The chief points are, after passing Minneapolis, Lake Minnetonka, Dassel, Smith Lake, Litchfield, and Wilmar. At the latter place there is a very pretty lake close to the village, with numerous others within a circuit of ten miles, and all are well stocked with fish; and in the spring and fall wild-fowl—ducks, geese, swans, and all our migrating birds, frequent them in great numbers. Moose are occasionally seen a few miles west of the town,—between it and the Chippewa River in considerable droves. There is a very nice hotel at this point, kept by an obliging host.
At Litchfield, good society and a somewhat larger village is encountered, but with less of sporting and outdoor amusements. Near this place resides the invalid son of Senator Howard of Michigan. He came to the State a confirmed consumptive, having hemorrhages and in that state of "general debility" incident to this disease, but is now in good health, the result of the climate and out-of-door exercise in which he has freely indulged, having taken a farm and rolled up his sleeves, determined to save himself—as he has.
It cannot be expected that a brief sojourn in this State will work any marvellous cure. Herein lies one of the principal difficulties. A patient comes to Minnesota, and, having heard much of its power to restore the enfeebled, expects to become strong and well within a few days. They should disabuse their minds of this error before they start from home. The process of restoration with the consumptive is slow, as a rule, though some recover, it is true, very rapidly, yet with the most a year is as little time as can reasonably be expected for climate and exercise to complete a cure. It is better, if the climate is found to agree, to make the State a permanent home. A return to the old climate and occupation in which the disease originated is only to court its reappearance.
Lake Minnetonka, the place first above mentioned, is, however, the point for both pleasure-seekers and invalids who are well enough to "rough it." An hour's ride from St. Paul brings you to this, the most lovely of all the lakes in the State, to our thinking. It is really a series of lakes, all bounded by irregular shores; while, in places, occur deep bays and inlets, giving picturesqueness and beauty beyond all ordinary fancyings.
Near the railway station are two hotels (the furthest being the best), where good fare, and at reasonable rates, can be had, with row-boats thrown in, ad libitum. This lake is one of the pleasure resorts for the people of both St. Paul and Minneapolis. Excursion tickets are sold for every train running thither, and many go up simply to enjoy a day's fishing and sailing.
There is a little steamer running from near the railway station, which is close to the edge of the lake, to the village of Excelsior, six miles distant, near which lives one of the best guides to the fishing grounds of the lake. But a guide is not at all essential to the amateur, or those in simple quest of fun, pleasure, or health, since the fish here are so plentiful that all will have luck, whether they have experience or not.
Near "Round Island," and off "Spirit Knob," in this lake, are favorite haunts of the fish, yet the "big ones" are not plentiful now at these points, though their resorts are well known to most of the old fishermen.
To tell of the size and abundance of the fish here will, perhaps, court disbelief; yet we state "what we know," when we say that a single fisherman starting, with the "guide" before referred to, at eight o'clock in the morning, came to the wharf at noon—after rowing a distance of six miles to make port—with a catch of about one hundred weight of fish, chiefly pickerel, one of which weighed twelve pounds, and measured near three feet in length. Another and less successful party of two, instead of catching a "big one," came near being caught by him. It was a funny incident altogether. They were from "down east," where pickerel don't weigh over a pound or so, on the average, unless fed on shot after being hauled in, all out of pure regard for the hungry and worried creatures, of course. Well, this party, all enthusiastic and eager, cast the line, when, lo! a monster pickerel gobbled the bait and away he went, carrying the floats under and the fisherman over and into the watery deep, with his heel and head just above water level only. The fish, including the "odd one," were subsequently pulled in by the man in the boat who is accustomed to "takes."
Boarding can be had, at the hotels and private houses in the vicinity of the lake, at from seven to ten dollars per week. For the summer season, country life should by all means be the rule. In the inclement portions of the year the towns are most desirable; St. Paul and Minneapolis taking the lead as places of resort, and they are, at these seasons, the most desirable.
In the vicinity of St. Paul there are a number of lakes. The nearest, Lake Como, is a pretty sheet of water, and affords one of the fashionable drives out of the city. It is intended, we believe, in the near future, by the authorities of St. Paul, to incorporate it, with several hundred acres, into a grand park and pleasure-grounds. It should be done.