Spearfish Lake
From Spearfish Lake Tales Wiki
Contents |
Spearfish Lake
Spearfish Lake is a town of about 8,000 residents and the centre of a summer recreational area that has double the population in summer. The city itself "lies at the root of the north side of a point jutting out into the lake itself". The Point has a high sand ridge to the north, but the south side is low-lying and marshy, prone to flooding. Point Drive runs along the north side of the Point, closer to town it is a good road, lined with the best property in Spearfish Lake. However Eventually the road peters out. The lake after which the town is named was once a collection of smaller lakes that were submerged after a dam was built. The name is assumed to be derived from the practice of fishing the rapids where the river runs out of the lake (no longer there due to the Dam). The south side of the lake is low-lying marshy, and has lots of mosquitos. The surrounding townships have a winter population of about 4,000. The original woodland was clearcut in the late 1800's to supply the sawmill, and there are few large trees left. The forest now has scrubbier trees, still useful for paper and other wood products. Lumber & wood products are still the mainstay of the economy, the largest single industry being Clark Plywood (although this stopped actual plywood manufacture in 1984) and has been since the 1930's.
From Spearfish Lake FAQ, it is set in "midwestern northern forest country, which stretches from northern Lower Michigan up through northern Minnesota" [1].
On Wes' site is a map of Spearfish Lake. Due to conflicting descriptions in different Spearfish Lake Tales, the map is not always accurate.
There is a placemark for this location in the downloadable Rocinante set at Google Earth and the Spearfish Lake Tales.
Locations in and around the Town of Spearfish Lake
- C&SL Railroad Station
- Clark Plywood, the biggest employer
- Office of Spearfish Lake Record-Herald
- Rick's Cafe
- Spearfish Lake Cafe
- Pike Bar
- Spearfish Lake Inn
- Lakeshore Drive
- Spearfish Lake Outfitters
- Frostee Freeze
- Schools, including Spearfish Lake High School. "The schools are located on the south side of town on a large, grassy, mostly modern campus. Like most schools, they are not architectural masterpieces; just collections of block and mortar that had been added onto haphazardly. The oldest parts of both the elementary and high schools date from the baby boom of the fifties and sixties, although additions and remodelings have nearly doubled the original size."AC03
- A Sewer System that was possibly home for the Gibson's Water Snake, supervised by Jack Knoblauch in 1987
Locations around Spearfish Lake itself
- Point Drive
- Hannegan's Cove
- Busted Axle Road or County Road 427 or Dog Town Road (dead end since a bridge went out)
- Spearfish Lake Airport
- Turtle Hill
- Turtle Hill Road or County Road 919 (goes on to Warsaw).
- Shaundessy's Bait and Tackle, East Turtle Lake.
- West Turtle Lake Club
Adjacent Towns
- Hoselton
- Warsaw
- Camden
- Meeker
- Kremmling
- Albany River
- Moffatt
- Lordston
- Amboy Township, east of Spearfish Lake and home of the Toivo Sauna
Books
Spearfish Lake only appears by a reference in Alone Together and The Next Generation. It does not appear in the short The Lone Ranger. It is the main setting for the first part of Rocinante (the first 5 chapters). It is a main or the major setting for many of the other books so far.
In some books, Spearfish Lake is only mentioned and not visited: The Next Generation TNG6 and Canyon Fires .
