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History of the Elroy-Sparta Trail |
| The building of the railroad line which is
now the Elroy-Sparta Trail became possible when the Chicago-North Western Railroad
purchased a company called the LaCrosse, Trempealeau and Prescott Railroad Company. This
allowed them to build a railroad from Winona Junction through Sparta, Wisconsin
to Elroy, Wisconsin, giving them a direct line from St. Paul, Minnesota to Chicago,
Illinois. The Chicago-North Western Railroad completed building the railroad between Winona Junction, Sparta and Elroy in September of 1873. At this time all of the railroad traffic from Southern Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Northern Iowa traveled this route to Madison, Wisconsin and Chicago, Illinois.
Where possible, machines like this could be used to remove large quantities of rock and dirt, but the three tunnels were dug by hand, using horses, mules and oxen to haul the debris. This was further complicated by springs in the tunnels and run-off from the steep hills near the tunnels. In the early days of railroad operation from 1873 - 1911 the rail traffic between Sparta and Elroy consisted of 6 daily passenger trains and 40 to 50 daily freight trains. Many of these were made up of carloads of livestock of various species being sent to the Chicago stock yards. East of the Depot at Kendall the railroad built a 14 stall roundhouse to house the pusher or helper engine. A turntable was also located there to turn the engines around. Kendall was the end of the "hill division" therefore the pusher engines were housed there to assist the regular steam locomotives through the tunnels and grades between Kendall and Sparta.
Whistle posts alerted engineers to blow a series of blasts -- two long, one short, and one long -- to warn crossroad traffic of the oncoming train. Diesel horns have replaced steam whistles on trains across the country, but whistle posts are still used. Through the years rail traffic tapered off and the last trains ran on the line in 1964. In 1965 the Chicago-North Western Railroad removed the tracks and sold the right of way to the Wisconsin Conservation Department (now known as the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources). Improvements were made on the roadbed, including resurfacing with limestone screenings, and the 34 bridges have been planked and protected by railings. The Elroy-Sparta Trail is considered to be the first rails to trails hiking and biking trail in the nation.
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