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Burlington
Railroad was built, the lake was gone. A 1914 plat map of Worthington refers to an area as "formerly East Okabena lake", "Now dry, having been drained". An 1899 Worthington Advance newspaper article details who was given the job of draining the lake (see photo), but no one knows who ordered the deed to be done. One photograph exists of men digging the trench which drained the waters of East Okabena away forever.
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345:) was built through the region in 1871, tracks were laid between the two lakes. A station house was built along the southeastern shore of West Lake Okabena and was named the Okabena Railroad Station. Steam engines of the day consumed enormous quantities of water, and water stops were required every 8 to 12 miles along any route. The Okabena Railway Station was one of these, drawing water directly out of West Okabena.
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to instead flow into Lake
Okabena. The project consisted of many men digging through a large hill where present County Hwy 35 crosses the present ditch. The odd name for this ditch was given because of the way it was financed. The funding for project was provided by a "whiskey tax" charged within the town of Worthington.
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A second ditch with the curious name of
Whiskey Ditch drains water into Lake Okabena. During the late 1800s there was a drought, and the level of Lake Okabena was very low. People saw spring runoff and precious summer rain running north to Heron Lake through Okabena Creek, and they wanted this runoff
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in 1889-1890, it was built across the dried lake bed of East
Okabena. It is thought that the lake had been drained to make way for this railroad. The lake was thoroughly described in an 1882 geology report on the state of Minnesota and is clearly visible on an 1884 county map, yet by the time the
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The Rock Island
Railroad ceased operating in the region in the 1980s and its rail lines were torn up. The power plant also ceased operating and was demolished in the 1990s. The region has since been reclaimed as a city park named Sailboard Beach. It is presently the site of a yearly sailboard
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The
Burlington/Rock Island Railroad greatly changed the complexion and character of the eastern shore of the remaining Lake Okabena. Once a gently sloping shoreline with beach, boathouses, and picnic pavilions, the region came to resemble an industrial area. A large coal powered electrical
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generation plant was built. This plant hummed night and day, vibrating the ground of the surrounding neighborhood as it generated electrical power and steam heat for the city of
Worthington.
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Though
Nicollet's map shows only one Lake Okabena, the earliest survey map of the area made in 1868 shows two lakes - East Okabena (no longer in existence) and West Okabena.
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In 1872, a large influx of settlers arrived in the region and a town was built. The town and the railroad station were christened
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Worthington album : A project of the
Worthington Daily Globe by Crippen, Raymond. Heritage House Publishers, 1998.
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language. Lake
Okabena is located entirely within the present-day city limits of
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Top: Surveyor's map - 1868 Bottom: Location of railroad tracks - 1884
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531:"Worthington's great lake: Lake Okabena is community's playground"
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The Effie, a steamboat that operated on Lake Okabena in the 1890s
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Idlewild Pavilion - Located on eastern shore of West Lake Okabena
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in 1841, based upon his explorations of the 1830s. The name
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309:. It was first noted on a map made by French explorer
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Article from The Worthington Advance, December 8, 1899
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When the St Paul & Sioux City Railroad (now the
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229:224,464,680 cu ft (6,356,132 m)
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16:Lake in the state of Minnesota, United States
690:Map of Minnesota highlighting Nobles County
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422:Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
359:Draining of East Okabena, in 1899 or 1900
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496:Whiskey Ditch - Worthington City website
451:Worthngton, Minnesota, official web site
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405:racing competition and music festival.
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469:1872-1882 The Geology of Minnesota
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111:Topographic Map of Lake Okabena
529:Rickers, Beth (1 April 2010).
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95:Show map of the United States
433:Worthington, MN city website
245:478.5 m (1,570 ft)
33:Sailboarding on Lake Okabena
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587:Nobles County, Minnesota
211:6.9 ft (2.1 m)
121:Nobles County, Minnesota
535:Worthington Daily Globe
514:Worthington Windsurfers
237:5.5 miles (8.9 km)
203:776 acres (314 ha)
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337:Effect of the railways
323:Worthington, Minnesota
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150:43.61667°N 95.61667°W
65:Show map of Minnesota
881:United States portal
377:Rock Island Railroad
193:1 mile (1.6 km)
541:on 15 February 2013
383:, Worthington, and
373:Burlington Railroad
155:43.61667; -95.61667
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908:Lakes of Minnesota
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727:Graham Lakes
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543:. Retrieved
539:the original
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400:Modern times
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299:Lake Okabena
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234:Shore length
225:Water volume
199:Surface area
172:Glacial lake
89:Lake Okabena
59:Lake Okabena
22:Lake Okabena
832:communities
802:Worthington
787:Summit Lake
762:Little Rock
742:Indian Lake
677:Worthington
609:Worthington
602:County seat
375:(later the
350:Worthington
254:Settlements
182:Max. length
153: /
128:Coordinates
897:Categories
860:St. Kilian
662:Round Lake
409:References
381:Round Lake
216:Max. depth
190:Max. width
141:95°37′00″W
138:43°37′00″N
845:Pfingsten
699:Townships
647:Ellsworth
371:When the
307:Minnesota
167:Lake type
792:Westside
667:Rushmore
637:Brewster
545:12 April
499:Archived
472:Archived
454:Archived
436:Archived
117:Location
855:Reading
797:Wilmont
757:Lismore
707:Bigelow
672:Wilmont
657:Lismore
652:Kinbrae
632:Bigelow
385:Wilmont
329:History
315:okabena
850:Ransom
782:Seward
777:Ransom
767:Lorain
747:Larkin
737:Hersey
717:Dewald
642:Dundee
627:Adrian
619:Cities
820:Leota
772:Olney
752:Leota
712:Bloom
319:Sioux
547:2011
840:Org
812:CDP
722:Elk
899::
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590:,
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577:e
570:t
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268:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
