MSUM students are digging up the past at Clay County ghost town
By Drew Berg
June 27, 2025
HAWLEY, Minn. — Just four miles northeast of Hawley, the remnants of a once-bustling railroad town are resurfacing, thanks to a summer archaeological dig by Minnesota State University Moorhead students.
Winnipeg Junction, established in 1887, was a small town built at the crossing of Northern Pacific’s east-west route and a line heading north into Canada. When the tracks were moved north, the town faded, becoming a ghost town before the 1920s.
“A project like this is special. It really is,” said Amanda Butler, anthropology professor at MSUM.
The students are now excavating old trash pits behind former saloons and restaurants, revealing pieces of life left behind. The land has remained mostly untouched for decades, allowing for artifact preservation.
“It’s this little slice that we get to look at in this kind of booming town that would have been probably very large,” Butler said. “And we just get this slice, or this moment (in time).”