In the mid-1800s, hundreds of Red River carts rolled down from the Winnipeg area in the summer and passed through Sherburne County on the way to St. Paul. Later on, the Winnipeg-St. Paul rail connection brought grain from the fields of Manitoba and Saskatchewan south to the mills of Minneapolis.

        This historic trail was also the route of the great 1917 500-mile dogsled race sponsored by the St. Paul Winter Carnival and fictionalized in the movie Iron Will.  Eleven teams started in Winnipeg on January 24, but only five finished at Como Park on February 3.  The arduous race and bitterly cold and snowy weather took its toll.

Most of the participants were Canadian. Albert Campbell, the eventual winner, was a mixed blood Cree trapper from Manitoba and had won the 150-mile Le Pas dog-team sweepstakes in 1916.