Cruising along on my way to Little Falls last week, I was appreciating the smooth, well cleared winter road, and its efficient route past farms and thru towns. I figure most of Minnesota's rural roads are updated pioneer trails just because I like the idea. I can imagine making the trip home from town with a loaded wagon or sleigh--avoiding hills, and swamps, and deciding where to cross the creek, would be important.
Two articles from the Pierz Journal about roads: by 1912, there were many more automobiles using the farm roads, going faster than horses could, so roads needed grading and de-rutting. Up to that time, if a road was too pitted, a local farmer would do maintenance with a drag behind a team. But now it looks like townies got involved. This second article is fun because of all the people and places named. I'll add a 1912 plat map to see if we can figure where they meant. Click to enlarge 😏
(If you can't read the maps here, try the original plat book from Minnesota Reflections website. I set it to the Little Falls-Agram-Pierz townships page, but it reverts to the whole plat book. Click the townships on the right and be patient. Enlarge it there with the slider just above the map window, ok?)
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