Devil's Lake near Pine City

[DetectorGuy]

I haven't done any real research on the possible trainwreck except online. There have been many people in the past asking questions to find out more about it, but not many answers to the questions. Near as I can tell there was a train wreck on the west side of Devils Lake. The local historian has a photo of the wreck with the lake in the background of the photo. I went up on the tracks on Saturday and I could see the curvature in the track layout where in the past the tracks swept closer to the lake than they are now. It appears that the train was heading North and the hillside gave away right after this sharp curve in the tracks. In the water there are several large stumps and 36" diameter logs with a distinct "V" cut on one end right in this area adjacent to the tracks. The underwater hillside drops very rapidly here at about a 45 degree slope. Many of the questions being asked are about a circus train in the late 1800's that derailed here.
One question from 2008:
2627. Train wreck, MN 1800s, 13 Oct 2008 - My sister lives in Pine City MN. We have heard stories of a 1800's Circus train wreck. The trail tracks run along a lake and I believe the story may be true. Its said a circus train derailed into Devils lake in Pine City, Minnesota. Devils Lake is 90 feet deep and the Circus train is at the bottom. Do you have any information that may help solve this mystery? Thank you, Christine. Reply to this message, replies go to this board, not to the message sender.

Reply: 15 Oct 2008 - Have you tried contact the Minnesota Historical Soc in St Paul? They do have some information on Circus's is Minnesota. NedCircus@aol.com

Here is a link to part of a book with photos of a train next to Devils Lake, but not of the actual derailment:


Not really related to Devils lake, but here is a report from the Army in 1880 river depths in Minnesota and this portion is about the Snake River:

If you scroll up a couple pages to page 1827, it talks about two steamboats on the Snake. One was 60' and the other was 110' long... Interesting.