| Summary: | The first stage coach arrived at Winnipeg, Manitoba in September of 1871. The line had been extended through Caledonia to Frog Point. The stage company usually kept a station at every 15 mile point where horses were changed. It so happened that Caledonia was a logical site and so gained immediate importance. Beginning at Georgetown and extending north, the stage stations were at Quincy, Caledonia, Frog Point, Buffalo Coulee, and Grand Forks, all roughly 15 miles apart. Later Caledonia became a station for two other staging outfits, the Fargo-Grand Forks line, and the Hillsboro-Caledonia operation. The fare from Caledonia to Fargo was four dollars. The arrival of the Hudson Bay Company horse-power thresher induced Randolph M. Probstfield, a prominent settler, to plant 15 acres of wheat in 1874. He reported he got 28 bushel to the acre and sold it at $ 1.50 a bushel. Hudson Bay Company also built the mill in Caledonia about 1883, on the Goose River about two blocks south of the present center of the town, and a mile from the mouth of the stream. Some of the pilings of the mill dam still remain. Tradition has it that after a grasshopper scourge, the Manitoba government purchased 12,000 bushels of grain for seed in 1875. Several grain warehouses were put up on the Red River at the Weston place a mile northeast of the mill. Steamboats made it a stopping and landing place. C.H. Graves of Duluth built the grain handling facilities and Weston became his commission agent. Weston also became the agent for the two steamboat companies, the Kittson Line, and the Merchants International Line. This gave travelers the choice of stage and boat in traveling to and from Caledonia and also provided double facilities for moving freight. James Paton taught at the first school opened in 1872, in the building later to become the home of Angus McDonald, when the school was moved into the court house building. In 1872, when the town was still known as Goose River, the first voting took place to choose territorial delegates. The area was then Pembina County. With the formation of Traill County in 1875, the town received a tremendous boost by being named the county seat. A county board was formed and the following year the first courthouse was built, but only large enough for two offices, the Register of Deeds, and the Treasurer. Next, a two story courthouse was erected. The furniture came from the Luger Furniture Company of Fargo. Chester M. Clark, the stage station keeper, was named the first sheriff and assessor. One of the county board's first acts was to grant John Shelly a charter to operate a ferry across the Red River. For ten dollars he received a ten year franchise and had exclusive rights "for three miles." His brother, James, was associated with him. The town of Shelly bears their name. The first Traill County tax list in 1875 indicated the Hudson Bay Company's property to be worth $16,777. The Company "pulled up stakes," withdrew from Caledonia, Frog Point, and Georgetown, and sold its interests to the highest bidder. Many area settlers were indebted to the company for provisions and supplies. The U.S. government said the company, a Canadian concern, had no right to do business here, and that the settlers need not pay what they owed (and a lot of them didn't!). Caledonia High School, burned Jan. 13,1909. „ *m^ —^ Hum! ■ft* %CTi rtO^jffrt «*^S»7*, . :v«j£?tf Caledonia School built in 1909. Burt Corliss and Jack Severson trapping on the Goose River near Caledonia in 1909. 70 Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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