1/31/2008:
Farmer, settler, hunter, voyageur and founding father of many cities, Pierre Bottineau was born this month in 1817, 12 miles west of present day Grand Forks. Pierre Bottineau was born to French-Canadian Charles Bottineau and his Native American wife, Margaret Ahdik Songab. Pierre’s parental lineage made him an outsider in both white and American Indian communities; which makes his successes all the more remarkable.
Pierre was born into the rough life of voyageurs, who were professional guides, trappers, fur transporters, and diplomats in the employ of companies such as the North West Company and the Hudson Bay Company. Although his father died when Pierre was only seven, he seemed to have left a mark on the young boy, and Pierre followed in his footsteps. The younger Bottineau made his living hunting and trapping, and at the tender age of 13 was employed by the Hudson Bay Company to carry messages from Winnipeg to Wisconsin.
In 1837 Pierre and his family moved from their prairie settlement to Fort Snelling, near present-day Minneapolis. At the fort, Bottineau was hired by General Henry Silbey, who was in need of his considerable abilities. Bottineau had an extensive knowledge of the land, especially around the Red River Valley, and was fluent in seven languages; English, French, Sioux, Chippewa, Cree, Mandan, and Winnebago.
In 1840 the U.S. Army forcibly removed the white settlers from Fort Snelling, including Pierre’s family, due to conflicts with local Native Americans. Bottineau continued to work intermittently for the Army, but followed the settlers downriver to the present site of St. Paul, where he built St. Paul’s first church, and farmed a quarter section of land. After 5 years Bottineau sold his property in St. Paul, some accounts claim in exchange for a dog and a cow, and re-settled his growing family in St. Anthony, now the north-eastern corner of Minneapolis. In St. Anthony, Bottineau became a community leader as a local land developer.
However successful Pierre was at developing the real estate around the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, he never tired of trekking and continued guiding expeditions through the Dakotas, Idaho and Montana, becoming a celebrity in the process. Furthermore, his efforts in the rapidly opening west resulted in the founding of not only Minneapolis/St. Paul, but also Osseo, Maple Grove, and Breckenridge Minnesota, as well as Wahpeton North Dakota. Pierre Bottineau, a true frontier adventurer was born this month, 1817 near present-day Grand Forks.
Written by Lane Sunwall
Sources
Bottineau Boulevard Partnership
Website http://www.bottineaupartnership.org/pierre/bottineau2.html
Bottineau Family Website
http://users.ap.net/~chenae/bottineau8.html
Eriksmoen, Curt, Did You Know That…? 47 Fascinating Stories About People Who Have Lived In NORTH DAKOTA: Volume 1 in a Series. United States: McCleery & Sons Publishing, 2006.