The Duluth & Winnipeg Railroad reached the north side of Lake Winnibigosh before being purchased by James J. Hill in the Late 1880's.

The Duluth & Winnipeg Railroad was planning on building its tracks West across Northern Beltrami County through the Red Lake Indian Reservation. At the same time James Hill's Great Northern Railroad was planning to build East from Fosston to Duluth through northern Hubbard County.

Upon moving to Northern Minnesota from Missouri, my Great, Great Grandpa John Bailey worked for the Red Lake Transportation Company in the logging town of Nebish. The Red Lake Transportation Co. was owned by the St. Hilaire Lumber Company and operated from 1897 to 1904.

Corey Bailey
October 22, 2010
The St. Hilaire Lumber Co. of Minneapolis received permission from the U.S. Department of Interior to build a temporary railroad extension from Nebish to Lower Red Lake's South shore on June 25, 1897. Due to difficult conditions including lack of existing railroad to haul new rail equipment, the St. Hilaire Lumber Company didn't meet certain deadlines and never finished it's logging railroad. In December 1897, the Red Lake Transportation Company was formed to finish the line.

On June 14, 1904, the Minneapolis, Red Lake & Manitoba Railway Company was incorporated in Minnesota. Later that month the Minneapolis, Red Lake & Manitoba acquired the Red Lake Transportation company.
On February 8, 1905, the new Minneapolis, Red Lake & Manitoba Railway was given permission by Congress to purchase up to 320 acres of land from the Red Lake Band of Chippewa to conduct railroad business.
The tracks were extended from Nebish to Bemidji and the railroad was soon carrying tourists to steamboats on Lower Red Lake with stops in new railroad towns of Puposky and Werner. Surveys were completed to connect Bemidji directly to Minneapolis and Redby to Winnipeg but by the early 1900's the rail industry was very competitive... Northern Securities Company. The Minnesota & International was already operating a railroad between Bemidji and Brainerd. The Great Northern ran rail connections indirectly from Bemidji to Minneapolis.

My Great Grandpa Roy Bailey was depot agent in Redby for the Minneapolis, Red Lake, & Manitoba Railway until it stopped operating in 1938. After purchasing land from the railroad he continued to operate a store on the former railway property in Redby until 1964. My Great Grandmother sold one of the last lots on Lower Red Lake back to the tribe in the late 1960's.
The Minneapolis Red Lake & Manitoba Railroad was incorporated by the same St. Paul Attorney that incorporated the city of Bemidji. Officers of the company included Minneapolis lumberman Charles A. Smith, President; Charles M. Amsden, Secretary; Andreus Ueland, Treasurer; and A.L. Molander, General Manager².

While working on the design of the Vertigo Arena retractable roof assembly for the Northern Minnesota Vertigo Resorts Complex, the Stone Arch Bridge was a good example of a proven load distribution technology.



If you would like to know more about me checkout CoreyBailey.com in the near future.

The Red River and Red Lake River is how many early settlers first reached the region that became Beltrami County. The first post office in Beltrami County was established at Red Lake in 1875.
Corey Bailey
October 22, 2010
The Red Lake Transportation Company railroad hauled logs to Red Lake Landing where logs were unloaded from the trains into Lower Red Lake. Log rafts we're then pulled over 10 miles West across Lower Red Lake by steamboats to the Red Lake River outlet.
The logs were then sent down the Red Lake River to sawmills as far away as Thief River Falls, St. Hilaire, and Crookston.
How far East does the Red River watershed extend?
A Continental Divide runs primarily East and West approximatey 10 miles north of Bemidji. The town of Buena Vista was formed by W. J. Speelman on May 14, 1896 where water flows North to Hudson Bay and South to the Gulf of Mexico. The Blackduck River flows West from Blackduck Lake into Lower Red Lake.

In September, 1900, M.D. Stoner bought a homestead near Blackduck Lake and townsited the town of Blackduck¹. With a population of over 1200 in 1902, the residents of Blackduck wanted to form Blackduck County with the town of Blackduck as the county seat. Two other proposals for new counties in 1902 included Roosevelt County with the town of Shevlin as the county seat and a proposal for Clearwater County with Bagley as the county seat. Because of laws at the time, Beltrami County voters could only vote on one of the proposals. Of the 2,417 voters in Beltrami County in 1902, Bemidji's vote of 1078 was against the formation of Blackduck and Roosevelt Counties. The Clearwater County proposal passed with 396 for and 48 against. Interesting.

Before Bemidji was named the county seat of Beltrami County on June 8, 1897, the towns of Buena Vista, Moose, and Popple were being considered as locations for the Beltrami County Seat. A county courthouse was completed Between 6th and 7th streets on Beltrami Avenue in 1902.
In 1907 construction of the St. Philips Catholic Church was completed. This church is where my fellow St. Philips School second grade classmates and I received our first communion in the autumn of 1978. The St. Philips Church was located across Beltrami Avenue from the Beltrami County Courthouse between 7th and 8th streets.

In 1922 The residents of Northern Beltrami County on and near Lake of the Woods wanted to seperate from Beltrami County. A referendum was held in 1922 and the proposal was narrowly approved by the residents of Beltrami County. Lake of the Woods County split off from Beltrami shortly after the 1922 referendum taking with it all land in the Rainy River watershed.

The Shevlin Mathieu Saw Mill in Spooner, Minnesota, across a Rainy River tributary from Baudette. Spooner later became part of Baudette.

1. A Brief History of Beltrami County 1963,
Beltrami County Historical Society,
Dr. Charles W. Vandersluis
2. Minnesota Logging Railroads
University of Minnesota Press
Frank A. King
3. Thanks to Beltrami County Recorder Charlene Sturk,
and administrators Lisa and Patricia
4. Red Lake Tribal Council Archives
5. Thanks to Wanda Hoyum,
Executive Director,
Beltrami County Historical Society
6. Google Finance,
http://www.google.com/finance?q=bnsf
7. Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_J_hill

"In the dawn of civilization the trail gave way to the beaten path and that to the caravan route. As man emerged into history he became a roadmaker; the better the road, the more advanced his development."
James J. Hill, Highways of Progress, 1910
James Hill purchased the financially troubled St Paul & Pacific Railroad and its 14 miles of railroad tracks between Minneapolis and St. Paul for $728,000 in 1879⁷. By 1885 the railroad he purchased was valued at $25 million. After purchasing numerous competing railroads and several name changes over it's existence the railroad is now called the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (BNSF). The BNSF Railway Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation which owns over 23,000 miles of track.⁶ On Febuary 12, 2010 the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation was purchased in its entirety by Warren Buffet and Berkshire Hathaway for $34.14 billion.

Seesip Search:

The William Crooks steam engine was the first in Minnesota. It was delivered to the St.Paul & Pacific Railroad on a barge via the Mississippi River in 1861.
The St. Paul & Pacific operated between St. Paul & St. Anthony, Minnesota until the Panic of 1873. The St Paul & Pacific Railroad was purchased by James J. Hill and partners in 1879. It was then renamed the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway. The Railroad was again renamed to the Great Northern Railway in 1889 to signify the planned scope of operations which included Seattle Washington.

The Stone Arch Bridge was constructed by James J. Hill's St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway in 1883.
It was one of the many great contributions made by Hill and his railroad to the Minnesota landscape.
The Stone Arch Bridge is a good example of design technology used to distribute the high load levels of fully loaded rail cars over long spans.

Before Bemidji was incorporated as a city in Minnesota in 1896, James J. Hill's Great Northern Railway was planning a route from Fosston, Minnesota to Duluth, Minnesota.
Corey Bailey
October 22, 2010
The route the Great Northern Railway planned to build was located three miles South of the Bemidji townsite on the north end of Lake Plantangenet.
Unlike the Brainerd based Northern Pacific Railroad which operated between Tacoma, Washington and Duluth via Fargo, the Great Northern Railway understood the importance of building cities and economies along its right-of-way to maintain profitability. The Great Northern Railway developed towns every five to six miles along its routes to guarantee a customer base in each township.
After building one of the first railroads across the open plains and through the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean in 1893, Hill wanted to build a route from the upper Red River Valley to Duluth. According to the 1958 Great Northern Annual Report, the Great Northern Railway serviced over 900 grain elevators in the Dakotas, Western Minnesota, and Eastern Montana.
Hill saw the profit potential the burgeoning Northern Minnesota logging industry could provide to his railroad if he redesigned his route to include Bemidji.
Railroads determined the locations of towns in the 2nd half of the 1800's as they were where the "first effective settlement" would be located within any given geographical area. The Markham Hotel was built on 2nd St. & Beltrami Ave. in Bemidji in 1910. It was Bemidji's leading hotel for several decades with 100 rooms.

On May 16, 1892, the Brainerd & Northern Minnesota Railway was formed. During the Summer of 1895, the Brainerd & Northern reached the northern edge of Leech Lake.
A Brainerd & Northern Minnesota Railway extenstion from Walker reached Bemidji on December 17, 1898. New towns created along the Brainerd & Northern Railroad between Walker & Bemidji were Benedict, Laporte, Guthrie & Nary.
After purchasing the Brainerd and Northern in 1900, the Minnesota & International was purchased by the Northern Pacific in 1941.

The Minnesota & International Railway Company was incorporated on July 16, 1900 by E.W. Backus. Backus owned the International Lumber Company at International Falls, MN.
The Minnesota & International (M&I) completed a railroad connection between Bemidji and International Falls in 1907.
After winning a significant bid for timber stumpage on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in 1916, Backus shipped his timber over the Minneapolis, Red Lake, & Manitoba to Bemidji where it was loaded onto the M&I and shipped to his sawmill in International Falls.²

Towns created or served along the Minnesota & International Railroad included Tenstrike, Hines, Blackduck, Funkley, Houpt, Northhome, Mizpah, Margie, Big Falls, Grand Falls, Wisner, Littlefork, Pelland and Nakoda.
The Crookston Lumber Co. operated over thirty miles of spurs off the M&I Between Blackduck and Northhome.²

The Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie built a railroad shortcut from Moose Lake, MN to Plummer, MN through Bemidji in 1909 and 1910.
Upon completion, the Minneapolis, St Paul & Sault Ste. Marie scheduled daily passenger trains between Thief River Falls and Duluth, MN. Along the new line, the new towns of Pinewood, Leonard, Clearbrook, Gonvick, Gully, Trail and Oklee were created. In 1950 the name of the corporation was changed to "Soo Line Railroad" and rail cars received the trademark "SOO LINE" logo.

The Wilton & Northern Railroad was built in 1905 by the Crookston Lumber Co. The Wilton & Northern Railroad owned 3 Lima-Shay geared locomotives². The Lima-Shay locomotives were able to travel on 10% to 12% grades which made them excellent logging steam engines.
Rather than compete with the St. Hilaire Lumber Co. on the Minneapolis, Red Lake & Manitoba Railway the Crookston Lumber Co. built its own railroad to haul its own logs from the Red Lake Reservation to its sawmill in Bemidji via the Great Northern Railway. The Wilton & Northern railroad ran north 24 miles to Island Lake on the Southern edge of the Red Lake Reservation. New railroad towns of Spaulding, Lynx, Newhaven, and Fowlds were created on the Wilton & Northern line.

Although it had no direct economic relation with Bemidji, the White Pine sawmill in Virginia, Minnesota was considered the largest in the world and was a sign of the times.

The Virginia & Rainy Lake Company was organized by Chicago lumberman Edward Hines. In Decemebr 1908, Hines, William O'Brien, Wirt Cook, and Frederick Weyerhaeuser capitalized the company with a total investment of $10,700,000. The Virginia & Rainy Lake Sawmill produced 1 million board feet of lumber per day which required 50 boxcars per day to move to Duluth and points beyond².

Bemidji Normal School opened in 1914. The school was later renamed Bemidji Teachers College.
The opening of the Bemidji Normal School in 1914 was a shift away from the primary and secondary economic activities of logging and sawmill operations into quaternary economic activities that teaching jobs provide to the economy. Bemidji State University now has an enrollment of about 5,000 students each year with an array of degree programs to meet the needs of students and employers around the world.

In 2012, Bemidji State University has grown to become one of the leading employers in Northern Minnesota and one of the best universities in the Upper Midwestern United States.