Lake Superior, Willmar & Dakota Railroad

      I've finally gotten around to taking some pictures.  I jumped on my bike and rode up to the Glacial Lakes State Trail head, near the Willmar Senior High School.  The trail follows the path of the former Lake Superior, Willmar & Dakota Railroad company.  I have in my posession a copy of the 1974 Centennial History of Kandiyohi County.  "The Lake Superior, Willmar & Dakota Railroad Company was incorporated April 7, 1883.....Measures were adopted instructing the engineer, W. R. Gillis, to begin a survey of the proposed road on the 1st of May and to push the work as quickly as possible.  The original proposition to bond the county for the purpose of aiding in the construcion of a cross railroad had fallen through, but the men who were at the head of the Superior, Willmar, and Dakota railroad corporation were men of push and ability and brought things to a focus.  In June 1883, the matter of bonding the county of $65,000 was again submitted to the voters, and as will be seen by the following table, was carried by a small majority.  The bonds were for 20 years, bearing 6%.  Bonds for $65,000 were issued, conditional that the railroad should be built within a certain time along the route designated.  The county received $65,000 worth of the stock of the company at the face value.  The railroad was constructed and finally sold to the St. P. M. & M. Railroad Company.  The leading motive of the people in voting bonds for the new road was to secure competition.  The desired element was destroyed by the old company's purchase of the new line.  In April, 1886, the Lake Superior, Willmar & Dakota Railway Company offered to surrender the bonds issued by the county, if the $65,000 worth of capital stock be returned to the company.  This proposition was accepted, and on May 11, 1886, the bonds arrived by express.  After being carefully counted by the commisioners and auditor, they were burned in the presence of several citizens.  The stock issued to the county was returned, and also the indemnity bond given by the company.

      I also found a US Geological Survey Bulletin from 1890/91.  It says: The profile from St. Cloud to Willmar agrees with the Minneapolis and Pacific Railway at Paynesville, and with the Breckenridge Division at Willmar; and the profile of the Willmar and Sioux Falls Railway agrees with intersecting railways at Granite Falls, Hanley Falls, Marshall, Pipestone, and Sioux Falls.  

     I had previously been under the impression that this railroad was built solely to provide service between Willmar and St. Cloud.  However, it now appears it was apart of a larger plan to transport grain and other materials from southwestern MN to the docks in Duluth.  The line was eventually abandoned, although I can't find a date for abandonment.  Parts of the line still remain going north of Willmar, and terminate a hundred yards before the trail head.  I didn't go very far north of Willmar, only 3 1/2 miles but I'll do my best to get pics of other areas of the line next spring/summer.

 

 

 

Looking south towards Willmar.  The trail is very level and paved the whole way

What was once known as Grue Station.  At least I think so.  I looked at several older atlases and they seem to agree Grue was where the railway and the county road intersected.  According to my Centennial History: "Grue was an important loading station, on the rail line, located about halfway between Willmar and Spicer.  It was built as a loading station at a point on the railroad a mile east of Eagle Lake.  No other buildings were ever erected there, and Grue Station acheived an importance far out of proportion to it's size.  No evidence of it's existence is available today.  

 

 

 

 

Looking west towards Eagle Lake, roughly 1/4 mile north of Grue Station

The Plan

I've been thinking for a few days about which railroads I should document first.  Growing up in rural Minnesota and being mildly fascinated by trains I quickly came to realize most towns in Minnesota came about because of the railroad.  Almost every village and town relied on the railroad to transport crops, lumber, iron, and other raw materials, and to bring the mail, lumber, dry goods, etc etc.  In the early days the railroad was the only mode if transportation to another town.

     I know of several abandoned lines.  One, near my current city of residence, Willmar, runs southwest from St. Cloud to Willmar, passing through Rockville, Cold Spring, Richmond, Roscoe, Hawick, New London, Spicer and ending at Willmar.  This will be the first line I document.

     I grew up around Hutchinson, which at one time had two railroads.  One, the Minnesota and Western, also known as the Luce Line, ran from Minneapolis all the way to Gluek, west of Clara City.  The line was abandoned in sections from the 1970s onwards and some of the former trackage is now part of the Luce Line State Trail.  Hutchinson also had a line connecting it to Glencoe to the southeast.  This line roughly follows the current route of Hwy 22, and parts of the old right of way can still be viewed from the road, though by and large the line has been swallowed up by both the property owners along the route as well as nature.

     The other one I want to document is the former line running through Edgerton MN, where my grandmother lives.  The only thing I have been able to find out so far is that the line went from Edgerton northeast to Chandler and then presumably onto Slayton.  Whether or not the line went further past Slayton or west of Edgerton for that matter remains to be determined, although it probably went onward at least till Pipestone, a "big" city.

     There will of course be others I will document but these are the ones I know for certain existed.     I'm really excited to uncover forgotten histories of these small towns. 

   

My First Post

Firstly, if the title didn't give it away, this is a blog about the abandoned railroads of Minnesota.  From the 1850s till the present day, railroads have operated in Minnesota.  Branch lines (those that run off of the main lines) often became unprofitable and were abandoned.  Others were bought up by investors and put back into operation.  Eventually some of these lines were then abandoned.

     In the mid 1960s conservationists began advocating for the conversion of abandoned rail right of ways to be converted into recreational trails, eventually becoming known as Rails to Trails.  50 years on and Minnesota has over 60 trails spanning over 2,200 miles!  Some, especially those around the Twin Cities metro, are paved and are extremely popular with cyclists, runners, rollerbladers, walkers, and anyone else who wants to enjoy them.  Others have a gravel surface and are commonly used by horseback riders as well as cyclists and runners.  Other trails are primarily for the use of ATVS, such as the Blue Ox Trail in northern MN.  In the winter time, almost all trails are enjoyed by snowmobilers, snowshoers and cross country skiers. 

     I will attempt to document and photograph as many of these tracks as I am able to.  Expect very few posts during the winter months, as it is a less than ideal time to photograph rail beds.  I will do my best to take high quality photographs of items of interest on the lines I visit.  I will also try and get as much detailed information as possible on each line, scouring old county records and museums for information.  This will be as much a learning experience for me as I hope it is for you.  All Aboard! (corny I know)
Privacy Policy for www.http://abandonedminnesotarails.blogspot.com/

If you require any more information or have any questions about our privacy policy, please feel free to contact us by email at h_hibma@yahoo.com.

At www.http://abandonedminnesotarails.blogspot.com/, the privacy of our visitors is of extreme importance to us. This privacy policy document outlines the types of personal information is received and collected by www.http://abandonedminnesotarails.blogspot.com/ and how it is used.

Log Files
Like many other Web sites, www.http://abandonedminnesotarails.blogspot.com/ makes use of log files. The information inside the log files includes internet protocol ( IP ) addresses, type of browser, Internet Service Provider ( ISP ), date/time stamp, referring/exit pages, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track user’s movement around the site, and gather demographic information. IP addresses, and other such information are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable.

Cookies and Web Beacons
www.http://abandonedminnesotarails.blogspot.com/ does use cookies to store information about visitors preferences, record user-specific information on which pages the user access or visit, customize Web page content based on visitors browser type or other information that the visitor sends via their browser.

DoubleClick DART Cookie
.:: Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on www.http://abandonedminnesotarails.blogspot.com/.
.:: Google's use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to users based on their visit to www.http://abandonedminnesotarails.blogspot.com/ and other sites on the Internet.
.:: Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy at the following URL - http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html

Some of our advertising partners may use cookies and web beacons on our site. Our advertising partners include ....
Google Adsense


These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology to the advertisements and links that appear on www.http://abandonedminnesotarails.blogspot.com/ send directly to your browsers. They automatically receive your IP address when this occurs. Other technologies ( such as cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons ) may also be used by the third-party ad networks to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and / or to personalize the advertising content that you see.

www.http://abandonedminnesotarails.blogspot.com/ has no access to or control over these cookies that are used by third-party advertisers.

You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information on their practices as well as for instructions about how to opt-out of certain practices. www.http://abandonedminnesotarails.blogspot.com/'s privacy policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other advertisers or web sites.

If you wish to disable cookies, you may do so through your individual browser options. More detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers can be found at the browsers' respective websites.