The Red River Trail was the 19th Century answer to communication over the frontier between the early settlements on the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers and Lord Selkirk’s settlements in Canada. Trails, such as this, were not marked. They weren’t even trails. Actually, they were a direction – running across what is now Minnesota from the present site of Minneapolis and St. Paul to Pembina. The Red River Trail followed three main lines, one of which ran through what is now Kandiyohi County in a northwesterly direction. Since the trail was not defined, it became a broad track (sometimes miles wide) over which the teamsters guided their oxcarts. It was only when the trail passed near a lake that all the cart tracks converged into a comparatively narrow band. The portion of the highway along the southwest shore of Diamond Lake has been built over one of these bands.

Where: This marker is located at Sibley State Park west of New London in the Main Office parking lot.