| Introduction |
| Before there were numbered highways there
were Auto Trails, long distance roads with names rather than numbers,
sponsered by community associations rather than State highway departments.
The age of auto trails lasted from the late 1910s to the 1930s, when the
depression forced most of the associations out of business and numbered routes
had become ubitiquous. Although most of these names have faded into history,
a few of the more important national are still common names. The Lincoln
Highway and the Dixie Highway, for example. These listing are for auto trails that were registered with the Minnesota Department of Highways from 1917 to 1923. Precise colors are difficult to determine as the registration sheets were simply colored in with markers and have yellowed and faded with age. Since the signs weren't centrally fabricated and in some cases were simply painted on telephone poles, no doubt there was considerable variation in the field. |
| Big 4 Lakes
Trail |
|
Year Established: 1924 Termini: Elk River, Bena Comments: Established well after the debut of numbered highways, in fact the terminus is listed as "connecting with TH #8" (The predicessor to US 2). |
| Black and Yellow Trail |
|
Year Established: 1917 Termini: State line at La Crescent, State Line in Lincoln County Comments: Part of a national route to the Black Hills and Yellowstone. Generally replaced by US 14 |
| Black Diamond
Trail |
|
Year Established: 1918 Termini: Duluth, Fargo, ND Comments: Generally replaced by US 10 and US 210. |
| The Burlington
Way |
|
Year Established: 1918 Termini: Spring Valley, Minneapolis Comments: |
| Cooley Highway |
|
Year Established: 1918 Termini: Grand Rapids, Sisseton, SD Comments: |
| East and West
Highway |
|
Year Established: 1918 Termini: Saint Paul, Browns Valley Comments: Generally replaced by US 12 |
| Glacier Trail |
|
Year Established: 1918 Termini: Minneapolis, Breckenridge Comments: Part of a national route terminating at Glacier National Park. We don't have mountain goats here in Minnesota... |
| Dvorak Highway |
|
Year Established:
1928 Termini: Iowa Border, Preston Comments: Continued to Calmar, IA. Iowa section recently resurrected as Dvorak Memorial Highway, although the new signs look nothing like the originals. |
| The Hammond
Highway |
|
Year Established:
1919 Termini: Worthington, Red Wing Comments: |
| Indian Trail |
|
Year Established: 1922 Termini: Norwood (now Norwood-Young America), Redwood Falls Comments: The route description lists the numbered trunk highways that this route follows. |
| Jefferson
Highway |
|
Year Established: 1917 Termini: Iowa border south of Albert Lea, Pembina, ND Comments: Part of a National route. One of the more well known Auto Trails. Marker on US 65 at the Iowa border commemorates the completion. Name lives on as the name of old US 169 north of Osseo. |
| King of Trails |
|
Established:
1917 Termini: Iowa border, Manitoba Border Comments: Generally followed US 75, which was named the King of Trails by the legislature recently. There is an active King of Trails association. |
| Lake Region
Highway |
|
Established: 1923 Termini: Buffalo, Tenney Comments: Tenney now has the distinction of being Minnesota's smallest town , population 7. |
| Lake Superior
International Highway |
|
Established:
28 miles Routing: Cass County 10 and Beltrami County 39 from US 2 to Blackduck. Comments: The predicessor to the the famous North Shore Drive. The right hand side of the sign is an outline of the Arrowhead region of the state, tapering to a stylized arrow base to the left. |
| Little Crow Trail |
|
Distance: 1924 Routing: Willmar, Glenwood Comments: This region is commonly known as the Little Crow Lakes area. |
| Minnesota
Scenic Highway |
|
Year Established: 1917 Termini: St. Paul, Elk River Comments: Made a huge loop through the northwestern part of the state |
| Mississippi
River Scenic Highway |
|
Established: 1920 Termini: Iowa border south of Caledonia, Hallock Comments: |
| Mississippi
Valley Highway |
|
Established: 1920 Termini: Cannon Falls, White Bear Lake Comments: Alternate design had a simple "V" in the middle stripe |
| National
Parks Highway |
|
Year Established: 1918 Termini: La Crescent, Moorhead Comments: |
| The Nelson
Trail |
|
Year Established: 1917 Termini: Iowa Border near Worthington, Lake Itasca Comments: |
| North Star
Trail |
|
Year Established: 1919 Termini: Iowa border near Fairmont, Duluth Comments: Apparently also or later known as the Red Star Route |
| Pershing
Way |
|
Year Established: 1919 Termini: Canadian Border, Comments: |
| Red Ball
Route |
|
Year Established: 1917 Termini: St. Paul, Iowa Border near Lyle Comments: National terminus at St. Louis. A possible sign varient was the red ball on a white background. |
| Red Cross
Trail |
|
Year Established: 1920 Termini: Wayzata, Glencoe Comments: |
| Sherman Way |
|
Year Established: 1917 Termini: Iowa Border near Worthington to Lake Itasca Comments: |
| Souix Historic
Trail |
|
Year Established: 1918 Termini: St Paul, Pembina Comments: No apparent connection with the 1950's vintage legislatively named Souix Trail. In these politically correct days, you'd never see a marker like this one, or even the name "Souix" instead of "Dakota". |
| Southern
Division of Burlington Way |
|
Year Established: 1919 Termini: Cannon Falls, White Bear Lake Comments: Met the main branch of the Burlington Way in the Twin Cities area. |
| Southern
Minnesota Air Line |
|
Year Established: 1919 Termini: South Dakota border at Beaver Creek, Wisconsin Border at La Crescent Comments: Generally replaced by US 16. |
| Theodore
Roosevelt International Highway |
|
Year Established: 1919 Termini: Duluth, North Dakota border Comments: National route |
| Wilson Highway |