railroad

A coal miner was murdered near Kenmare in late November of 1912, and it doesn’t appear his death was ever solved. The deceased was Carl Hanson, a 29-year-old born in Norway. A Soo Line section foreman discovered his body near the shore of Des Lacs Lake after following a bloody trail from the tracks

Nowadays we take for granted the vast railroad system that transports food, materials, and people all over our country. It can sometimes seem like it was always there. But it wasn’t until the mid 1800s, after the country had expanded from coast to coast, that the United States started considering a rail system for the now massive country.

On this date in 1912, the final report on a horrific accident appeared in papers, telling the full story of a tragedy. On December 30th of 1911, a train derailed near Sharon in Steele County. The Great Northern passenger train No. 3, dubbed the Oregonian, was passing through Steele County at around 10:00 in the morning on a frigid day of -20 degrees, with a 12 mile an hour breeze that made the day seem even colder. The train was going about forty miles an hour on a slight curve, when a rail snapped in the intense cold. The engine, tender, and the first four cars rolled over, catching fire.

Twenty-four people were injured and one man died in a train derailment on this date in 1887 near Sterling, in Dakota Territory. The passenger train was…

Wheatland, North Dakota, named for the fields of wheat on bonanza farms, was reported as "a new village ten miles west of Casselton" in 1878, as it found…

While the railroad was an improvement over wagon trains, early travelers across the Great Plains still did not have it easy. Trains were slower than we…

On this date in 1940, one of the last North Dakota railroad pioneers died. Andrew Munson, who was 75 years old, helped build the main line of the Soo Line…

On this date in 1910, an article in the Hope Pioneer included reflections of the late James D. Layng. A railroad executive for almost fifty years, Layng…

Arguably, the greatest U.S. invention in the 1800s was the railroad, because railways tied the nation together, building commerce across the land. If a…

There was great rejoicing in Washburn on this date in 1908. After many unfulfilled promises, the Soo Line was making a concrete effort to build a new…