Lake Pepin: Birthplace of Waterskiing
"I decided that if you could ski on snow, you could ski on water."
In 1922, after first trying barrel staves, then snow skis,
eighteen year old Ralph W. Samuelson succeeded in waterskiing on eight foot
(2.5 meters) long pine boards, steamed in boiling water to curve the tips.
During the next fifteen years, Samuelson put on one-man waterskiing
exhibitions, donating most of the admission charges to Lake City for the
purchase of harbor and park land. Because of Samuelson's pioneering efforts
in this popular sport, the American Water Ski Association in 1966
officially recognized Lake Peppin as the birthplace of waterskiing. Lake
City celebrates with a festival called Waterski Days every year on the last
weekend in June. The lighthouse at the entrance to the Lake City Marina is
the only working lighthouse on the entire Mississippi River.