October 22, 2015: Northern Bruce Vento/Northern BNSF Regional Trail Hike (Maplewood)

Join the hiking group for a hike along the northern portion of the Bruce Vento/BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad) Regional Trail in northern St. Paul and Maplewood. A "rails-to-trails" trail developed by Ramsey County, this trail follows a former Burlington Northern rail line.

U. S. Congressman Bruce Vento (1940-2000) was a 12-term liberal Democrat from St. Paul who championed environmental and homeless causes, including efforts to ban oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, efforts to preserve tropical rain forests, and efforts to make it easier for the Hmong who fought with the U.S. in the Vietnam War to become U.S. citizens. Vento died of malignant mesothelioma, a cancer apparently caused by inhaling asbestos fibers as a young worker at a St. Paul East Side manufacturing plant.

The BNSF dates back to 1849, initially as the Aurora Branch Railroad. The Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) was created in 1970 by the merger of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company (CB&Q), the Northern Pacific Railway Company (NP), the Great Northern Railway Company (GN), and the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway Company (SP&S). In 1980, the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Company (Frisco) was merged into the BN and the merger in the late 1990’s of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway is reflected in the choice of the current name of the railroad. The BNSF is an aggregation of a total of 330 prior railroads.

Directions: From Highway 36 east of I-35E, take the White Bear Avenue exit and go south on White Bear Avenue a few blocks to the Maplewood Community Center, 2100 White Bear Ave, just south of the intersection of County Road B. The Community Center is on the east side of the road and has a large parking lot with several entrances. If you are going south on White Bear Avenue and pass under the large walk bridge, you have gone too far. Meet at the south end of the Community Center parking lot.

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This webpage was last updated on October 17, 2015.