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The railroad town of Tracy

The 57.3 miles of track running from Tracy to Gary, S.D., were built in 1872 by a division of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad Company known as the Winona and St. Peter line and served the area for more than 100 years. This was the first railroad track in southwest Minnesota and the initial thrust of rail lines into the state of South Dakota. Eleven communities were formed when the tracks were laid over that stretch.

Upwards of 800 people worked at one time during the historic year of 1872 to meet the completion dates set by the federal government so that the railroad company could secure the odd sections of land prescribed in the federal grant.

The town of Tracy was one of 11 that came into existence as a result of the Winona and St. Peter Railroad’s receiving the federal grant to build a line west of Winona to the Dakota Territory along the Big Stone River. The others were Amiret, Heckman, Marshall, Ghent, Minneota, Taunton, Porter, Canby, Burr and Gary, S.D. This occurred three years before Minnesota became a state. As a result, Tracy eventually became a railroad mecca, housing a major turnaround for trains and acquired a rich railroad history, which the city has been celebrating through their yearly “Tracy Box Car Days.”

It all began in 1871 when one of the first settlements in southeast Lyon County was made and named Monroe by David Stafford, E.W. Healy and George White. In 1872, J.L. Craig, Ole Railson, E.L. Starr and Edward Glynn came into the village. Monroe did not grow very rapidly for the next two or three years, though the Winona and St. Peter Railroad was built through the town of Monroe in 1872, and a station located near the east line called Shetek Station (Lake Shetek lying a few miles south in Murray County). The post office of Shetek Station was first in the township of Summit in Redwood County. The station for a time appeared on the maps as Summit. It was finally moved to Section 23 in 1874, and the post office name was changed to Tracy in February 1877 in honor of a director of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad Co., though the town itself was organized in 1875. Water, piped from an aqueduct to Lake Sigel, on Section 34, supplied the railroad water tank in Tracy. Since there were no trees in the town at the time, the level prairie provided an unobstructed view.

By 1879 the Dakota Central railroad was built west from Tracy to Volga, S.D., and by the next spring the U.S. census recorded the village had a population of 322. The village was incorporated in 1881. Tracy then advanced by leaps and bounds during the early 1880s and soon became the largest village in the county — 224 more people than Marshall.

The following poem, written by Ralph Larson of Minneota, and sung to the tune of “Wabash Cannonball” at the 1981 Minneota Centennial Historical Pageant, sums up the part the railroad played in the settlement of southwest Minnesota and of its own demise:

“The Old Northwestern Line”

“In northwest Lyon County back in 1872,

They started laying railroad tracks and soon a village grew;

They called the station ‘Pumpa’ but was only for a while,

The town was then called Nordland and moved east about a mile.

Chorus:

They listened to the rumble, as down the track it went

East out of Minneota and headed on toward Ghent.

When the train pulled into Marshall, it was usually on time;

There was no finer railroad than the old Northwestern line.

There was that time in late July of 1879,

It marked a special milestone for the old Northwestern line.

One hundred-sixty Icelanders got off the train to stay;

The town’s whole population more than doubled on that day.

Throughout the 1880s and beyond that time as well,

The train was one of splendor, so the old folks used to tell.

It had a sleek appearance, as most everyone did know;

If one was wont to travel, was the only way to go.

Then came that time in 1920 – after World War I,

The day they played the championship game down at Lamberton.

A special train was chartered, several hundred people came,

They wanted to see that New Ulm-Minneota game.

And then in 1930, yes, in August, to be sure,

Another new development – a big one – did occur.

As the train left Canby traveling at its usual ‘gait,’

A Northland Greyhound bus passed by on Highway 68.

Though the train quit hauling passengers, its end was nowhere near,

‘Twas in the 1950s that it reached its record year.

Then livestock, poultry corn and grain were hauled, plus general freight;

The people thought the railroad line was nothing short of great.

To the distress of many folks the day arrived at last,

When Gary-Tracy line became a memory of the past.

For on the sixth of January 1981,

The Chicago and Northwestern came through on its final run.”

Sources: History of Lyon County, Minn, 1912, A.P. Rose; Lyon County, Minn., C.F.Case; The Tracy-Gary Railroad – 1872-1981-Chicago and Northwestern, Ralph Larson.

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