Friends of the Casey Jones Trail
Resurrecting a dream
Friends groups play an important role in planning, developing, maintaining and advocating for Minnesota's parks and trails. Meet the Friends of the Casey Jones Trail, an active and energized grassroots membership organization that works to identify and secure the trail alignment for the Casey Jones State Trail in southwest Minnesota.
Q: Who are the Friends of the Casey Jones Trail and what do you do?
The Friends of the Casey Jones Trail is an active and energized grassroots membership organization that primarily works to identify and secure the trail alignment for the Casey Jones State Trail in southwest Minnesota. We also help to obtain development funds for the trail and host meetings to give local citizens an opportunity to learn and to participate in the planning and development of the trail. Though our group officially incorporated in August 2002, our roots and the trail's roots go back much further. Essentially we are resurrecting a dream of those great forward thinking pioneers that came before us who had the wherewithal to acquire abandoned railroad grade for recreational trail purposes even before there was legislation authorizing state trails.
Q: What are some of the Friends of the Casey Jones Trail's top priorities?
Although the Casey Jones State Trail is now designated as a state trail covering about 100 miles and three counties from Split Rock Creek State Park to Redwood Falls, only about 21 miles of right-of-way has been acquired and opened to the public for some type of usage. We obviously have some major challenges ahead in determining exact routes and in acquiring the rest of the necessary right-of-way as well as attaining state and other funding to make it all a reality. While the entire trail is important, we are currently focused on acquiring the 4-1/2 mile gap in right-of-way between Pipestone and Lake Wilson where the trail was originally established. We are also concentrating on getting some trail on the ground between Lake Shetek State Park and Walnut Grove. We are in this for the long haul, and we take pride in knowing the Casey Jones Trail and other state trails are the backbone to which regional trails can connect and that they join communities to one another and to our state's greatest natural, cultural and historical resources.
Q: How would you describe the Casey Jones State Trail?
The Casey Jones State Trail is a multi-use trail that connects points of natural interest such as the Coteau Moraines and Inner Coteau landscapes, remnants of tallgrass prairie, wooded ravines and Lake Shetek and the sloughs around it, which are remnants of the glacial landscape that once covered southwestern Minnesota. Historical and cultural sites include the sites associated with Laura Ingalls Wilder in Walnut Grove, the railroad artifacts in Currie and Tracy, and the pipestone quarries at the Pipestone National Monument. Communities connected by the trail are home to historical museums and other historical resources.
Q: Tell us something about the Casey Jones State Trail that might appear in a game of Trivial Pursuit.
The Casey Jones State Trail was the first abandoned railroad grade acquired by the state of Minnesota for recreational purposes. It was acquired even before the Legislature began authorizing state trails in 1969. The trail was named after the legendary engineer Casey Jones, an Illinois Central engineer who was killed in a wreck at Vaughn, Mississippi on April 30, 1900.
Q: How can people find out more about the Friends of the Casey Jones Trail?
For more information, or if you would like to become a member of the Friends of the Casey Jones Trail, please contact Bob Klingle or mail a check for $20 to Friends of the Casey Jones Trail, P.O. Box 57, Slayton, MN 56172.
If you would like to join or form a friends group, please contact the Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota at 1-800-944-0707.