Over the years, citizens of Red Wing pondered ways to improve the Mdewakaton’s path to He Mni Can-Barn Bluff’s summit. Charles Webster led an 1889 effort to carve an improved route into the bluff’s west face. Nineteen years later Red Wing business owners took time off from work to improve the trail they called “Webster’s Way.”
The Stairway
In the mid-1920s the city proposed a stairway that would allow easier access to the top. Red Wing Kiwanis Club members led a 1929 movement that produced a 450-step concrete stairway. High school students assumed the job of keeping the pathway clear. The easy-to-climb stairs became an immediate tourist attraction.