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 Boundary Waters Quetico Forum Trip Planning Forum old railroads Reply
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| Previous Messages: | |
| Author | Message Text |
| cyclones30 |
09/14/2017 09:49PM Sandpit to Jackfish Bay is on a shirt portion of the old range lake line mentioned earlier. You can follow the old grade via aerial images quite a ways in either direction. |
| Harv |
08/09/2017 08:08PMquote PaddlinMadeline: "Range lake is a good place to start. The portage from Range to Sandpit was a railroad. Really great portage. Creek on one side and a bluff on the other. You can hike up the bluff from about the middle of the portage. Have fun!" Yes! Although water is a little high (beavers) it's still a great flat portage from an old railroad. |
| Harv |
08/09/2017 08:08PMquote PaddlinMadeline: "Range lake is a good place to start. The portage from Range to Sandpit was a railroad. Really great portage. Creek on one side and a bluff on the other. You can hike up the bluff from about the middle of the portage. Have fun!" Yes! Although water is a little high (beavers) it's still a great flat portage from an old railroad. |
| The Great Outdoors |
08/09/2017 08:07PM As you paddle across Murphy Lake (Tin Can Mike for newbies) and head to the Horse Lake portage, the entire left side is an old railroad grade now covered by trees. |
| dew042 |
08/09/2017 08:04PMquote TuscaroraBorealis: "Check out my trip report 'The fall falls @ overlooks tour'. There's some info about the line that ran up to Rose lake." Excerpted for everyone: The reason the trail from Daniels to Rose was now in such exemplary shape can be attributed to the fact that the path runs over the old (long since abandoned) logging railroad bed. The significance of this old rail line with respects to shaping many important features in this section of the BWCA cannot be overstated. From its’ terminus at Rose lake the line ran SE then traced the eastern shore of Daniels lake, (this is now the Daniels Lake Hiking Trail) before heading towards Clearwater Lake. There were several spurs in the Clearwater/Caribou Lake area which are now also portions of portage trails. Then the line meandered towards Poplar Lake before turning SE. From there it headed towards the Twin lakes. This is now the Lima road that serves the Morgan, Ram & Bower Trout EP’s. Then it cut over towards Two Island Lake and ran west. This is now the gravel road called The Grade. Brule, Homer, Baker & Sawbill are all served from this road. This doesn’t even take into account the non – BWCA areas it opened up. |
| ellahallely |
08/09/2017 07:58PM The pictures on Basswood are not a train. It is a steam engine that powered a hoist to lift the logs out of the water onto the train. Also the old truck on Fourtown lake was used by people that had a cabin there. They drove it there on the old rails from trains in years past. The cloquet line as it is still called. |
| dew042 |
08/09/2017 07:43PM As several others have mentioned - the Daniels Lake Spur trail that terminates at Clearwater Lodge is all rail bed all the way up the eastern shore of Rose. This was very useful one night when I was on the BRT, and the eastern most campsite on Rose was taken as dusk approached. I basically was able to jog to the next campsite on Daniels because it was such and big, wide, and gentle path. Very peaceful too since it follows along a stream. The first part from Clearwater to Daniels has been soaking wet every time I have been through it. I've heard there is a locomotive sunk in Daniels, view-able on a clear calm day. Wikipedia says this about Rose Lake: Rose Lake became the terminus of the Alger Smith railroad after the General Logging Company purchased its northern portion and extended it from Two Island Lake in the 1920s. Logging reached the eastern shore of Rose Lake around 1929, but ended shortly thereafter when the General Logging Company suffered setbacks due to the Brule Lake Fire of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression. If you head east to Rove lake instead - it once served as the end of the Gunflint Trail, then known as the Mayhew Wagon Trail, and had the long gone Mayhew's trading post believed to be on the west end. Found an interesting publication that might be useful, especially the map and the names of some of the railroads, for research purposes: http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/34/v34i05p177-184.pdf Daniel |
| Jakedahl94 |
08/09/2017 07:23PM I have a couple more photos here  
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| HansSolo |
12/04/2013 08:39PMquote Grandma L: "Isn't 440 rods of the 660 long portage out of Rose old Railroad bead?" The 524 rod portage from Rose Lake to Daniels Lake follows 460 rods of that trail as well, before splitting off for the last 64 rods to Daniels. Although it's long, it's fairy smooth and easy. It's been a few years since I've done that portage, but I remember seeing the remnants of the timber railroad ties along parts of the trail. Hans Solo |
| brerud |
12/04/2013 10:14AM Not sure about tracks but here are some pics of the train remnants left in Hoist Bay on Basswood Lake.  
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| TuscaroraBorealis |
12/03/2013 09:29PM Check out my trip report 'The fall falls @ overlooks tour'. There's some info about the line that ran up to Rose lake. |
| Savage Voyageur |
12/02/2013 09:12PMquote tonyyarusso: "There's decent detail of Cook County in this thread." Thats where I saw the railroads, on my own map, LOL. Is it possible to have so many maps that you can't remember the ones you own? |
| Grandma L |
12/02/2013 05:34PMquote mooseplums: "quote Grandma L: "Isn't 440 rods of the 660 long portage out of Rose old Railroad bead?" Thanks for your comment. I am trying to convince the 16 and 17 year old grandkids to do a route with that portage as part of next summers "big" trip. I personally haven't done the 660 in about 25+ years. I am not sure I can even just walk 660 rods. |
| mooseplums |
12/02/2013 02:20PMquote Grandma L: "Isn't 440 rods of the 660 long portage out of Rose old Railroad bead?" I believe so. Nice portage, though long. It took us a little over three hours to leap frog that portage last fall (2012). The last 200 rods of the 600 is no fun |
| tumblehome |
12/02/2013 12:04PM I recall walking on an old railroad bridge made of logs that filled in a small valley on the North side of Gunflint lake just east of Magnetic. When I was in 6th grade (1980), Justine Kerfoot took us on a day trip to the north side of the lake and showed us the old railroad bed. I remember trees growing out of the old logs. Tom |
| tonyyarusso |
12/01/2013 09:41PM There's decent detail of Cook County in this thread. |
| tonyyarusso |
12/01/2013 09:32PM I definitely remember seeing a comprehensive map of all railroads in the Arrowhead region. I'm not sure if it was on this site (probably) or somewhere else. |
| Grandma L |
12/01/2013 09:31PM Isn't 440 rods of the 660 long portage out of Rose old Railroad bead? |
| h20 |
12/01/2013 08:40PM I think the sawbill to alton portage is on an old railroad grade. |
| Savage Voyageur |
12/01/2013 08:17PM The only one that comes to mind is between Sawbill and Alton Lake. It is a short flat rail bed that my Uncle said was there about in the 1960's. I have seen many old maps that showed the old rails, but are overgrown by now. |
| Kevlar |
12/01/2013 07:48PM Some of the old 100 series Fisher maps had old rail lines on them, usually a string of ==== with a single slash across each, at an angle. I think I have heard that the Minnesota Historical Society has some booklet on this topic, and several years ago there was another thread like this, and someone mentioned a map. I have seen a number of old pilings for railways to cross bays...south end of Horse, Lake Four (arm running north), Clearwater south of Lake Two. These were all narrow-gauge tracks, I think. |
| billconner |
12/01/2013 06:50PM There is a roadbed with some pilings near the Beaverhouse access, basically the portage to Cirrus. |
| tom m |
12/01/2013 05:53PM there was an old RR that ran north of Bower Trout Lake (EP43) to Swan Lake, It's maked on the map in this sites maps area, tom |
| PaddlinMadeline |
12/01/2013 05:39PM Range lake is a good place to start. The portage from Range to Sandpit was a railroad. Really great portage. Creek on one side and a bluff on the other. You can hike up the bluff from about the middle of the portage. Have fun! |
| chessie |
12/01/2013 01:32PM I am interested in exploring old railroad beds in BWCA, especially Fourtown lake area. Has anyone done this? Are they still visible/trackable? Do you have any map info, specifically maps that may still show the locations of the old railroads? Thanks. Chessie |
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