1: Oxcart Trails to Railroads to Highways

2: Guide Creation Information

Guide Author	Mary Johnson
District	Sauk Rapids-Rice District #47, retired
Date Created	05/23/2011
Guide Description	This guide is designed to help students understand the progression from the oxcart trails that were used for transportation in the 1800s, to the railroads in the late 1800s, to the creation and development of the highway system in the 1900s in Minnesota. Students will compare maps including the oxcart trails, plat maps, railroad maps, and state highway maps. These trails, railroads, and highways have been used to transport people and goods across the state and to destinations in the West. With the use of the maps, the readings, photographs, and posters, students will be able to visualize these connections.

3: Guide Characteristics

Title of Main Academic Standard used in Guide	Minnesota Draft K-12 Academic Standards in Social Studies April 29, 2011
Grade Level	4
Learning Level	Introductory
National Holiday/Special Occasion (optional)
Source Format Emphasized	Maps, pictures, books, pamphlets, poster
Geographic Region Emphasized (optional)	Western half of Minnesota and Duluth
Other Minnesota Reflections Guide(s) Related to this Guide (optional)

4: Main Standard Emphasized in Guide

Standard Title	Minnesota Draft K-12 Academic Standards in Social Studies April 29, 2011
Category	Social Studies
Strand	US/World History
Sub-strand	People, culture, and change in time
Standard	Historians use maps to understand political and physical changes over time.
Benchmark 1: standard number	4.1.2.1.1
Benchmark 1: text	Compare and contrast a contemporary map and an earlier map of the same area and explain changes over time.
Benchmark 2: standard number
Benchmark 2: text
Benchmark 3: standard number
Benchmark 3: text

Benchmark 4: standard number
Benchmark 4: text

5: Another Standard Emphasized in Guide (optional)

Standard Title	Minnesota Draft K-12 Academic Standards in Social Studies April 29, 2011
Category	Social Studies
Strand	Geography
Sub-strand	The World in Spatial Terms
Standard	Maps, globes, and remotely sensed images are used to display and analyze geographic information
Benchmark 1: standard number	4.3.6.1.2
Benchmark 1: text	Use different kinds of thematic maps, including overlaying thematic maps, to analyze places.
Benchmark 2: standard number	4.3.6.1.4
Benchmark 2: text	Choose the most appropriate maps and graphics in an atlas to answer specific questions about geographic issues.
Benchmark 3: standard number
Benchmark 3: text
Benchmark 4: standard number
Benchmark 4: text

6: Additional Standards and/or Skills (reading, math, media literacy, interdisciplinary)

Reading: standard number	4.2.2.2
Reading: standard text	Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text.
Math: standard number
Math: standard text
Media Literacy: standard number
Media Literacy: standard text
Interdisciplinary Connection

Minnesota Reflections Resources

7: Search Strategy

Things to Think About	Compare maps to see the relationship between oxcart trails, railroad lines, and highways. How closely related are these transportation lines? Who used each of these modes of transportation? Besides people, what items were transported? How did these transportation lines impact the population and the economy? Discuss the development of roads from dirt, to gravel, to paved roads, to highways and interstate systems. The readings and photos should be used to provide context for these questions.
Keywords	Trails, highway maps, Northern Pacific Railroad, Dakota travel, grain elevators, oxcart, Red River Trail, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad
Other ideas (to assist with discovery)	The 1870 State of Minnesota Atlas contains a wealth of maps of counties and towns in Minnesota. These plat maps could be used to show the development of other highways in the state along with population growth. Searching "Red River Trail" provides photographs related to the oxcart trail. Photos of early locomotives are found by searching "St. Paul and Pacific Railroad."
Challenges to finding resources on this standard	While there are Department of Transportation highway maps of Minnesota from 1919 to the present, the challenge came in finding maps of the oxcart trails. Some maps in this guide came from Google images.

8: Minnesota Reflections Top Picks

Title	Date created	Description	Format (photo, map, letter...)	"Cite the Item" link
An Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Minnesota (Page 181)	1870	Clay, Wilkin, Becker, Otter Tail, Wadena Counties with the Northern Pacific RR following the Woods oxcart trail which will become part of Hwy 10. Use these maps to identify early railroads and roads.	Book, County plat map	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/mhs,1046
An Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Minnesota (Page 184)	1870	Douglas and Pope Co. with the proposed section of the St. Paul & Pacific RR (I 94) and the Old Fort Amberchrombie Rd (Hwy 55). Both follow branches of the East Plains oxcart trail.	Book, County plat map	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/mhs,1049
An Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Minnesota (Page 180)	1870	Grant, Traverse, Big Stone, Stevens Co. - includes the main line of the St. Paul & Pacific RR which becomes Hwy 9.	Book, county plat map	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/mhs,1045
An Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Minnesota (Page 183)	1870	Northern MN – St. Louis and Carlton Co. which include the road going north to the Vermillion iron range	Book, county plat map	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/mhs,1048
Map of Duluth: Roads and Trails Leading Out of Duluth to the Vermillion Range Before 1869	1933	This map shows the trails to the Vermillion Iron Range; compare this map to the previous map or to a highway map	Map	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/nemhc,2753
Map of MN showing the Status of Improvement of State Roads	1919	First road map published by the MN State Highway Department. Use this map, along with the plat maps and highway maps to observe the progression of the transportation system.	Map	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/mdt,212
MN Trunk Highways Improvement Progress Map	1922	This map shows which roads are paved, gravel, dirt, etc. Use this map to illustrate the road building process.	Map	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/mdt,214
Railroad Commissioners' Map	1919	Map shows all the railroads in MN in 1919. Compare this map to the plat maps and highway maps to observe the development of the railroad system.	Map	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/mpls,158
1951 Official Highway Map of Minnesota	1951	Map shows all the highways in the state	Map	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/mdt,1172
1959 Official Highway Map of Minnesota	1959	Map shows I-94 replacing Hwy 52	Map	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/mdt,1193
Stockwood Fill Railroad trestle, Hawley, MN	1906-09	Photo of the RR trestle which was part of a three year project to re-grade a portion of the track in the Red River Valley.	Photo	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/cwc,130
Morrison County, MN: The Domain of Better Farms	1925-26	This article discusses the location of Little Falls in the center of the state. The area has excellent farmland, water power, and is connected to the rest of the state by two railroads.	Pamphlet	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/mor,138
Minnesota's Resources	1910	Page 6 of this pamphlet promotes agriculture in Minnesota – easy to read.	Pamphlet	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/mhs,702
Depot and Grain Elevators, Chokio, MN	1900	Photo shows that the grain elevators are close to the railroad depot for easy transportation.	Photo	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/ste,1311
Frank Gieselman hauling grain, Chokio, MN	1919	This farmer is taking his grain to the elevator. Note the "modern" tractor and wagons.	Photo	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/ste,1370
Shumakers at Home	1890	At this time there was no railroad from Morris to Ortonville, so the lumber for this house was brought by oxcart.	Photo	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/bsc,2359
Ross Indian Village, Dieter Township, MN	1887	Members of this village proudly pose for this picture. There is an oxcart in the background	Photo	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/ros,240
Northern Pacific Railroad Line	1879	Advertisement by the RR to take people to the Black Hills and other points west.	Poster	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/mhs,504
Plat Book of Stearns County Minnesota 1896	1896	Map of the southern half of Minnsota with the early highways (the page before has the northern half)	Book	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/stearns,369

9: Specific Minnesota Reflections Collection(s) to Consider (optional)

An Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Minnesota contains numerous plat maps from 1870 for counties and cities. I only selected a few that I felt were the best match with the oxcart trails, railroads, and highways. Many of the maps show early railroads and roads that eventually became highways.

10: Helpful Tips (optional)

Besides numerous maps in the 1870 Atlas, there are highway maps for every year from 1919 to the present. I only selected a few to give an idea of information contained in these maps. Additional railroad maps are available in American Memory –see link in section 12 (below). There are also many photographs related to the railroad and grain elevators. Searching keywords such as farming, iron mining, and lumbering would provide many more pictures to support the types of products transported by the railroads. The last page of many issues of The Normalia, the SCSU student newspaper, provides a railroad schedule and advertisements. Other transportation advertisements, such as the Greyhound Bus Line are available. Besides using the highway maps in Minnesota Reflections, a current highway map for each student or group of students may be helpful. To add a "feel" of authenticity, print the maps on tan paper.

11: Ideas for Lesson Plans Using this Guide (optional)

By comparing maps, or using technology to impose one map onto another, one can see the main routes that were used in Minnesota. Begin with a map of the oxcart trails, then a plat map or the railroad map, and finally a highway map; students are able to compare how closely the routes overlap. By comparing and contrasting more recent maps to earlier maps, students will begin to see the change over time from one mode of transportation to the next. The photographs and readings will help students visualize and analyze the modes of transportation, along with who and what was transported over these routes. To capture student interest, an introductory lesson could use one plat map, perhaps from the students' county, and compare it to a current highway map to see the connection between early roads and railway lines to present-day highways. For more in-depth analysis, use more of the maps along with the railroad map. An extension of the lesson could focus on the maps from the Duluth area along with photos of mining and lumbering. More in-depth study of the plat maps will show areas of settlement. This too could be compared to a contemporary state map, especially in northern Minnesota, to show settlement and population growth.

12: Other Online Collections that Help Teach this Standard (optional)

Go to Google and search "oxcart" under "images" – there are several maps and pictures.

MN 150, at the Minnesota Historical Society's Web page:

http://discovery.mnhs.org/MN150/index.php?title=Red_River_Trails

Railroad Maps 1828-1900 at the Library of Congress's American Memory site:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/rrhtml/rrhome.html

A photo of an oxcart used by early settlers of Minnesota in the Library of Congress collection:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa1998019712/PP/