St. Louis River Trail

Out for exercise? Then why drive to the Munger Trail in Carlton. Get off I35 in Cloquet and start your ride immediately. Take exit 349 at Scanlon. There you will find the beautiful new bike trail into Carlton. The Saint Louis River was completed late last Fall.

The Scanlon Park and Ride provides ample parking. The old Northern Pacific right-of-way makes a beautiful corridor to the Munger Trail access in Carlton. The trail has a remote feeling most of the way. In Carlton it safely guides you to the Munger Trail Access

From the 'Northern Pacific Junction' you can cycle north into Duluth or south to Barnum. You can also access the Alex Leveaux trail through Wrenshall and beyond.


Enjoy the Saint Louis River Trail.

The trail parallels the Saint Louis River which you never see during the Carlton to I 35 Segment! When the trail is extended to Scanlon, you will enjoy some fantastic views of the River. Phase two of construction will extend the Saint Louis River Trail into Scanlon.


The St. Louis River Trail follows a railroad spur built by the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad in 1878


The Northern Pacific Railroad started building westward from Carlton (then called Northern Pacific Junction) on February 15, 1870 the same year the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad completed the link from St. Paul to Duluth on August 1, 1870.

The St. Paul & Duluth constructed the Knife Falls branch in 1879 north from the North Pacific Junction (later renamed Carlton) rail crossroads into Knife Falls (later named Cloquet) to service a new sawmill built in 1878.

Obstacles in the river south of Knife Falls prevented the easy log driving south of this point into Duluth.

With rail transportation established, the local lumber industry boomed.

In 1888, the Duluth & Winnipeg RR began building northwestward from Knife Falls / Cloquet along the St. Louis River. Traffic from this new line was routed into Duluth over this St. Paul & Duluth spur.

Later the Duluth & Winnipeg built tracks eastward out of Cloquet through Esko and into Duluth via the Becks Road corridor. This project left the railroad short of cash and open to takeover by James J. Hill.

Finally, in 1898, Mr. Hill and the Duluth & Winnipeg built a line parallel to this road bed out of Cloquet slightly to the West into Northern Pacific Junction/Carlton, through Wrenshall looping eventually into Superior Wisconsin. The Burlington, Northern & Santa Fe continue to use that trackage.


On June 15, 1900, the Northern Pacific Railroad purchased the St. Paul & Duluth Rail which originally build this spur into Cloquet.


In addition to the St. Louis River, two logging railroads fed pine to the many lumber mills in Cloquet.

The Minnesota & North Wisconsin built west out of Scanlon beginning in 1899 as the Mitchel & McClure passing near Adolph, Wild Rice Lake, north of Duluth, to Alden Lake, Northwest of Knife River.

In 1904 low water levels in the St. Louis River during spring log drives spurred building of the Duluth & Northeastern Railroad out of Cloquet to Island Lake and later to Rush Lake, Harris Junction and Hornby, north of Two Harbors. The Saint Louis River and two logging railroads brought pine into Cloquet. The Northern Pacific Railroad, over this railroad grade, together with the Great Northern a few blocks to the west, hauled the lumber to market.