7/17/2009:
Even before his death in 1895, Pierre Bottineau was legendary on the Northern Plains. His work and financial dealings had established railroads, created towns and founded forts across the prairie. Like Forrest Gump, Bottineau always seemed to find himself at the most exciting and historically important places. But quite unlike Forrest Gump, Bottineau was quite intelligent, even fluent in seven languages.
During his storied life, Bottineau bought and sold large tracts of land, worked for a number of influential trading companies, guided hunting expeditions for English aristocracy, scouted for military expeditions and helped establish towns across the Northern Plains; including Minneapolis-St. Paul. However, Pierre Bottineau's life wasn't always so charmed. Born to French-Canadian, Charles Bottineau and his American Indian wife, Margaret Ahdik Songab, Pierre's lineage made him an outsider in both European and American Indian communities. However, the young Bottineau's strong work ethic, nearly inexhaustible energy, dogged determination and selfless bravery propelled him to legendary status.
While Bottineau is perhaps most famous for his work in Minnesota, he was instrumental in the settling of North Dakota as well. In 1853, he served as the chief guide for the Northern Pacific Railways preliminary survey across present-day North Dakota, and later helped them again as they began to lay the actual rail line. While the founding of the railroads was important, Bottineau provided an even more essential role to North Dakota's establishment by making the future state more accessible for settlement. Pierre guided numerous groups of settlers into Dakota Territory. He helped establish military posts, such as Fort Totten, to protect the settler land routes; and at Fort Abercrombie, he even risked his life to protect settlers from attack.
Pierre Bottineau's tireless work did not go unnoticed. Even while Bottineau was still alive and an active community leader, the state of North Dakota honored the man who had done so much in the early formation of the state; naming a city in his honor and formally organizing Bottineau County on this date in 1884.
Dakota Datebook 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.