Honoring the Spirit of Okoboji
For over a hundred years, the spirit of Okoboji has been gliding across the glistening blue waters of the Iowa Great Lakes. These special “Monarchs” are moving landmarks and hold a special place of honor upon our waters. Lake Life Okoboji is featuring a three-part series on these iconic boats and their captains, in honor of the Queen II’s upcoming 40th Anniversary. Watch for details from Arnolds Park Amusement Park on the June 21 celebration.
Queen I First Sets Sail on Big Spirit
The first Queen came via two rail cars on the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railroad in 1885, to serve as transportation for guests of the Orleans Hotel on Big Spirit Lake. This first “QUEEN” was manufactured at the Dubuque Boat and Boiler Company, while the hull was built out of one-inch charcoal iron at B CR & N RR Car Shop of Cedar Rapids.
“The steamer was used as a popular means of transportation around the lake to the different resorts. The resorts would advertise the Iowa Great Lakes region in Chicago and New York and visitors came via rail to enjoy the area,” Steve Kline shared, whose family owned the boat from 1961-1972. “Unfortunately, Big Spirit experienced a drop in water level in the late 1800s, and the popular Queen became irrelevant and the hotel also closed.”
The Venture to West Lake Okoboji
The new owners used the Spillway to transport the boat in early January 1901, from Big Spirit to East Lake Okoboji. Unfortunately, where it narrowed, the boat, little cars, and rail crashed thru the ice, where then the Queen stayed until the spring thaw. Once they got the boat seaworthy, men took the steamer around East Lake Okoboji and under the railroad’s draw bridge into West Lake Okoboji.
In 1954, Hershel Hill and Ben Sanders (then owner of KICD Radio), from the Iowa Great Lakes Navigation Company, bought the Queen. They used the assistance of the Queen’s original builder to add new steel bulkheads and modernized the boat from steam to diesel, adding a six-cylinder Caterpillar Diesel Marine Engine.
“There were only two hulls made like the Queen’s in 1883 and the quality showed, as none of the other similar boats from that time survived because they used wooden hulls. The Charcoal iron hull was built to last and that’s why we were still running the Queen 70 plus years later,” Steve explained.
Kline Family Becomes New Owners
The Kline family purchased the Queen I in 1961, when Steve was a freshman at Spirit Lake High School. Steve said at that time, they dry docked the 18-foot wide, 85-foot-long boat and updated and painted it. Once the queen was up and running they would park the boat every night at Given’s Point, which was near the Chateau and west of Okoboji Boats.
For many years, the boat didn’t have a second deck and had just one open top deck, until it was added in later years. The Skipper Roy Roff sailed the Queen for over 58 years and for multiple owners. He taught Steve’s father Robert (Bob) Kline how to pilot it over the ridges and low points around the lake. Bob gradually taught his sons to also pilot the boat. 
“My dad had also taught us how to fly his airplane, so he figured we could also learn how to pilot a boat,” Steve laughed. “He was one of a few who had an airplane at the time. His Air Taxi often flew individuals to and from Berkley.”
Learning about the lake came from extensive training from Captain Roy. The boat was also equipped with depth charts, but Steve said they always erred on the side of caution, “Whenever going to and from the Park, you had to stay in the middle of Ft. Dodge and Pillsbury Points. You cruised around the shoreline and knew your route. We never went past Pike’s Point at that time, as it was too shallow.”
Steve officially started working on the Queen as a lineman. Most days, they were down at the boat by 6 a.m., preparing for the day ahead. Bob’s boys were all taught to pilot the boat, getting their two required licenses: Engineer’s License from the State Iowa Conservation Commission and their Pilot’s License.
“Those required licenses showed we were capable to drive the boat,” he said. “My dad trusted me pretty well. Other pilots were my brother Bob and my best friend Bruce Lieb. We were sailing seven days a week and would take turns switching off and on. My older brother Dave drove the newest boat (turbo jet) out on the Lake, taking folks who wanted speed.”
The steering wheel had been painted red over the top of green, then pink, etc. Steve said there were at least six colors, and as they chugged around the lake, each pilot would take turns scraping the paint off little by little.
“We brought the beautiful wooden wheel back to it’s original oak color,” he exclaimed.
Sailing on the Water
Certain days, they had the Queen sailing by 7 a.m., when they would stop at both Methodist and Presbyterian Camps to transport campers up to Gull Point, where the children enjoyed breakfast and a service. The boat would pick them back up at 9:30 a.m. and return them to their individual camps.
Steve said on one particular day, they twittled around and decided they could ski behind the boat, “We had a blast and that boat could go fast when empty!”
Another benefit of owning the boat, many of their friends, who filled much of the crew, would jump off the top deck and dive into the 136-foot deep West Lake Okoboji. These moments made the long work days go fast. “Everyone went to teen dances then and instead, we were changing oil,” he said with a laugh. “My dad kept us out of trouble but we still found ways to have fun!”
Blanche Spots was the ticket lady for the Queen and had been at the Arnolds Park Amusement Park for quite some time. The boat used a two-way radio to stay in contact with Blanche, especially if a storm came up unexpectedly. “We always had communication with boat and shore,” Steve said.
The crew would wear long black pants, white shirts, red vest and a straw hat to convey the early 1900s. Blanche and his mother Evelyn would also always wear an old costume from the similar time period. “Our attire got so hot, until the crew rebelled,” he said with a laugh. “One day, we all showed up with our shirt, vest and wore shorts. My dad rolled his eyes and said, ‘These kids!’”
The Queen’s busiest days of summer were on Sundays, when everyone went to the Amusement Park. Tickets were only 50 cents for an adult and kids under four were free. Sundays were 12-hour days, with the boat ready to go out by 8 a.m., and it then cruised every hour until dark.
During the week, the Queen would stop at resorts up and down the lake, to pick up and drop off guests.
“We were the water taxi for a lot of families,” Steve remembered.
The Queen would go to Vacation Village and other resorts to pick up waiting kids, who would then spend the rest of the day at the Amusement Park before returning to the resort on the evening cruise. “It was a great gig for parents! Their kids had fun at the Park, while they got to enjoy other activities,” he said. “We helped transport a lot of people around the Lake.”
Young moms particularly enjoyed the Queen because it put their babies to sleep, as the quiet purr of the diesel engine lured littles into a beautiful slumber, which Steve said was one of his favorite memories.
After a long day on the water, the Queen returned to dock at Givens Point and put the boat to bed by swabbing decks and cleaning everything up. “Every two years, we pulled the Queen out of the water and went through everything,” Steve shared.
Several boat catastrophes hit in the mid-1960s. In the winter of 1965, ice froze and the back bearing of the shaft leaked, which later caused the boat to flood and required them to recondition the pretty lady. In 1968, a tornado came over the lake and took off the boat’s upper deck.
Steve said the original Queen was larger than the current Queen but it still used a single screw propeller, “You really have to appreciate how tall the Queen was, which that also meant it was susceptible to wind.
Just like today, there are days that docking the boat takes considerable skill. “You had to engage in reverse but not too fast because then the reverse propeller wouldn’t reengage. The boat would keep going forward even if you had it in reverse,” he remembered.
In 1972, the Kline Family sold the boat, as the boys were graduating from college and entering the working world. “The Queen was leased out and only ran twice a week and it started to go downhill. New owners came from Des Moines and dismantled it and took it down south in 1973. It broke my heart when they took this icon from its waters,” Steve recalled.
Most of all, Steve wonders how many Nutty Bars from the Nutty Bar Stand melted on the Queen, just like today.