Hey all. You may have noticed that I changed the name of the website from “Lost” to “Historic”. I think the word “historic” better suits the focus of the site, plus I didn’t want any undue David Lynch references.
In more interesting news, I just posted a massive update to the Historic U.S. 61 Project, including tons of new photos from my last road trip a couple of weeks ago. The main update is to the historic alignment articles between St. Paul and La Crosse. Every article has been updated with new maps, revised info, and a new page format. Also, some of the articles have been combined or separated.
What’s in the pipeline for future updates? Well, right now I am planning on starting photography expeditions for the historic alignments between St. Paul and Duluth.
That’s all for now. I hope everyone enjoys the updated pages. If you have any comments or suggestions please let me know via email, or by leaving a comment below.
It has finally come time to say good-bye to my trusty 91′ Honda Civic. I replaced it with a silver 03′ Civic, which so far is rust free, has airbags, has a hood that latches, and doesn’t overheat constantly! I took it out today on an expedition down U.S. 61, and was finally able to fully photograph every alignment between St. Paul and La Crosse! I am feverishly working on an update to the Historic U.S. 61 project, which when completed, will fully cover all of the old alignments south of St. Paul to La Crosse, complete with better maps and photographs. I estimate a month to completion. My new Civic rocking the 1920's era concrete east of Red Wing along U.S. 61/U.S. 63
In other news, a previous entry stated that State Highway 16 had been truncated at its junction with U.S. 61 and U.S. 14 in La Crescent. This information has turned out to be totally false! MnDOT’s records are currently incorrect, as the route is still signed to the Wisconsin state line. Perhaps an agreement has not yet been reached with WisDOT to truncate the route on the Wisconsin side. Route signage in La Crescent, showing Highway 16 continuing east towards the Wisconsin State Line
I recently won this little gem on ebay. Its the first photographic proof I’ve seen that the U.S. routes shields shared the same posts as the state route shields before 1934. This photo had to have been taken at some point between 1926 and 1934 on the highway between La Crosse and St. Paul.
Paul R has sent in a set of great photos of some old alignments along what is now U.S. 10 in northern Minnesota between the towns of Hawley and Audubon.
First a little background. The road between Detroit Lakes and Moorhead was still gravel back in 1921 when it was added to the trunk highway system as part of Constitutional Route 2. Prior to that it had been marked as three motor trails: The Minnesota Scenic Highway, The Duluth-Fargo Highway, and the Mississippi River Scenic Highway. In late 1926 the road also became part of U.S. 10N (U.S. 10 originally had two branches between St. Cloud and Fargo, a northern one along today’s familiar route, and a southern one along what is now I-94).Â
Between 1927 and 1929 the old gravel road between Moorhead and Detroit Lakes was replaced by a 20-foot wide concrete highway. In 1934 both U.S. 10N and Constitutional Route 2 were retired, and replaced by plain old U.S. 10. The first concrete road between Hawley and Audubon served until 1957, when it was replaced by the construction of the current divided highway.
The map below shows the alignment of the original gravel road in purple, and the first paved road where it deviated from the modern highway in red. Nearly all of the original gravel road still survives today. On the other hand, only two short sections of the early concrete highway have survived, and are now used as service drives.
The old gravel road ran east from Hawley along Junction Avenue, eventually merging onto what is now Clay County Road 115, which becomes Becker County Road 102 at the county line. The old road then continued east to Lake Park, turned south through town, and turned east again onto a road that passed south of Bower Lake. Sadly, several sections of the road south and east of Lake Park have been lost to time.
We begin our journey in the town of Hawley (to follow along, you can zoom into map above, or open it in a new window).
Photo looking west on Valley Street on the southeast side of Hawley as it crosses under the BNSF tracks. This was the old east entrance to town. Modern U.S. 10 is just to the left (the railings of the railroad bridge over U.S. 10 are visible). Looking east on Junction Avenue as it leaves Hawley, and the pavement gives way to gravel.A culvert with granite facing along the old road just east of Hawley.Another view to the east on the old road as it passes through the Buffalo River bottoms. An old concrete culvert under the old road, a little further east. Another railroad underpass, east of Winnipeg Junction, with Territorial Pissings. The road makes a rather sharp curve as it passes under the tracks.A stone culvert of possibly older vintage. Paul says that the old road was likely an old railroad grade from the 19th century. Could this culvert date back that long?A now inacessible culvert on the old road, as seen looking south from modern U.S. 10 just west of Audubon.A short section of the old concrete pavement survives just west of Boyer Lake on the south side of the modern highway.Another surviving piece of old concrete, on the east end of what is now shown as Main Street on the south side of Audubon along the north side of modern U.S. 10.A rusting highway sign along old U.S. 10.
Sorry for the lack of posts here lately, but I’ve been focusing most of my website time on the U.S. 61 Project, building a new historic alignment guide for the section between St. Paul and Duluth. It’ll probably be another month before that gets done. In lieu of that, I’m going to try and post some great pics that several readers have sent in over the past few months. I haven’t gotten out on the road myself yet this year, but I hope to soon….so much to do before summer ends.
MnDOT has recently  released the list of construction projects for this year. From the looks of it, its going to quite a headache getting around this summer. You can take a look for yourself by following the link to MnDOT’s page here. I suggest taking a look to see if any highways in your area are up for reconstruction or realignment this year, and if so, you might want to get out and take a few quick shots before they’re changed / gone forever.
A few projects along U.S. 61 (a highway that you all probably know I’m a bit obsessed with at the moment) caught my eye. A three-mile section of Highway 61 north of Tofte along the north shore will be reconstructed this year. Also, four bridges near Dresbach (on the duplex with I-90) will be replaced.
Update – April 13, 2009 – Internet is back up! However, I am currently searching for a new car, so again updates may be delayed for awhile.
The internet at my domicile is temporarily down, probably until next Friday when the cable guy is coming to hook me back into the inter-webs, so please don’t be alarmed if it seems that I’m asleep at the wheel here.
“Highway Explorer” comes through again….this time with pics of an old iron bridge in Reads Landing in Wabasha County. This bridge is at the west end of 202nd Street, just north of modern U.S. 61. It is now used as a private entrance.
Although it was once part of the Wabasha Military Road, this bridge was never used by U.S. 61. The old military road passed through Reads Landing on its way to Camp Lacupolis, where it ascended out of the river valley and then followed modern County Roads 10 and 4 towards Lake City. The road was eventually moved to a new alignment that bypassed Reads Landing entirely.
The current alignment of U.S. 61 along the lake wasn’t constructed until 1930.
Looking west towards the gate that now blocks access to the bridge.Looking northwest at the bridge's iron structure.Dedication plaque for the bridge, showing its construction date as 1906.
Today we have another set of photos from “Highway Explorer”, this time of a stretch of old highway in the northeastern corner of Rice County. This road, now labeled on maps as Albany Avenue, was once part of State Highway 165. However, its history goes back a bit further. (See below for a map of the south end of the old alignment).
The first road in this area was the historic Dodd Road, a path blazed between St. Paul and St. Peter in the mid 1850’s. By the early 1920’s, the stretch of Dodd Road  in northeast Rice County had ceased to be an important long-distance route. A 1921 auto trails map doesn’t even show it. Construction records show that the road was graveled (and presumably graded) as a county job in 1924. Construction plans show the road as “State Road 25”, which in today’s terms would be a County State Aid Highway. The road was eventually added to the trunk highway system in 1934 as part of the new State Highway 165, a route connecting Faribault and Lakeville as an alternate to U.S. 65, bypassing Northfield.
What is now Albany Avenue remained in use until 1947, when a new grade was constructed just to the east, leaving it behind as a local road, shown on later construction plans as County Road 98.  The new grade was paved in 1949, and eventually became U.S. 65 in 1956.  In 1964, I-35 was constructed just to the west. The bit of the south end of Albany Avenue was destroyed by the new freeway.
Today, the old highway remains gravel, just as it was back in 1924.  Bridge #3978, a 20 foot concrete slab structure constructed in 1923 by the Department of Highways over Chub Creek, still survives today. The old road also passes by an historic church and through the unincorporated town of Hazelwood. It is now accessible at both ends via Rice County Road 46, which now occupies the old two-lane alignment of U.S. 65.
Looking north down Albany Avenue towards bridge #3978 over Chub Creek. The dedication plaque of bridge 3978. Note how the "M" in Minnesota is upside down!!Looking north at what appears to be the remains of the grade of the historic Dodd Road, just to the east of Albany Avenue off its southern connection to County Road 46. The grade leads to the old crossing of Chub Creek.
The remains of the footings of an earlier bridge over Chub Creek are still visible at the end of the old grade.
Construction dates and info were taken from construction project logs and plans available from MnDOT. The path of the Dodd Road was determined using historic land survey maps from the 1850’s, available here
Hopefully you fellow road geeks out there were able to catch Cathy Wurzer’s new documentary on Highway 61, “Tales of the Road” on Monday Evening. If not, they’ll be replaying it this Saturday (March 28) at 8 PM. Its a must-see for anyone into highway history!
A companion book is also available (yours truly is cited in the references and internet resources!!) Cathy will be doing several guest appearances / book signings around the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota through the end of April – I’m sure she’d love to meet all of you hear any highway stories you have to tell! If you can’t make it to any those events, a podcast of her appearance at the University of Minnesota Bookstore will be available in a week (disclosure: I produce the podcast for the bookstore, just to clear up any potential conflicts of interest, don’t worry – its free!).
In other news, I’m currently working on finally replacing my old 91 Honda Civic. My wreck has lasted longer than I could have imagined, but I can’t have it preventing me from getting out on the road this summer, there are just too many old roads to see!
