In By the Shores of Silver Lake, Laura describes the girl who waited on the table at the hotel in Tracy, Minnesota, as “a big, good-natured girl with a broad face and yellow hair.”
The week before the Ingallses were in Tracy, an article in the newspaper told about the Exchange Hotel in Tracy, owned by Myron Finch. The dining room was presided over by Lew Pendergast and Miss Annie McArthur. The hotel was located on Front Street, not far from the depot. At the time, a second depot had either just opened or was about to open — this one only for passengers, not freight. The depots were located between the tracks of the Winona & St. Peter and the Chicago & Dakota Railways. M.E. Trumer was the station agent.
