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Maple Creek Crossing State Historic Site

8/18/2010:

While North Dakota is known for its beautiful, yet often dry prairies, the eastern edge of the state is bordered by a series of rivers. For early settlers of the Dakotas, these bodies of water proved to be a significant obstacle for travel, and bridges were simply unavailable. As a result, fords, shallow stretches in a river, provided easy access points by which people of all types could enter the Dakota plains. Among the most important of these fords was the Maple Creek Crossing; a gateway to the Northern Plains.

The first recorded crossing at the Maple Creek ford by Europeans was in 1822 when members of the Selkirk Colonies traveled east from the Pembina area towards Fort Snelling, now modern day St. Paul, Minnesota. By 1843 a trade route was established using the Maple Creek ford. Oxcart teams regularly traversed the crossing, carrying goods between St. Paul and the western settlements of Pembina and St. Joseph along the Canadian border. Later, in 1853, the site was scouted by the governor of Washington Territory, General Isaac I. Stevens as a possible route for a transcontinental railroad.

Yet, it was not just settlers, traders and developers who frequented the ford. The crossing was important for military expeditions and politics on the upper plains. In 1849 Major Samuel Woods traversed Maple Creek Crossing as the military worked to more firmly establish the country's position in the Red River Valley, maintain the perhaps grudging support of Métis settlers and local American Indians, and keep British interests out of American territory. In 1851 Alexander Ramsey, the governor of Minnesota Territory, used the crossing on his way to negotiations with the Chippewa people to open their section of the Red River Valley to American settlement. And in 1863, General Sibley used the ford as he returned to Minnesota following his campaign through the Dakotas.

Today, the Maple Creek Crossing no longer serves as a central access point to the state. Bridges have since been built, circumventing the historic ford. Yet, the important role the site had in the development of the state is still remembered. The State Historical Society acquired the area on this date in 1956, and a stone marker stands at the site, informing visitors that they are now looking at the former gateway to North Dakota.

Dakota Datebook written by Lane Sunwall

Sources:

Brown, Jennifer S.H., "Red River Colony" http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0005800 (accessed August 1, 2010).

Rolfsrud, Erling Nicolai, "Major Samuel Woods" http://www.riverwatchonline.org/history/woods.html (accessed August 1, 2010).

Snortland, J. Signe. A Traveler's Companion to North Dakota State Historic Sites. Bismarck, ND: State Historical Society of North Dakota, 1996.

State Historical Society of North Dakota, "State Historical Society of North Dakota Strategic Long Range Plan" http://www.nd.gov/hist/LRPlan.htm (accessed January 19, 2009).