History sometimes doesn’t seem historic when it is happening. The significance of events can be elusive, slippery. Yet some far-sighted individuals can recognize the importance of nearly forgotten chapters of the past.
One who zeroed in on such a story was Mary Faith (Olson) Young (1920-2015) of Jamestown. She helped revive knowledge of the Fort Totten Trail – a pathway connecting Fort Seward, near Jamestown, with Fort Totten, on the south shore of Devils Lake.
The people at Fort Totten needed supplies and mail delivery, so the trail opened in 1872 from Jamestown, which was recently established on the Northern Pacific Railway line. The trail ran for 87 miles, following an old Native-American trail just east of the James River. “The trail was used by the Indians forever,” explained Mary. “There was good water and wood all along the way, so the white man used the same trail.”
The Fort Totten Trail was only used for a few years. In the 1880s, the Great Northern Railway connected to Devils Lake, making the trail obsolete.
By the 1900s, Highway 20 replaced the trail. Farmers plowed up much of the old path. All that remained were a few segments of deep wagon wheel ruts.
In the 1960s, local historian Dennis Smith uncovered a long-lost 1874 Army map tracing the route. Smith shared that information with Mary Faith Young and other Jamestown history enthusiasts.
To preserve and promote the trail’s history, Mary Faith inspired a commemorative wagon train expedition to navigate the old route. Young, Smith and others got financing from Jamestown businesses and scrounged up five refurbished covered wagons for a wagon train re-enactment.
It was on this date, in 1969, that 125 intrepid travelers with horses started out from Jamestown for a four-day, almost100-mile-long Fort Seward-to-Fort-Totten trail ride.
All participants wore authentic pioneer-style clothing, used latrines, and slept under the stars. No radios, or cars, or modern conveniences were permitted.
Mary Faith Young served as camp-cook, making oatmeal or stew in kettles over open campfires, and served up “barbecued buffalo” at mealtimes. Vernon Brown became “trail-boss,” and Al Mayer arranged horse teams for pulling the wagons.
The July heat was “tough on livestock and people,” but all made it safely after four-days of sunshine and dusty adventure.
What Mary Faith Young envisioned in 1969 continues today with the annual summertime Fort Seward Wagon Train, trekking out from Jamestown along the historic rural byways of North Dakota.
[Note: extra information on current trail rides available at: https://covered-wagon-train.com/index.html.]
Dakota Datebook by Dr. Steve Hoffbeck, MSUM History Department
Sources:
“Horses and Wagons to Travel Historic Old Fort Totten Trail,” Bismarck Tribune, July 10, 1969, p. 9; “4 Camps Announced for Horse-Wagon Trek,” Bismarck Tribune, June 18, 1969, p. 3; “Wagon Train to Cover Old Trail,” Bismarck Tribune, July 18, 1969, p. 3; “N.D. Residents to Relive Days of Indian War,” Minneapolis Star, July 18, 1969, p. 3; “Wagons Set for 100-Mile Wild West Trek,” Albuquerque Journal, July 20, 1969, p. D-4.
Keith Norman, “Celebrating 95 with History: Mary Faith Young Recalls Earlier Days Here,” Jamestown Sun, May 29, 2015, JamestownSun.com, accessed on June 7, 2019.
“Two Trips Mark 40th Anniversary,” Bismarck Tribune, July 26, 2009, p. 29.
“Ancestor Made Fort Totten Trail Historic,” Jamestown Sun, September 28, 2009, JamestownSun.com, accessed November 17, 2018.
“Mary Faith Young,” obituary, November 14, 2015, JamestownSun.com, accessed on June 7, 2019.
