From 1820 to the 1870s, the trails were used by Metis freight drivers who hauled cargo in wooded ox-drawn carts. The Metis were people of native American and European descent, many of whom lived along the Red River near the U.S.-Canadian border.

Metis carts left Canada each spring laden with furs, buffalo skins, beaded moccasins and pemmican. They traveled single-file with their heavy loads, covered about 20 miles each day. Four to six weeks later they arrived in St. Paul. After a short rest, the carts headed back north carrying food, farm machinery, tools and other supplies.

The Red River carts were slow but reliable. As they moved, their ungreased wooden wheels rubbed against the wooden axle, producing a tremendous squeak that could be heard for miles.

The Metis were forced out of the freight business in the 1870s when competition from a new, more efficient form of transport - the railroad - made the ox-drawn carts obsolete.

A Busy Port
Steamboats began to travel the Red River in 1859 and for many years carried passengers and freight as far north as Winnipeg. Fargo-Moorhead became a busy port and ship-building center with a bustling collection of docks, warehouses, barges and flatboats located just north of this bridge.

The heyday for the steamboats was the 1870s when settlement of the Red River Valley was booming. In 1875 the largest steamboat company carried 24,500 tons of freight and almost 8,000 passengers.

The Red River shipping season ran from April to October when the river was free of ice. The boats usually made the round trip between here and Winnipeg in about ten days. Their steam engines burned wood gathered from the river banks.

Large Red River steamboats became unprofitable around 1880 after a railroad line was built north along the river, competing for business. Smaller steamboats and barges continued to haul freight and grain until the 1890s.

Top Photo
The "pluck", the "Winnipeg" and other barges and flatboats are loaded with farm implements and supplies in this 1879 photo taken less than two blocks north of here.

Left Photo
Red River carts and Metis drivers about 1854.

Right Photo
An 1879 view of the port taken about one block north of here, facing northwest. The center boat is a dredge that worked to deepen the shallow channel. Note the railroad track spur on the Fargo side.

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