| Summary: | THE RED RIVER OF THE NORTH The Red River of the North has its beginning as a river at junction of the streams, Bois de Sioux and the Ottertail. This point is at Breckenridge, Minnesota, with Wahpeton, North Dakota on the west bank. The source of the river is, therefore, the source of the two streams mentioned. The Bois de Sioux has its beginning at Lake Traverse, Minnesota and the Ottertail rises at Elbow Lake, Minnesota. Concerning the earliest navigation of the Red River, we know very little except that the early voyagers speak of the river and the canoe trade carried on by Indians who inhabited the area. In the journals of Lord Selkirk's settlement at lower Fort Garry may be found an account of the purchase of the Red River Colony of seed grain at Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin. The grain was transported in Mackinaw boats down a tributary to the Mississippi, up the Mississippi to the Minnesota River and then up that river to its source at Lake Traverse. While both the Minnesota River and the Red River have their sources in the same chain of lakes, yet, there never was, nor is there now any communication between the two, except in times when melting snow or rains produce a sufficient freshet to create a stream between the two. The Selkirk settlement shipment of grain, after arriving at the source of the river, was hauled overland across the landlocked connection, thence by water down the Bois de Sioux to the Red River. The transportation of this grain was in 1820 and appears to be the first attempt of white men to use the Red River as a means of business communications. For the next thirty-seven years there is no record of any further attempts to commercially navigate the Red River. John B. Davis of St. Paul owned a steamboat which he operated on the Mississippi north of St. Anthony Falls. This boat was called the "Freighter." In the spring of 1859 an attempt was made to run this boat up the Minnesota River, and at the portage, time the voyage to take advantage of the freshets usually due at that season of the year. Everything went as planned until the boat arrived at a point somewhat over halfway across the portage, when the man at the wheel mistook the waters in a deep coulee for the main channel and ran the boat up this false channel for a few rods where it grounded. C. B. Thiemens was master of the boat. A Welshman was left in charge of the boat and he remained there for four years without supplies except such as he could gather from the wild game of the neighborhood. There are many conflicting reports as to who tried to put this boat into the Red River. George B. Winship, noted editor of the Grand Forks Herald, says "Captain Russell Blakely and others bought this steamer, "The Freighter" at St. Paul, and took it up the Minnesota River." The boat was afterwards sold by the sheriff and J. C. Burbank became the purchaser. The steamer was 125 feet long with a displacement of 200 tons. The machinery of the "freighter" was also purchased by J. C. Burbank, and hauled overland to Georgetown on the Red River, where it was installed in a new steamer called "International." The machinery was hauled to Georgetown in the winter of 1860. The "International" hulk was completed in 1861 and launched in the spring of 1862. The new boat was longer than the "Freighter" (137 feet) but with less displacement (133 tons). The reason for this was that the new boat was built to skim over shallow water. Burbank found that The Hudson Bay Company furnished most of the shipping both up and down the river, and to compete with this trust was a losing proposition. Accordingly, he sold the "International" to the Hudson Bay Company in 1864. The last trip made by this steamer under the ownership of Burbank was made in 1863 when Captain Barrett brought her up from Fort Garry. This account of the "Freighter" converted into the "International" is not an account of the first steamboat to ply the waters of the Red River, but the "International" is mentioned at this point because the attempt to put the "Freighter" on the Red River was made in June 1858. The first steamboat to actually steam through the waters of the Red River was the "Anson Northrup" and this boat accomplished this feat May 26, 1859. The "Selkirk" was built by James J. Hill, Alexander Griggs, and associates at McCauleyville in the winter of 1870-71. It was 110 feet long with a draft of 3 feet and a capacity of 120 tons. Here it will be noted that while the depth of the "International" was 5 J/2 feet, this boat had a depth of 3 feet and navigated much more easily in shallow water. The "Pioneer" was nothing more or less than the old "International" rebuilt in 1860. In 1872 the Hudson's Bay and the Hill Griggs interests were merged into one company called the Red River Transportation Company. When this merger took place the new company had two boats, the "Pioneer" and the "Selkirk." The new concern then built the "Dakota" and the "Alpha" at Breckenridge, the first being built in the winter of 1871-72 and the latter in the winter of 1873-74. The same winter the company built the "Cheyenne" at Grand Forks. After this merger, the freight rates were raised and the business men of Winnipeg resented this tightly organized monopoly. Having petitioned the Red River Transporta- Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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