| Summary: | GENERAL INFORMATION LOCAT ION Pembina is located in the extreme northeastern corner of North Dakota, 2 miles south of the Canadian province of Manitoba and separated from Minnesota by the Red River of the North. It is just 69 miles south of Winnipeg, Manitoba, 76 miles north of Grand Forks, North Dakota, and 403 miles northwest of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Red and Pembina Rivers converge at Pembina and continue their flow northward into Canada. Cavalier, the county seat of Pembina County, is only 32 miles southwest of Pembina on hard-surfaced highways. Pembina is the northern terminus of Interstate Highway No. 29, a national defense and military highway, which will connect this growing city with major metropolitan areas. U.S. Highway No. 81, State Highway No. 59 and County Highway No. 55 also serve to join the cities and towns in the regional trade area while passing through Pembina. BR I EF HI STORY Pembina is historically North Dakota's city of "firsts" with history dating back to the post revolutionary date of 1797. Charles Chaboillez came to the Pembina area on that date to establish the first trading post for the Northwest Company within the present boundaries of this state. At that time the land area comprising North Dakota was included in the grant which Charles II pave to the Hudson Bay Company in 1670. Hudson Bay and XY Companies established trading posts in the same vicinity in 1801 and during that same year Alexander Henry moved his trading post to a site on the confluence of the Red and Pembina Rivers. The first two children born in what is today North Dakota of other than Indian parentage were born at Pembina. In 1802 a daughter was born of Negro parentage and in 1807 the first white child was born at Pembina. In 1818 the first clergymen, Fathers Norbert Provencher and Severe Dumoulin arrived in the area to establish the settlement's first church and first school. In 1815 under the Treaty of Ghent, the U.S. Boundary was established at the 49th Parallel. After the boundary had been clearly established and it was evident Pembina was not within the British Territory, both the church and settlement were abandoned. This area abounded in wild game of many kinds and Pembina soon became the center of a fur trade territory. Trade in the furs first advanced through the use of the Red River Cart on land and the steamboats and flatboats on the Red River. The Red River Cart was a two- wheeled wagon made entirely of oak, held together by wooden pins. Axles were greased with buffalo tallow to reduce friction; however, they still squeaked and could usually be heard for miles. Joseph Rolette, a fur trader at Pembina, and his uncle introduced the carts as an over-land means of transporting furs between Pembina and St. Paul in 1843. Mr. Rolette also made the first homestead entry in what is now North Dakota on June 15, 1868. Norman Kittson, agent with the American Fur Company at Pembina, was actually credited with the use of the Red River Carts as an effective means of transportation when he left Pembina in the spring of 1844 with six rude carts loaded with furs bound for Fort Snelling and St. Paul. Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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