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 An abandoned railroad caboose and several passenger cars lie along an abandoned stretch of railroad near Superior. A purchase agreement has been reached to convert the railroad track into part of the Dickinson County Trails System. (Photo by Anitra Wolf, DCN Staff) [Click to enlarge] |
Trails Board Executive Director Steve Litts met with the Dickinson County Supervisors on Tuesday morning to discuss a real estate transaction regarding the railroad system. Litts was looking for the supervisors to enter into a repurchase agreement with the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation. Under the agreement, which was approved by the supervisors, the foundation will purchase the railroad at a cost of $855,126 with the intention of later selling it to the county. In the meantime, Litts is working to obtain grants totaling this cost.
"This is a significant addition to the recreational trails in Dickinson County," said Litts. "We hooked up recently with Jackson County, Minn. and now we're hooking up with Osceola... This is a goal that we've had out there and it's a great pleasure to bring this to the county."
The railroad purchase includes approximately 37 miles of railroad from the previous owner John Larkin. The rail system runs from one mile west of Superior to Allendorf, about six miles west of Ocheyedan in Osceola County. Litts was also seeking an agreement with the Osceola County Supervisors on Tuesday.
The new trails addition would more than double the length of the trails system, and Litts estimates it will cost about $5 million to complete the rail to trail conversion.
"We're going to be doing a lot of grant writing and other efforts," said Litts. "I can say that this is probably one of the easiest trails you can build because of the railroad bed."
Railroad beds already have a solid base of ballast upon which to build a recreational trail, and this makes railroad beds one of the least expensive trails to construct.
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Why are my commments being deleted?
Why is everybody so excited about this? When school's and roads need money we are wasting money on things we could do with out. The man who said he owned this railroad has not paid taxes he removed the rails when he no right to. Now you reward someone who thinks he is one step above the law. He paid $280000 sells off the scrap metal and now he gets $800000+ for something really should gone back to the farmers that have taken care of the weeds for 10+ years. YES I farm next to this rail line and YES I FEEL RAIL ROADED!!!!!!!!