Newport Crowds a Boomtown Fourth at Spirit Lake
Hundreds of Newport people crossed to Spirit Lake for street sports, prize fights, and a log-rolling contest that sent Joe Cyr home with $25.
About 300 Newport people went to Spirit Lake on the Fourth to take in the celebration and see what had been accomplished in the past nine months in the way of building a town. Many of them saw the town by the lake for the first time and marveled at the wonderful improvements brought about. The street sports held the crowd all right in the morning, but in the afternoon the prize fights failed to do as well. In the log-rolling contest Newport was victorious; our representative, Joe Cyr, working like an old-timer and disposing of his opponent in a short time. There was no other entry, so Joe walked off with a $25 prize. The officials of the railroad company handled the large crowd with ease and kept an almost continuous string of trains in motion carrying people to and from the town.
“In the log-rolling contest Newport was victorious, our representative, Joe Cyr, working like an old-timer and disposing of his opponent in a short time.”
The 1908 Fourth at Spirit Lake captures the booster spirit of a region selling itself as a resort and rail destination; the railroad's extra trains were the infrastructure behind the celebration. Today's July 4 crowds and lake-town growth debates still turn on how many visitors a small town can absorb.
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