| Summary: | PRE-SETTLEMEST ANNALS 39 its machinery to Burbank & Co., at sheriff's sale, and finally its heavier equipments were removed as presently to be stated. In after years no repetition of this experiment was practicable on account of mill dams on the upper Minnesota, and ultimately numerous bridges over the upper portions of both streams. THE FIRST STEAMER ON RED RIVER. The first steamboat to navigate Red river was called the Anson Northup and this boat was placed on the river in 1859. Some years before the civil war, a. steamboat called the North Star was in use on tlie Mississippi above the Falls of St. Anthony. This boat was bought at Minneapolis in tlie fall of 1858 by Capt. Anson Northup, wdio took it up tlie river to Crow Wing where it was dismantled. Here lumber was sawed for a prospective boat to navigate Red river. Early tlie next spring an expedition left Crow Wing consisting of 34 ox teams and 44 men enroute for the Red River Valley with the boilers, engine and furnishings of the North Star and the sawed lumber. The expedition followed one of the cart trails to Detroit lake, the remainder of the journey being across a stretch of country without trails, bridges or inhabitants and rather difficult to pass through in March. A town- site named Lafayette had been laid out a year or two before this time opposite the mouth of the Sheyenne, and this place contained a log cabin or two. Tlie party arrived here on the evening of the first ot April. Here the hull of the boat was built. This .being completed and the boilers and machinery having been placed in position, it was launched and next run up to Fort Abercrombie where the cabin was constructed. This first boat to navigate Red river had a capacity of from 50 to 75 Ions. Its machinery had previously been used in other boats and is said to have been brought to the west from the state of Maine about the year 1851. The steamer started for Fort Garry on May 17, and arrived there on June 5, 1859. She returned up to Fort Abercrombie bringing on the trip twent)' passengers. Here she was tied up and when Capt. Blakely and others desired her further services they were informed that they would have to buy the Anson Northup if they wanted to run her. Capt. Northup had agreed to place a steamer on Red river for the bonus that had been offered, but had not agreed to run the the boat on any regular trips. Later on the boat was bought by J. C. Burbank. STAGE LINE TO RED RIVER. The Hudson Bay company maintained a few posts this side of the boundary line in the capacity of a commercial organization. One of these, called Georgetown, located on the Minnesota side of Red river, 16 miles north of the site of Moorhead, was established August 12, 1859. Tlie post was located by James McKey. During the same year an association called the Minnesota Stage Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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