Saint Paul and Duluth Railroad Skally Line
Originally built by the Saint Paul and Duluth Railroad (then Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad) to connect its namesake cities of St. Paul and Duluth, Minnesota, the Skally Line defined the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad as it was their only main track.
The main line ran north and south through towns like St. Paul, present day Maplewood, White Bear Lake, Hugo, Forest Lake, Wyoming, Rush City, Hinkley, and Duluth. Present day Highway 61 runs parallel to the old route. It had branches going into Minneapolis, Stillwater, Taylor's Falls, Kettle River, and Cloquet, Minnesota as well as Grantsburg and Superior Wisconsin[1].
The Skally Line was operated by Northern Pacific in 1900 when it acquired the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad. Later, in 1970 it was acquired by Burlington Northern when Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, Great Northern, and Northern Pacific merged. After this merger the route duplicated those that were already in place by Great Northern and was slowly sold, converted to trails, or given operational leases to other railroads.
The track between St. Paul and Maplewood has been removed, much of which is a trail that intersects with the popular Gateway Trail. Between Maplewood and Hugo the line is used by Minnesota Commercial, and between Hugo and North Branch the roadbed serves as a trail. North Branch to Hinkley is operated by the St. Croix Valley Railroad, and from Hinkley north to Duluth it is again a trail.[2]
Minneapolis Branch
The Minneapolis Branch was originally operated by the Minneapolis and Duluth Railroad. It went from Minneapolis, through present day Roseville, connecting with the Skally Line at M&D Junction in White Bear. On August 1, 1882, the St. Paul & Duluth Railway took possession of the Minneapolis Branch from they Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway. At the same time, St.P&DRR also took sole possession of the Wyoming to Taylor's Falls Branch which they jointly built and operated with the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway. [3]
Naming
According to Frank Pierce Donovan's book Mileposts on the prairie: the story of the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway the name "Skally" most likely comes from the phrase uttered by the Swedish crew, "Skall ga till Duluth," meaning "I'm going to Duluth!" Donovan explains that to American ears the phrase sounded like, "Skally go hoot!"[4] However, subsequent discussion about the source states that the Swedish phrase is actually "Ja skall go till Duluth" meaning "I shall go to Duluth". [5]
Resources
- ↑ The 1891 Grain Dealers and Shippers Gazetteer. URL retrieved on April 14, 2009.
- ↑ St. Paul and Duluth Railroad on Wikipedia. URL retrieved on April 14, 2009.
- ↑ St. Paul Pioneer Press, August 3, 1882 (reprinted in The Taylors Falls and Lake Superior Railroad by Thompson and Monson)
- ↑ Naming of the Skally Line blog post (with link to Google Book excerpt). URL retrieved on October 14, 2009.
- ↑ Minnesota History Magazine, Cultural Homogeneity and Population Stability Among Swedish Immigrants in Chisago County, Robert C. Ostergren, 1973 (Pg 258). URL retrieved on October 14, 2009.
