[1] The trail is named after railroad engineer Casey Jones, who famously sacrificed his life to lessen the severity of a 1900 train crash in Mississippi.
The plan calls for parallel tracks, one paved and one natural-surfaced, to accommodate horseback riding and snowmobiling as well as biking, in-line skating, and cross-country skiing.
The original route was to follow the abandoned railroad grade and then sweep northeast through Slayton to Lake Shetek State Park.
[2] In 1993 Murray County secured federal funds through the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act to build the paved loop from Currie to the state park, which was completed in 1996.
The following year a local group secured a key .5-mile (0.80 km) segment leading into Lake Wilson, and that section was soon opened for hiking.