Come Celebrate with us!
How the Root River Trail changed Southeast Minnesota By Jason Sethre Publisher of the Fillmore County Journal and Olmsted County Journal Cell phone: 507-251-5297 As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Root River Trail, I can’t help but to reflect on its significance. This is a bike trail unlike any others I have biked Jason Sethre in states like W isconsin, Illinois and even Colorado.
Life before the Trail My father, Terry Sethre, who grew up in Preston, one of the trail head towns, has shared many interesting stories about life in a small town with trains passing through on a regular basis. Back when he was a kid in the 1950s, there were so many trains coming through that most small towns had a depot. You can find these depots in some of the small towns, if you are paying attention during a drive or casual bike ride. Even the office of the Fillmore County Journal and Olmsted County Journal, locat-
ed in downtown Preston on the Courthouse Square, has a connection with the railroad. Our newspapers operate in a four story brick building that was built in 1896, originally named the Park Hotel. For 50 cents a night, with sixteen primitive rooms and a communal bathroom on each floor, this hotel was a packed house primarily serving people passing through town on the train or working for the railroad station. Have you ever thought about what it would be like to ride in the box car of a train? Well, that’s what a lot of
the kids did back in the day. They’d hop on a train heading toward Harmony, hoping to catch a train heading back home to Preston. There was only one time when the boys weren’t paying attention and they ended up in Mabel. Fortunately, Mr. Dave Wilson gave them a car ride back to Preston. While my father will tell you he’d never try to catch a snake today, when he was a kid he and his buddies walked the railroad tracks with sticks in hand hoping to catch rattle
Trail Towns Fountain .............. Page 2 Preston ................. Page 3 Harmony........... Page 4-5 Lanesboro ........ Page 6-7 Whalan ................ Page 8 Peterson .............. Page 9 Rushford ............ Page 10 Houston ............. Page 11
See TRAIL Page 5
Horse trail being developed 2007
Paralell Horse Trail
1/2007
A Special Section of the Fillmore County Journal & Olmsted County Journal