On May 10th, 1869 the Transcontinental Railroad joined the eastern and western states of the union. For nearly 100 years thereafter the United States enjoyed a "golden age" of rail as thousands of miles of railway bound the nation together. But after World War II, President Eisenhower's massive interstate highway program marked the beginning of the end for much of the railway system that served the US heartland. Although the rails were removed some of that old roadbed remains and today's hiking-biking trail system is using some of the miles of abandoned right of way as does the Wapsi - Great Western Line Trail. In 1990 the trail began from its trailhead in Riceville, Iowa, a small rural city on Iowa Hwy 9, just west of US Hwy 63 that connects Rochester MN and Waterloo, IA. This northeastern Iowa trail grew gradually with a screened limestone surface for several years. By 1999 it extended 18 miles to the Iowa-Minnesota state line . Since then, much of it has been paved with more paving in progress this year. And connections are also being developed southward from Riceville toward trails that link with Elma and someday on to Cedar Falls, Dubuque and Davenport. Just 4 miles beyond the northern end of the trail at the IA-MN state line, Minnesota's Shooting Star Trail passes nearby. Supporters of that trail hope to add a branch down to the state line to connect its current 14 paved miles between LeRoy, Lake Louise State Park and Adams with 7 more miles of construction underway westward to Rose Creek. The dream is for these two trails to be the interconnect between the networks of state trails of Iowa and Minnesota. | 
