History of Grand Forks County : with special reference to the first ten years of Grand Forks City, including an historical outline of the Red River Valley

• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: State Historical Society of North Dakota
• Subjects: Big Stone Lake; Buffalo River; Canada; First Rock; Grand Forks; Hudson; Hudson Bay
• Online Access: http://cdm16921.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/ndsl-books/id/38984

PRE-SETTLEMENT ANNALS 81 In speaking of the country Captain Pope says: "The valley of Red River is entirely alluvial in its formation, no rocks in place being found in its entire length within tlie territory of the United States. It abounds with bowlders or erratic blocks of granite, which in all cases are very much rounded by the action of water. They are most abundant upon the highest ridges of the prairies, and cause all the rapids in the small streams tributary to Red river. About,seventy miles to the north of our frontier a secondary limestone appears at the falls of Red river, which is unquestionably the basis of the whole valley, but at what depth below the surface it is impossible to say." Captain Pope's error m supposing that the partially rounded form of bowlders, really chiefly due to glacial agency, was the result of decomposition aided by running water or any form of fluvatile action, was but that of his time. His speculation respecting tlie bedrock of the whole valley being the same Silurian limestone that outcrops below Winnipeg, is but little borne out by the records of artesian wells that have been bored at many different points in the valley within tlie last dozen years. The limestone beds beneath the valley are of different epochs, and wherever present at all beneath the flat land of its lower depression, are apt to be overlain by successive beds of shale, though this is not invariably the case. The depth down to bedrock on the valley plain and through soil, clay, sand and gravel, varies, approximately, from 100 to 400 feet. And the first rock struck may be either shale, limestone, sandstone or Laurentian granite, according to locality. (For this county see pages 7-10.) Captain Pope also states that there were then three different cart routes leading from the Red River Valley to St. Paul that were used by the traders and trappers of those times. These constituted a southern, middle and northern route. The first was by way of the Minnesota river to Big Stone lake, often taking to the prairies instead of following the valley bottom; the other two led as one up the Mississippi valley and then diverged, the middle route following the course of the Sauk river and across Country to the site or vicinity of Fort Abercrombie, this being the route of the expedition; the more northern route was by way of Crow Wing valley, passing around tlie north end of Otter Tail lake and reaching Red river at the mouth of the Buffalo river. These divergent trails passed down to Pembina on either side of Red river. In crossing Minnesota, where tlie country was partially wooded, they followed the prairie-as .much as possible. THE FIRST POST-OFFICE IN NORTH DAKOTA. The first post-office in this state was established at Pembina about the year 1849. Previously, the Hudson Bay company had been forwarding their mail destined for Canada and England, Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.