Archive Dive: The Locomotive Minnetonka

Visitors to Duluth’s Lake Superior Railroad Museum have seen this week’s archive topic first-hand and fully restored. The Locomotive Minnetonka arrived in Duluth in 1870 on a boat to be used by the Northern Pacific Railroad to carry construction materials to today’’s Carlton and beyond, playing an instrumental role in the railroad’s construction west across Minnesota and the Dakotas. Read about the life of this little workhorse and discover how it ended up back in Duluth here.

The Minnetonka, aka “Old Betsy, the Queen of Polson Railroad.” Today the Minnetonka lives at the Lake Superior railroad Museum in Duluth. (Image: Twin Ports Rail History Collection)