Getting around on the Minnesota River
To the editor: I did like the little article about the Minnesota River, but I wish you would have mentioned that the Minnesota River and steam-powered boats were the main means of transportation after row boats in the early years. In January 1870, an article in the New Ulm Post says the steamer made 39 trips to the river from May to Nov. 18, and of those trips, two were to Redwood Falls. A million pounds of freight was brought in and more than four million pounds of freight was taken out. Remember, this was before the railroad. There is also a story of a freighter that went up the ...