Capital Investment Committee hears pitch for Casey Jones Trail Funding


Deb Nelson with the Friends of the Casey Jones Trail Association speaks to members of the Minnesota House Capital Investment Committee during the committee’s stop in Pipestone on Oct. 20. Also pictured are (l-to-r) members of the Friends of the Casey Jones Trail Association Mike Zinnel, of Hadley, and Jakob Ertheim, site coordinator at the End-O-Line Railroad Park and Museum in Currie, and Minnesota House District 22A Rep. Joe Schomacker.

Members of the Minnesota House Capital Investment Committee stopped in Pipestone Wednesday morning, Oct. 20 to learn about the Casey Jones Trail and a request for $900,000 to continue the trail east of Woodstock. The group was scheduled to meet at the trail head in Pipestone, hear the presentation and take a tour of the trail, but the event was moved to the Pipestone Performing Arts Center (PPAC) due to a thunderstorm.

The visit was part of the committee’s tour through southwest Minnesota and a series of statewide tours that began at the end of September and will end in November. During the tours of different parts of the state, the members visit locations where funding is being sought for various projects in the upcoming bonding session. Deb Nelson with the Friends of the Casey Jones Trail Association said she requested in April that the Casey Jones Trail be added to the committee’s tour of southwest Minnesota.

Gathered at the PPAC were members of the committee, Friends of the Casey Jones Trail Association members, mayors and county commissioners from the area, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) representatives, and Minnesota House District 22A Rep. Joe Schomacker, who welcomed the group to Pipestone.

“It’s really great to be here to help you learn a little bit more about the Casey Jones Trail,” Schomacker said. “It’s a little bit under water at the moment, but it’s a really nice trail and I’ve been working on this project unsuccessfully for the last 11 years.”

Schomacker pointed out that the Casey Jones Trail was the “original” state trail in Minnesota, having been designated a state trail in 1967.

“Because of the way that was set up, it doesn’t take the Legacy funding for parks and trails,” he said. “It needs to have its own allocation within the bonding bill for that.”

Nelson told the group that more than 50 years after the trail was designated, it includes eight miles of paved trail from Pipestone to the east and a six-mile loop trail at Lake Shetek State Park. She said the goal for the trail is a 100-mile stretch from Luverne to Redwood Falls through Rock, Pipestone, Murray and Redwood counties.

Slayton Mayor Miron Carney said that at the current rate of expansion, he estimates that the trail would reach the 100-mile goal in around 325 years. He asked what it would take to move the Casey Jones Trail up on the state’s priority list. Schomacker said that whenever he speaks to the DNR about the matter, it comes down to traffic.

“If we build it, they’ll come,” Nelson said.

She said that while the Casey Jones Trail has not progressed much, a system of paved trails has been developed throughout other areas of the state. She asked the committee members to support the Friends of the Casey Jones Trail Association’s request for $900,000 for design and construction of two miles of trail east of Woodstock that the DNR owns.

“Every mile of trail in the state of Minnesota has a story to tell,” Nelson said. “We ask that you please help us tell our story.”

Fellow members of the Friends of the Casey Jones Trail Association Mike Zinnel, of Hadley, and Jakob Ertheim, site coordinator at the End-O-Line Railroad Park and Museum in Currie, spoke of the benefit trails have for physical and mental health, tourism and the economy.

“We really deserve here in southwest Minnesota some trails,” Etrheim said. “They really are a great tourism bringer and tourism brings money to our economies.”

Committee members asked several questions about the trail during the gathering. After about a half-hour, Pipestone Mayor Myron Koets thanked everyone for coming and brought the conversation to a close by saying that continuing the trail could be an integral part of bringing more tourism to the region. The committee members then grabbed some coffee and snacks before moving on to their next stop.

Schomacker said later in the week that it was the first time in recent history that the committee’s tour has included Pipestone and that he considers it “a really good sign when they stop in to visit the project.”