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

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!

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

There is a roadbed with some pilings near the Beaverhouse access, basically the portage to Cirrus.

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.

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.

I think the sawbill to alton portage is on an old railroad grade.

Isn't 440 rods of the 660 long portage out of Rose old Railroad bead?

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.

There's decent detail of Cook County in this thread.

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

quote 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

quote mooseplums: "

quote 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"

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.

quote 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?

Check out my trip report 'The fall falls @ overlooks tour'. There's some info about the line that ran up to Rose lake.

Not sure about tracks but here are some pics of the train remnants left in Hoist Bay on Basswood Lake.

quote 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

I have a couple more photos here

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

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.

quote 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.

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.

quote 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.

quote 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.

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.