Welcome

The Mill Towns Trail is a scenic recreational trail in southeastern Minnesota, currently partially built. When completed the trail will link existing trails: the Cannon Valley Trail from Cannon Falls to Red Wing, and the Sakatah Singing Hills Trails between Faribault and Mankato. (See the maps below.) The Mill Towns name recognizes the historic mills that were once important to the economy of this area.

Friends of the Mill Towns Trail formed in 1992. Over three decades later, we still work to support the completion of the trail.

News

Friends meeting: Wed. 29 October 2025 UPDATE: 5:00 p.m., Northfield Memorial Pool

The next meeting of Friends of the Mill Towns Trail is now at 5:00 p.m., Wednesday 29 October 2025. Park at Memorial Pool, 801 7th St E, Northfield MN 55057, and we will carpool to the construction site for a tour, weather permitting. If it rains, go to Downtown Bicycles, 321 Division Street S., Northfield MN 55057. All are welcome. We will be getting an update on the construction of the trail from Woodley St. Northfield to the Waterford Bridge. So come and hear about the progress we have made together! (Updated 14 October 2025.)

Mill Towns Trail advancing in 2025-2026

In 2025-2026 the central portion of the trail will extend in both directions, with scheduled construction north from Northfield and south within Dundas. See: "Northfield and Dundas councils move forward on Mill Towns Trail project," Northfield News, 11 February 2025. (May require payment.) Information about what is planned during this phase is also available on the City of Northfield website. (Posted 5 May 2025.)

Follow this news via RSS

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an easy way of getting news feeds on your phone or computer. Any RSS app or RSS browser-plugin should be able to read this RSS file and let you know whenever we post news. (Posted 5 May 2025.)

Support the Mill Towns Trail

We encourage everyone to join us, participate and make donations. Here's how you can get involved:

Become a member

Write to us (info@milltownstrail.net or Box 282 Northfield MN 55057) to ask about membership. Members receive progress reports and provide the support needed to continue to plan and publicize the trail, seek grants, and enlist wider support.

Attend a meeting

Our meetings are held about quarterly on weekday evenings at Tom's Downtown Bicycles in downtown Northfield. The more people we have at our meetings, the more good ideas we have to work with.

Make a donation

Send donations to Friends of Mill Towns Trail, Box 282, Northfield, MN 55057. Donations are vital. We have used contributions to pay planners and design engineers, to cover matching grants, and to help fund enhancements to the trail such as decorative cement blocks and the Dundas trailhead kiosk. The money our supporters provide is crucial to the success of this project.

Maps

The Minnesota DNR's map from 2023 is simple and lists the rules.

The Friends of the Mill Towns Trail's map requires a little more computer skills but lets you move around to see a lot of information.

The City of Northfield's map shows plans for the construction through Northfield scheduled for 2024-2026.

About the Mill Towns Trail

History

The communities along the Mill Towns Trail have both natural and cultural histories in common. They share the broad Cannon River Valley and have made use of the river's energy through the creation of a series of mill dams between 1850 and 1910. Local historian Tom Neuhaus has identified thirty mill sites that are located along the Cannon river between Cannon Falls and Faribault.

It is said that the process of hard wheat milling was perfected in Rice County. When the local mills were first milling wheat, they made flour from the hard spring wheat that grew in this area. This flour was not wholly desirable, due to impurities from specks of wheat bran.

Alexander Faribault learned a French milling process that milled the hard spring wheat into a finer flour. He and the LaCroix brothers from Montreal built a mill based on this technique. The Archibalds, who were milling in Dundas, became interested in the new purifying process, and had the LaCroix brothers install a purifier in their mill. The Dundas flour became known for its quality, and eventually became Gold Medal Flour.

In the five communities through which the Mill Towns State Trail will pass, there are over sixty structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The downtown commercial areas of Faribault, Northfield and Cannon Falls are also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

We recommend this story by Paul R. Fossum of Carleton College: "Early Milling in the Cannon River Valley," Minnesota History 11.3, September 1930, pages 271-282, available at JSTOR.

Our partners

The Mill Towns Trail Joint Powers Board consists of representatives of the City of Faribault, the City of Dundas, the City of Northfield, and Rice County.

Goodhue County, Dakota County, and the City of Cannon Falls are key partners in creating existing and future miles of trail. Goodhue County, Cannon Falls and Red Wing also co-administer the Cannon Valley Trail, which connects to the Mill Towns Trail at Cannon Falls and runs to the Mississippi.

Carleton College is having almost 2.5 miles of trail built on its campus in 2025-2026, along the edge of the Cowling Arboretum. Many thanks to our friends at Carleton for your continued collaboration.

Parks and Trails Council of Minnesota has been a key collaborator, including with the purchase of 70 acres near Cannon Falls.

The Rotary Club of Northfield has provided generous support for this project via Friends of the Mill Towns Trail. We thank them for their partnership.

The Mill Towns Trail is a Minnesota State Trail, administered by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Parks and trails council

We thank the many donors have contributed to the Friends of the Mill Towns Trail. Our funds are smaller than the public funding but facilitate construction by being fast and flexible. Join us and send your donation to Friends of Mill Towns Trail, Box 282, Northfield MN 55057.

Our officers

President: Meg Otten

Treasurer: Ben Playter

Secretary: David Detert

Our old website

The Internet Archive has copies of our old milltownstrail.org website from 2004 to 2018.

Contact us

Friends of the Mill Towns Trail, Box 282, Northfield MN 55057. Please send any questions, comments, corrections and suggestions to info@milltownstrail.net. Photo at Mill Park in Dundas by Deborah Rose, 11 July 2024, copyright Minnesota DNR, used by permission. Edited 8 November 2025.