Triboji Beach/Lazy Lagoon/Steamboat Landing

20809 Blue Water Dr, Spirit Lake Iowa 51360

Path Less Traveled Location 9

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Historical information provided by Jonathan Reed
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Triboji Beach/Lazy Lagoon

Lazy Lagoon was part of the Triboji development between the Percival family and the Sioux City Tribune, which helped promote investment in the property beginning in 1928. The lagoon was dug as a shelter for boats during rough weather. Businessman Alex Percival had established a campground, Northwoods Park, in the 1920s, which became Triboji. Under private ownership, Lazy Lagoon has been a resort, a marina, and boat livery.

 

Steamboat Landing

In Okoboji, you can still find clues to the past around us. Some things are easy to spot: Arnolds Park, The Sharp Monument, and Central Ballroom (Central Emporium) still stand. Sadly, most other “places” of note have been lost to development and modernization. This wide-angle photo is a case in point.

wide landscape of the whole landing area at triboji beach

The 1908 L.F. Williamz photo “Head Of West Okoboji Lake” shows some women fishing in a quiet stream with the lake behind them. The tree line looks like Okoboji but everything else is unfamiliar. Where the heck was this? So I looked closely.
landscape of the beach
Off to the left across the lake are some rolling hills. This being 1908, that means it is Dr. E.L. Brownell’s farm. The land wouldn’t be sold and the Methodist Camp wouldn’t be built there until 1915, so that’s why it looks so different.
Zooming in on the fishing ladies, something is in the background: A steamboat! This is the Des Moines, evidently pulled in to the steamship dock that served the north end of the lake.
women fishing on triboji beach
Summertime railroad passengers disembarking at the “West Okoboji” station a half- mile north would take a wagon to the steamship landing and then catch a steamer to a dock or landing nearer their cottage—roads on the north and west sides of Okoboji were notoriously poor or nonexistent through the 1920s.
Over the years, the marshy, swamp-like land at this location and north around Hwy. 9 was tamed, filled in, and many lots sold. Today, you can still see remnants of the ladies’ fishing stream around Hedge-Row Resort. The sandy north beach has been cut into private lots (but a beachfront road still exists…it would have been behind the ladies). The steamship dock was close to the edge of the west edge of the Okoboji Beaches condominiums.
Long gone today, but worth noting…
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Images

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old sketch of the area
(This map snows the proximity of the West Okoboji Steamship dock and Brownell’s Beach…the bluffs seen at the left of the photo.)
photographer's shadow
(L.F. Williamz’ own shadow is shown in the photo–notice that photos were taken at waist-level in those days with his special wide-angle camera.)

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