North Dakota State College of Science - Agawasie Yearbook (Wahpeton, ND)

Page 14 text:

The River Flows North III! RLD River Hows north, calm and tranquil beneath the overhanging trees. Although we live so near it we seldom stop to consider the important part it has played in the history of this section. Along the west side of Lake Traverse there is a region where the waters hesitate, undecided whether to How north or south. Dividing at last, some of them find their way to the Mississippi, thence to the Gulf; the others How northward and join the Red River, to finally reach Hudson Bay. At Breckenridge, Minnesota across the river from Wahpeton, the Red River of the North arises from the union of the Otter Tail and the Bois-de-Sioux. From Wahpeton to its mouth at Lake Winnipeg a distance of more than 186 miles, the Red River Hows almost due north, forming the boundary between North Dakota and Minnesota. Throughout its course it is navigable to small crafts. The explorers and early settlers of this region found the Red River a natural highway which they could follow with comparitiv'e ease. To a great extent we owe the present development of this section to the river which provided the only course of transportation into the territory and was responsible for the carrying on of trade among those hardy pioneers who settled along its course. Fur trading posts had existed for years but in 1812 the Scotch Lari of Selkirk, by sending a group of people to Pembina, started the first settlement. In the early days the red river cart, a rude, unpainted, two-wheeled vehicle drawn by a single pony or ox. was the common traveling conveyance. First used by individuals, it came to be commercially adapted in 1844, with the result that hundreds of carts united to form creaking, jolting trains which carried goods down the Red River Trail to the Mississippi. When this trade was at its height, about 6.000 carts participated. From 1857 until the coming of the railroads, steamboats were used on the river but their importance rapidly declined thereafter, although throughout the remainder of the territorial period small boats and barges continued to be used for shipping of products such as wheat and lumber.