MN's First Locomotive Steam Engine Luring Tourists To Duluth

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Two weeks after the historic flood, Duluth is urging tourists to return.

And there's something else historic they might want to check out -- Minnesota's first locomotive steam engine.

It was 150 years ago that the William Crooks made its inaugural run from St. Paul to Minneapolis.

And that short trip changed the Twin Cities forever, according to historian Ken Pierre.

"James J. Hill [head of the Great Northern Railroad] and others saw that rail traffic was going to supplant river traffic, because the river froze for four or five months of every year and the trains didn't," Pierre said.

With rail service, St. Paul became a transportation hub and Minneapolis grew into a world-class wheat and manufacturing center.

The William Crooks locomotive is now on display at the Lake Superior Railway Museum in Duluth.

On July 16, the museum will host a reception in conjunction with the Minnesota Regional Railroad Association's annual meeting.