Officials hoping Scenic Byways will boost towns

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

FARIFAX -- Officials in the towns and cities along the Minnesota River Scenic Byway are hoping a new federal designation for those roads will increase tourism to their towns.

Many of them turned up Saturday afternoon at the depot museum in Farifax to officially celebrate the U.S. Department of Transportation to include the route on its list of nationally-recognized scenic byways.

The Minnesota River Valley Scenic Byway runs from Belle Plaine south through Le Sueur, St. Peter, turns northwest at Mankato and runs through New Ulm and Redwood Falls, following the Minnesota River all the way to Browns Valley, which is western Traverse County just across the river from South Dakota. It includes parts of State Highway 68, Nicollet County Road 21 and State Highway 19 among others.

In order to qualify for such a designation, a road has to attract travelers who would make the trip just to drive down that particular road. The Minnesota River byway is known as the path steaboats used to take while river trading was active in the 1800s. It was also the road that led to Ft. Ridgely and played a role in the Uprising of 1862.

The designation makes any road along the route eligible for some $25 million in money for planning, enhancing and promoting byways all around the country.

Beth Anderson, chair of the Minnesota River Scenic Byway committee, said the idea behind seeking the designation was to bolster the local economies and tax bases in the towns along the route and to increase visibility for towns like Fairfax, Franklin, Morton and Granite Falls.

State Rep. Aaron Peterson, DFL-Madison, said the designation will mean greater attention from travelers.

Some of the sites included along the route are both the Upper and Lower Sioux agencies, Ft. Ridgely, the Harkin Store, the Birch Coulee and Wood Lake battle sites, the Gillfillan farm, Ramsey Park in Redwood Falls, the various monuments in New Ulm, the historic districts in St. Peter and Henderson and the W.W. Mayo house in LeSueur.

The roads had already earned a scenic byway designation from the state of Minnesota.

"The Minnesota River is a beautiful national asset," said State Rep. Lyle Koenen, DFL-Maynard, "If anything, it needs more development."