After 30 years in the making and 165 miles of construction through the Northwoods, the Mesabi Trail is finally complete.
Local leadership and project officials gathered at Tower’s Depot Park on Tuesday to cut the ribbon at the nearby trailhead.
The Mesabi Trail passes through 28 Iron Range communities and brought together countless organizations, agencies, elected officials, volunteers and funders to bring its full length to fruition.
“No single organization, funding source or individual could have built what we see here today. This trail is the product of three decades of partnership and persistence,” said IRRRB commissioner Ida Rukavina.
Speakers shared stories of trail advocates from every era of the project’s long history.
St. Louis County Commissioner Paul McDonald gave a particular shoutout to former congressional representatives Jim Oberstar, Dave Tomassoni and Tom Rukavina, who collectively secured millions of dollars in state bonds and federal grants.
Some of the trail’s first segments were funded by a recreational trail program grant secured by Oberstar, McDonald said, who later also secured financing for the development of the trail’s home base in Eveleth’s Mesabi Station building.
Mesabi Trail Work Group chair Bob Whalen praised the efforts of project manager Bob Manzoline, who Whalen said was among the first people to push the trail forward by bringing authority and funding to the efforts.
Construction was never easy, especially in the early days as trail proponents faced challenging landscapes, routing puzzles and pushback from landowners.
“Some of these places that Bob and I went to, they were saying, you know, these bicyclists, they’re going to rob us and steal our batteries from our snowmobiles and rob and pillage. They didn’t quite understand what bicyclists do,” Whalen joked.
State representative Roger Skraba (R-Ely) joined the working group in 1994. He said many, including himself, were skeptical at first but eventually became project advocates.
Manzoline approached the Ely City Council that same year, when Skraba was a council member, to propose a bike trail into Ely on the snowmobile trail.
“We said, we aren’t giving up the snowmobile trail for a bike trail. No way, no how. So we go out and look at the trail, and he explains to me what’s going on, and the next thing you know, we have a bike trail on the snowmobile trail,” Skraba said.
Though the trail marks its 30th anniversary this year, Whalen said planning began at least eight years before breaking ground in 1996.
“It has been an absolute joy from the very beginning to see how this trail was put together,” Whalen said.
State senator Grant Hauschild (DFL-Hermantown) said the trail will “allow people to experience the best of northern Minnesota,” whether they are locals or visitors.
“We have the most beautiful part of the state of Minnesota, and arguably the country,” Hauschild said.
“This is a project we can all be proud of,” Hauschild said.
McDonald sees a future where the trail might extend north to Cook along Lake Vermilion, south to the Munger near Cloquet, east to Lake Superior’s North Shore and west to the Paul Bunyan State Trail.
“These trails are transformative,” Skraba said. “Embrace them.”
The celebration continued throughout the week.
