Trail, Minnesota
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1919 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Trail City. It lies in ZIP code area 56684. The Survey maps it on the Trail quadrangle. 40 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,211 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresTrail fell from 46 to 40 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 46 | |
| 2020 | 40 | -6 (-13%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 11 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1919 USGS Winsor quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Bemidji quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS Bemidji quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Bemidji quadrangle1:250000
- 1972 USGS Trail quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Fosston quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
22 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 22 fires within 5 miles of Trail between 1994 and 2015, burning about 5,608 acres in total. None started naturally. 11 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Arson/incendiarism | 11 |
| Debris and open burning | 6 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 September 2012 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 19 July 2013 | Equipment and vehicle use | 38 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 7 May 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 120 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 6 May 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 3 May 2003 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 9 April 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,140 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | GULLY FIRE |
| 5 April 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 52 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 4 April 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 30 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Trail: 3 producers, 1 unknown. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Gold Pit and Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| East Polk County Pit and Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Northern Sand and Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Weberg Pit and Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
14 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Trail in 14 storm reports between 1995 and 2022: 8 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2013 | Tornado (EF1) | Trail | $100,000 | This tornado continued into Clearwater County before it dissipated. The tornado snapped and uprooted numerous trees along its path. Peak winds were estimated at 90 mph. The entire path length across the two counties was nearly 7 miles. |
| August 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Trail | $75,000 | A barn was lifted off its foundation and carried 20 feet, which destroyed it. The roof and walls of a mobile home were torn apart and blown over a half a mile away. A car was also heavily damaged. |
| August 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Trail | $10,000 | Many trees were blown down. |
| May 2022 | Hail | Trail | - | Received a report of 1-inch hail via social media. |
| June 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Trail | - | Several trees were snapped or uprooted at a farmstead. |
| June 2018 | Hail | Trail | - | Strong winds accompanied the hail. |
| June 2017 | Hail | Trail | - | Nickel to quarter sized hail was reported. |
| June 2007 | Hail | Trail | - | The hail fell near the Polk and Red Lake County line. |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Trail | - | Large branches were blown down. |
| June 2022 | Hail | Trail | - | no account filed |
| June 2016 | Hail | Trail | - | no account filed |
| August 2011 | Hail | Trail | - | no account filed |
| August 1997 | Hail | Trail | - | no account filed |
| August 1995 | Tornado (F0) | Trail | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Trail | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2180925 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 653265. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.





