Sakatah Singing Hills State Trail is a paved multi-use

rail trail A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a Right of way#Rail right of way, railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed but may also share the rail corr ...

connecting Faribault and

Mankato Mankato ( ) is a city in Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is the county seat of Blue Earth County, Minnesota. The population was 44,488 at the 2020 census, making it the 21st-largest city in Mi ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. It is maintained by the

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, or Minnesota DNR, is the agency of the U.S. state of Minnesota charged with conserving and managing the state's natural resources. The agency maintains areas such as state parks, state forests, rec ...

, which converted it from a railroad line. The name derives from the

Dakota people The Dakota (pronounced , or ) are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe (Native American), tribe and First Nations in Canada, First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultur ...

who lived in the region; "Sakatah" translates into "singing hills". It began as a snowmobile trail and is now shared by hikers, joggers and cross-country skiers. There are sections of parallel dirt trail for horseback riders but they are not continuous. The landscape is mostly cultivated land with remnant stands of

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

and

Big Woods Big Woods refers to a type of temperate hardwood forest ecoregion found in western Wisconsin and south-central Minnesota. "Big Woods" is a direct translation of the name given to the region by French explorers: . Trees and native vegetation ...

. The trail passes through Sakatah Lake State Park and runs through city streets in Waterville.

History

The trail uses segments from two different rail lines that were built into Mankato, one from the

Chicago Great Western Railway The Chicago Great Western Railway was a Class I railroad that linked Chicago, Minneapolis, Omaha, and Kansas City. It was founded by Alpheus Beede Stickney in 1885 as a regional line between St. Paul and the Iowa state line called the Minnesot ...

(CGW), and one from the

Chicago and North Western Transportation Company The Chicago and North Western was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states befor ...

(C&NW). The more southern C&NW rail line was the original Winona and St. Peter Railroad, one of the first railroads in Minnesota. Originally it curved north in the Lime valley away from Mankato towards Kasota to St. Peter in 1871. It branched south at what became Mankato Junction, also known as Burdette.Northwestern Abandons Announced Schedule Of New Trains But Contemplates Changes. New Ulm Review, New Ulm, Minnesota, June 7, 1916, Wed, Page 4 This was the segment of the Winona, Mankato and New Ulm Railway. The more northern CGW rail line was surveyed in the late 1870s between Red Wing and Waterville. Construction did not begin until 1882 by the Central Railway Company of Minnesota under the management of A. B. Stickney. Stickney was head of the Minnesota & Northwestern Railroad which would later become the

in 1891. The route from Red Wing to Waterville was completed in 1882, and the route from Waterville to Mankato, Minnesota, was completed in 1887. By 1889, the line had been renamed Wisconsin, Minnesota & Pacific and was under the trusteeship of the Rock Island railroad. The Rock Island sold the WM&P to the Chicago Great Western in the mid-1890s which operated the line until 1968 when the CGW was merged in to the

Chicago & Northwestern The Chicago and North Western was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states befor ...

. The C&NW operated the line for a few years after the CGW merger, but abandoned the portion from Lime Siding east in the early 1970s. The C&NW, working with the State of Minnesota, used the more favorable CGW grade into Mankato. The C&NW built a link between the two lines where they neared each other on the outskirts of Mankato before they both descended into the Minnesota River Valley. The

Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad The Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad is a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Kansas City. Before its purchase, it was the largest Class II railroad in the United States, operating across South Dakota and southern Minnesot ...

uses these joined segments as its Tracy Subdivision. The remaining segments became the trail, with a route necessary around a farm that had taken over the abandoned route across from Lime Siding. Area snowmobile riders began using the trail. The State's acquisition of the route, with their view toward creating a rail trail, began in 1974. The Sakatah Singing Hills State Trail was officially dedicated in 1980. It was a dirt trail for its first decade. The entire length was paved in 1995.

Related Trails

The section of the Chicago Great Western from Cannon Falls to Red Wing is now the Cannon Valley Trail. The section of the Chicago Great Western Railway between Faribault and Cannon Falls is being developed by the Mill Towns Trail Association which would result in the former route of the entire Chicago Great Western from Mankato to Red Wing being converted to trail use.

References

* ''Sakatah Singing Hills State Trail'' brochure. Southern Minnesota Lakes Region Association.
The Unofficial Chicago Great Western Page

External links

{{Authority control Protected areas of Blue Earth County, Minnesota Chicago and North Western Railway Protected areas of Le Sueur County, Minnesota Rail trails in Minnesota Protected areas of Rice County, Minnesota Mankato, Minnesota Faribault, Minnesota Protected areas established in 1980 1980 establishments in Minnesota