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: Grand Forks; Hudson; Hudson Bay; Hudson Bay Post; Saloon; Yoke
• Online Access: http://cdm16921.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/ndsl-books/id/38999

46 HISTORY OF GRAND FORKS COUNTY ALONG RED RIVER IN 1870-71. There had been a few frontiersmen located along the Minnesota side of Red river above Georgetown since about 1858, but the Dakota side of the upper part of the valley practically remained unoccupied until about the year 1870. John Lindstrom, now a resident of Lind township in this county, came from Douglas county, Minn., and settled on the Dakota side of the river May 18, 1870. He writes to author as follows: "When I came to Dakota in 1870,1 settled on the Red river in what is now Cass county, fifteen miles north of where Fargo now stands. . At that time there were very few white people anywhere on the Dakota side of Red river. At Fort Abercrombie there was the garrison, but below that place there were no settlers for fifty miles. At the point right opposite the Hudson Bay post of Georgetown there lived a Frenchman called Jack—I never heard any other name applied to him—who traded with the halfbreeds and Indians that came along the river. I used to trade with him too, sometimes. He charged fifteen dollars a barrel for flour, thirty cents a pound for pork, two dollars a gallon for kerosene, two dollars a gallon for black strap molasses, four dollars a gallon for vinegar, three pounds of sugar for a dollar, and 2$ pounds of coffee for a dollar. He sold gunpowder,, shot and gun-caps, always charging three times as much as at the general stores. "Jack also sold whiskey, but the sale of that article came to a sudden stop when the soldiers who were to garrison Fort Pembina went by his place. They camped for the night south of his place, but they found out that lie sold whiskey. So two of them walked down there so as to 'get the lay of the tiling' as they generally expressed it. They took a few candles along which they traded off for whiskey so as to find out where it was kept. The next morning, as they were about to pass by, the whole gang turned into his place, crowded into the house, coralled Jack at the table where lie was eating his breakfast, and some of them commenced to help themselves to what was on the table so as to draw his attention while the others helped themselves to the whiskey. The keg was nearly full, and as this held ten gallons, they could not afford to leave what their canteens would not hold, so they shouldered the keg and walked off. Their officers took them about three miles down the river; there they had a rest which lasted until tbe next morning and they had a glorious time, singing and shouting. This wound up Jack's saloon business, for he was afraid of having more customers of that kind. "One day a contractor that hauled goods to Pembina came along the river with about twenty-five yoke of oxen and as many wagons. His teamsters were all white men, or would have been such if washed. Each man drove two or three teams, according to his ability, but his cook was considered one of the smartest of Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.