8-25-1992 PTRC Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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� ap p Volume 2, Number 4 . ral s ou Y o , November, 1992 DNR's Gateway Trail Joining urban places to country spaces, this multiuse trail wiil surprise you. By Laurie Young "THE REAL VOYAGE of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." Bicycling or hiking on the new Gateway Trail brings meaning to those words of French novelist Marcel Proust. Located in the heaR of the east Twin Cities metro area, the trail invites people to see the city and its remnants of country in a new way. The Gateway is the newest part of the Willard Munger State Trail, which has four separate segments between St. Paul and Duluth. The Gateway is readily accessible to urban and suburban dwellers, who make up the majority of the state's population. I have ofren driven the same general route the trail takes, but I never really saw the country spaces until I traveled in by bicycle. For example, when I drive along Highway 36 through North St. Paul, I'm concentrating on the trafiic and signals, hoping to get through as many green lights as possible. Bicycling a parallel stretch of the Gateway Trail just a few feet or blocks away, I'm de(igltted to discover pockets of prairie vegetation—little bluestem grass and blazing star. Farther along, ferns blanket a noRh-facing slope. Traveling north from St. Paul, you see cityscapes unfold to country landscapes along the 17-mile Gateway, which ends north of Stillwater, just beyond Pine Point Park. The southern eight miles between Interstate highways 35 and 694 pass through town. Local parks, residential neighborhoods, shopping centers, and industrial areas border the trail. Along the northern nine miles, between I-694 and Washington County Road 55, you can take in the sights, sounds, and smelis of oak woods, prairie patches, small wetlands, lakes, and farm fields. From the shelter of overarching woods one moment, you may burst upon a panoramic vista t6e next. Take your binoculars for watching birds and other wildlife. With a little imagination, you can find lots of ways to use the trail. For e�ample, a family living on St. Paul's east side might take a Sunday bike ride to Lake Phalen for swimming and a picnic. From Maplewood, daytrippers can ride northeast and picnic at Pine Point Park (where a fee is charged for parking). For a longer ride, bicyclists might hook up with Washington County's ofi-road trail along County Road 12 and go into Stillwater. Residents of North St. Paul might strap a briefcase or lunch box onto their bike and head toward St. Paul to work. � R�ilroad History The Gateway is built on an old railroad grade. Part of the railroad was constructed in 1884, when the Minnesota, St. Croi�c, and Wisconsin Railroad built east from Lake Phalen to Carnelian lunetion, just north of Stillwater. The second paR of the Gateway railroad grade was also laid down in 1884. That year the St. Paul and St. Croix Falls Railroad built southwest from Lake Phalen. The two segments were later purchased by the Wisconsin Central Railroad, which was controlled by the company that became the Soo Line in 1961. Soo Line abandoned the line by sections in 1980 and 1982, and sold the property to the Department of Natural Resources. The DNR Trails and Waterways Unit began developing the trail in 1990. Initially, it surfaced 1.8 miles with asphalt from Arlington Avenue in St. Paul to Keller Creek. An additional 5.5 miles of trail east of Keller Creek to I-694 was finished at the beginning of summer. DNR hopes to complete the