Old Crow Wing, Minnesota
Encyclopedia
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
in Fort Ripley Township, Crow Wing County
Crow Wing County, Minnesota
Crow Wing County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of 2010, the population was 62,500. Its county seat is Brainerd.-Geography:...
, Minnesota, United States, at the confluence
Confluence
Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...
of the Mississippi
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
and Crow Wing
Crow Wing River
The Crow Wing River is a tributary of the Mississippi River approximately in length. The river arises in a chain of 11 lakes in southern Hubbard County, Minnesota and flows generally southeast, entering the Mississippi at Crow Wing State Park, northwest of Little Falls, Minnesota. Its name is a...
rivers. For over a century, it was the northernmost European-American settlement on the Mississippi. In the 1850s and 1860s, it was the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
and one of the major population centers of the state. At its peak there were an estimated 600–700 residents, about half of them Ojibwe. The town site, including one restored house, is preserved within Crow Wing State Park
Crow Wing State Park
Crow Wing State Park is a 3,119 acre Minnesota state park at the confluence of the Mississippi and Crow Wing Rivers. The park interprets the site of Old Crow Wing, one of the most populous towns in the state in the 1850s and 1860s...
.
History
This area was inhabited by indigenous peoplesIndigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
for thousands of years before the first encounter with Europeans. At the confluence of the Crow Wing and Mississippi Rivers, the site of the village of Old Crow Wing became a logical meeting place for the Dakota
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
and later Ojibwe of Minnesota.
Old Crow Wing's strategic location also made it attractive to European traders, the first being recorded shortly after the close of the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
in 1763. The first trader of note to spend time at Old Crow Wing was James McGill
James McGill
James McGill was a Scottish-Canadian businessman, military commander and philanthropist known for being the founder of McGill University...
in the winter of 1771–2, followed by many others. It also seems likely that two British army officers of the 54th Regiment of Foot visited the site in the early autumn of 1789, although the nature of this visit is disputed.
The first European-American settler in Crow Wing was Allan Morrison, who opened a trading post
Trading post
A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....
in 1823. Around this time a lucrative, if technically illegal (because of post-War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
restrictions on trading with Canadians), trade formed between Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
, and the Red River Colony
Red River Colony
The Red River Colony was a colonization project set up by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk in 1811 on of land granted to him by the Hudson's Bay Company under what is referred to as the Selkirk Concession. The colony along the Red River of the North was never very successful...
in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Many of the fur traders were Métis, the biracial descendants of Ojibwa women and French, Scots and English men.
Since the Red River Trails
Red River Trails
The Red River Trails were a network of ox cart routes connecting the Red River Colony and Fort Garry in British North America with the head of navigation on the Mississippi River in the United States...
crossed territory of the Dakota
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
, the Ojibwa's traditional enemy, conflicts dogged the trade. A Métis attack on the Dakota in 1844 closed the primary route entirely. A Red River ox cart
Red River ox cart
The Red River cart was a large two-wheeled cart made entirely of non-metallic materials. Often drawn by oxen, though also by horses or mules, these carts were used throughout most of the 19th century in the fur trade and in westward expansion in Canada and the United States, in the area of the Red...
train on its return trip north traveled instead to the growing town of Crow Wing, forded the Mississippi, and blazed a new route that passed through much friendlier Ojibwa lands.
This route became known as the Woods Trail. Although it was considerably harder going than the other Red River Trails, it was decidedly safer. More traffic followed, particularly whenever relations with the Dakota were at their worst.
The village of Crow Wing became the principal supply station on the Woods Trail. Allan Morrison began operating a ferry
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
across the Mississippi at the north end of town. In the 1840s other traders set up shop as well. Allan and his brother William Morrison, William Alexander Aitken
William Alexander Aitken
William Alexander Aitken, also known as William Alexander Aitkin , was a fur trader with the Ojibwe.-Biography:Aitken was apparently a native of Edinburgh, Scotland. He came to the Upper Mississippi region around 1802 from Canada and was employed by John Drew, a trader in the Mackinac area...
, and Henry Mower Rice were traders who all went on to such prominence that Minnesota's Morrison County
Morrison County, Minnesota
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 31,712 people, 11,816 households, and 8,460 families residing in the county. The population density was 28 people per square mile . There were 13,870 housing units at an average density of 12 per square mile...
, Aitkin County
Aitkin County, Minnesota
Aitkin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of 2010, the population is 16,202. Its county seat is Aitkin. A portion of the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation is in the county.-History:...
, and Rice County
Rice County, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 56,665 people, 18,888 households, and 13,353 families residing in the county. The population density was 114 people per square mile . There were 20,061 housing units at an average density of 40 per square mile...
were named after them. Mower served as a state senator for five years and ran for governor in 1865.
Another successful trader was Clement Beaulieu, a Métis who ran the American Fur Company
American Fur Company
The American Fur Company was founded by John Jacob Astor in 1808. The company grew to monopolize the fur trade in the United States by 1830, and became one of the largest businesses in the country. The company was one the first great trusts in American business...
's trading post.
Another mixed-race resident, the American William Whipple Warren
William Whipple Warren
William Whipple Warren was a mixed-blood Ojibwe historian, interpreter, and legislator in the Minnesota Territory. He moved from Wisconsin to Crow Wing in the fall of 1845. Warren suffered from lung problems for many years and died as a young man of 28 from tuberculosis on June 1, 1853.-Early life...
, interviewed Ojibwa elders and completed his classic History of the Ojibway People in 1853. (It was published by the Minnesota Historical Society in 1885.) Warren married William Aitkin's daughter and served in the territorial legislature. Several important Ojibwa leaders lived in Crow Wing, including Curly Head, Hole in the Day, Hole-in-the-Day II, and Strong Ground. Henry Rice negotiated with them for logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
rights, and logging became a significant industry in Crow Wing.
The U.S. Military established Fort Ripley nearby in 1848. In 1849 Clement Beaulieu had a house built for himself and his wife Elizabeth with Greek Revival architecture
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
. Father Francis Xavier Pierz
Francis Xavier Pierz
Francis Xavier Pierz was a Roman Catholic priest and missionary to the Ottawa and Ojibwa Indians. Because he was also responsible for attracting large numbers of Catholic German Americans to settle in Central Minnesota, he is referred to as "The Father of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint...
established a Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
mission
Mission (Christian)
Christian missionary activities often involve sending individuals and groups , to foreign countries and to places in their own homeland. This has frequently involved not only evangelization , but also humanitarian work, especially among the poor and disadvantaged...
in Crow Wing in 1852. An Episcopal
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
mission was built in 1856, and a Lutheran church soon after.
Two events brought Crow Wing's heyday to a swift end. In 1868 the Ojibwa, including Clement and Elizabeth Beaulieu, were resettled in the White Earth Indian Reservation
White Earth Indian Reservation
The White Earth Indian Reservation is the home to the White Earth Nation, located in northwestern Minnesota. It is the largest Indian reservation in that state...
. In 1871 railroad magnate James J. Hill
James J. Hill
James Jerome Hill , was a Canadian-American railroad executive. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwest, the northern Great Plains, and Pacific Northwest...
decided to route his Northern Pacific Railway
Northern Pacific Railway
The Northern Pacific Railway was a railway that operated in the west along the Canadian border of the United States. Construction began in 1870 and the main line opened all the way from the Great Lakes to the Pacific when former president Ulysses S. Grant drove in the final "golden spike" in...
over the Mississippi River in Brainerd
Brainerd, Minnesota
Brainerd is a city in Crow Wing County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 13,590 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Crow Wing County and one of the largest cities in Central Minnesota...
, ten miles to the north. A year later Brainerd became the county seat.
By 1880 most of Crow Wing's residents had moved on. Two of Beaulieu's nephews moved their uncle's former house to Morrison County
Morrison County, Minnesota
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 31,712 people, 11,816 households, and 8,460 families residing in the county. The population density was 28 people per square mile . There were 13,870 housing units at an average density of 12 per square mile...
, where it was inhabited continuously into the 1980s. After Larry and Joyce Moran of Little Falls, Minnesota donated the house to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is the agency of the U.S. state of Minnesota charged with conserving and managing the state's natural resources. The agency maintains areas such as state parks, state forests, recreational trails, and recreation areas as well as managing minerals,...
, the house was moved back to its original location in 1988.