Nostalgia & History > How a yard got its name - Pigs Eye

The United States Army established a fortification at the junction of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers in 1820, called Camp Coldwater, later Fort St. Anthony, and finally renamed Fort Snelling in 1825, to protect against possible British invasion via the Mississippi.

With the area relatively secure politically, commerce developed along the banks of the Mississippi, and on the prairies above the river bluffs. The Army was charged with prohibiting foreign traders on the Mississippi.

There was a narrows a couple of miles downstream from Fort Snelling, and a one-eyed "gentleman" living in a sandstone domicile near the narrows had, by the mid-1800's, established a business thereby, trading with the non-foreign traders and offering them safe passage in exchange for their offerings. OK, so he was a one-eyed pirate living in a cave. Take your choice. His name was Pierre "Pigs Eye" Pirrant. There are various records of the exact name and/or spelling, but to this day there are known to me persons named Parranto residing in the area who claim lineage to the aformentioned Pierre.

One of those rivermen of the period was another one-eyed gentleman (small world, isn't it) who had established a successful packet boat business on the Red River of the North, and on the Mississippi. I don't know if these two one-eyed gentlemen ever met or not.

However, in 1862, the first railroad in Minnesota was built from a point where there was a break in the bluffs just downstream of the narrows called Lampert's Landing, to another break in the bluffs 10 miles upstream on the Mississippi, then called St. Anthony, just above the waterfalls of the same name. This railroad was soon purchased by the second one-eye gentleman. Oh, yeah. His name was James J. Hill, and this little portage railroad eventually became the Great Northern.

A community developed around Lamperts Landing based upon trade between the riverboats and ox-carts that offered transportation, cheaper than the river tariff, to St Anthony, and even beyond as far as Fargo, ND - the famous Red River Ox Cart trail. That community took its identity from it's upstream founder, and called itself "Pigs Eye".

A lake in the Mississippi backwaters a mile or so south of Lamperts Landing also came to be named Pigs Eye.

In 1841, when the Jesuits decided this community would be a good place to establish a cathedral, they took it upon themselves to rename the community after someone who might command more respect than "Pigs Eye" Pirrant, so they choose St. Paul.

In 1871 and shortly thereafter, predesessors of the Milwaukee Road built two lines from the outside world into St. Paul (one, over the prairies via Austin, the second along the Mississippi) and built yards near Lamperts Landing in St. Paul.

When Lamperts Landing became too crowded, additional yards were built downstream - adjacent to Pigs Eye Lake.

Skip ahead a few years, and in 1951 a hump yard was built by the Milwaukee at Pigs Eye Lake.

To this day, there are four local remembrances of Pigs Eye:

- A lake.

- A bronze memorial plaque along Shepherd Road at the site of the cave destroyed by construction of Shepherd Road.

- The Milwaukees, now Canadian Pacific, hump yard.

- A not too bad local beer taking its name from the city's founder.



Larry Doyle



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/10 01:37 by LarryDoyle.

BTW, before it was the "Milwaukee" Road it was known as the "St. Paul" Road.

See how close it came to becomming the "Pigs Eye" Road!

Thank the Jesuits.

Thanks, Larry, for that excellent historical background. I never really gave thought before to the origin of "Pigs Eye".

Good thing they didn't go for the other end of the pig! History is great...you just couldn't make that story up.

I know a Parenteau that claims old Pigs Eye as a distant relative. She still lives in the MSP area.

Thank you for the history lesson. I was up that way this past summer, and wondered where the name came from.

Thanks Larry, for the 'pigs Eye' info ... never heard that before ... RR lore always has some 'new' history and this one is a classic!

Thanks for the 'pigs Eye' info Larry ... never heard that before ... RR lore always has some 'new' history and this one is a classic!