet of 

 water, containing a surface area of between four and five square 



* Great water in the Sioux dialect. 



10 



