Minnesota Highways, October 1955

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wmmtim
VOL.  4,  NO.   12
1246 University Ave., St.  Paul  4, Minn.
OCTOBER,   1955
New Metropolitan Road District Is Formed
Markers Are Clue to
Rich Minnesota History
Are you working on a highway that once was a fur traders' lonely
#or the route of Minnesota's early settlers? Did creaking Red
ox carts first break the trail where sleek cars and ponderous
trucks now whizz past? Do your
survey lines bisect a ghost city
where pioneer engineers platted a
dream that died in infancy? In
that roadside grove where you enjoy a peaceful noontime lunch, did
your own ancestors fight for their
lives against an Indian ambush?
Minnesota's 11,000 miles of
trunk highways reach or pass near
the scenes of a wealth of Minnesota's dramatic and exciting history, much ol it unknown even to
long-time residents of the state. In
many instances, physical evidence
remains to rekindle interest in the
people and events that contributed
greatly to life today in the North
Star state.
(Continued   on   page   6)
They Are Named District Engineers
E.  J.  McCubrey
To better meet the many particular state highway planning and construction problems of the Twin Cities urban
area, Commissioner Hoffmann on October 1 established a
new construction district—designating it as the Metropolitan
district. It brings to nine the total of construction districts in
the Highway department.
Formed from an area previously a part of Construction
District 5, the new district embraces Minneapolis and St. Paul
and their more than two dozen
contiguous suburbs, as far north
as Brooklyn Center and New
Brighton, as far south as Bloom-
ington and St. Paul Park, as far
east as North St. Paul and St. Paul
Park, and as far west as Hopkins.
(See map on page 4.)
Construction District 5, which
will remain unchanged, except for
the area in the new Metropolitan
district, previously has embraced
all of Hennepin, Bamsey, Anoka,
Chisago, Washington, Carver, Scott
and Dakota counties and the
southern portion of Wright county.
Maintenance Districts 9 and 11,
which cover Construction District
5 and the new Metropolitan dis-
George  F. Welch (Continued   on  page  4)
Left:   This   early   type   historical   marker   on   T.H.   1    south   of   Vermillion   lake Kaposia  village,  the  family  home  from   1839   to   1852   of   Little   Crow,  well   known
calls   attention   to   the  first  iron   mine   in   Minnesota.   From   the   Breitung   pit   of   the Sioux chief. An attack on the family by Sandy  lake Chippewas in  1842  precipitated
Soudan  mine,  just  north  of  the  present  community  of  Soudan,  the  first  commercial the   battle  of  Kaposia.  The  village  was  on  the  Mendota  trail.
shipment   of   Minnesota   iron   ore   was   made   by   the   Minnesota   Iron   Company   on Right:   An   example   of   the   new   aluminum   placques   for   Minnesota   highway
July  31,  1884. historical   markers   is   this   one   at   Oronoco   on   U.   S.   52   southeast   of   Pine   Island.
Middle:   In   a   roadside   parking   area   on   T.H.   56   at   the   entrance   to   Battle Here,   gold   was   discovered   in   1856   along   the   banks   of   the   Zumbro   river.   The
Creek   park   near   South   St.   Paul,   this   attractive   monument   identifies   the   site   of resulting   fair-sized   gold   rush   was   of   only   a   year's   duration.