Since 1973, all incorporated towns were declared officially to be ‘cities’ by an act of the Minnesota Legislature. Ever wonder about those ‘little cities’? This series of 100 waymarks will take you to all corners of the great state of Minnesota to visit the 100 smallest of the incorporated cities in the state. All have a great story to tell.
This is the 87th of 100 of the cities described in the book LITTLE MINNESOTA. Trail is a city in far northeastern Polk County. When the federal government opened portions of the Red Lake Indian Reservation to settlement in 1896, settlers arrived to stake their claim. Norwegian immigrants Iver & Beret Strand were ready when the gun was fired beginning the race for land. Traveling from North Dakota by train and then lumber wagon to their homestead in Trail, Iver named his farm the River View Farm and kept the farm in the family until 1974, a total of 78 years.
RAIL was named for its location where a former trail between the Red River Valley and the Red Lake Agency was crossed by the railway. Incorporated in 1950, Trail is currently the home to 46 persons. If you are looking for a great place to learn ballroom dancing, look no further than the Trail’s End Bar. Oktoberfest celebrates polka & schottische dancing with the dancing held in the former pool hall built in 1939 by Andrew Weber.
This series of waymarks is tuned to getting people to visit these wonderful small communities before they disappear completely. To validate your ‘find’, please post a photo of you with your GPS at the coordinates and please relate a little tidbit about what you learned about the town and its people that is not in this narrative or the book. You can learn more about ‘LITTLE MINNESOTA’ by logging on to (
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