Native Americans








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	Gingras Trading Post website Metis Culture website Red River OxCart Trail

	The Native American people in the Red River Valley harvested berries, acorns, and hazelnuts from the area. Pike, catfish, drum, and turtles were harvested from the river, along with freshwater clams which were made into ornaments and tools. Bison, deer, elk, beaver, muskrat, squirrel, and raccoon were hunted and/or trapped. The archeological record also reveals that ducks were consumed by early people. Late Prehistory – Just Before the Arrival of Europeans Before Euro-American contact, Chippewa (also called Ojibway and Ojibwe), Dakota, Assiniboine, Cree, and Cheyenne Indian tribes traveled in and out of the Red River Valley. They led a nomadic lifestyle, hunting, fishing, and gathering plants. They lived in tipis covered with birch bark or tanned hides, depending upon what was readily available. They made their tools from natural materials such as stone, shell, wood, and bone. In the 1700s, European goods such as metal, cloth, glass, and steel began arriving in Pembina through trade with other Native groups.




			Bison Hide Tipi located at the NDSHS (ND State Historical Society) Museum in Bismarck, ND

				*The Hunt*

Pembina County was the first county with white inhabitants, many of whom were French who migrated from Canada in the 1800s. They intermarried with the native peoples forming a new culture, called the Metis. The Metis culture was strong in Manitoba and conflict developed there when English settlement of the area ignored Metis concerns.

In North Dakota, the Red River Carts were symbols of Metis ingenuity and sturdy determination. Their carts were ideally adapted to conditions of the time, having no metal parts and with high wheels to traverse mud, brush, and streams. Pulled by oxen, they carried 900 pounds of furs and meat from the hunt, furs to Canada and St. Paul and supplies on the return trip.

The coming of the railroads in the 1870s and 1880s, however, began what could be termed the beginning of the modern era of transportation and with them the demise of all forms of long distance animal transport. They also brought rapid settlement to the area.

A drawing from the 1867-1967 Pembina County Centennial Booklet

I have never heard it disputed that the plains Indians were probably the finest horseman in the world. They were often described as the best light cavalry in the world. Here horse and rider working as one prepare to bring down a bison. The introduction of the horse into their culture by the Spaniards gave them the mobility to follow and bring down these huge beasts as the need arose. It probably also allowed them to become more assertive.

Mounted Warrior Chief




	*From the pyrographic art collection of artist, Robert Brown*

The Métis: A Blending of Two Cultures

As a result of the fur trade, a new ethnic group was born in the Red River Valley. Marriages between European men engaged in the fur trade and Native women were very common. Their children and descendants became known as the Métis. The word Métis means “mixed” in French.

Métis people considered themselves to be neither Indian nor European. They formed their own vibrant society, a blend of two cultures. Métis spoke their own language, a combination of tongues – particularly French and Cree. They adopted Catholicism as their religion, dressed in a combination of Native and European clothing, and based their economy on the fur trade, particularly their two yearly bison hunts.

In the early fur trade, Métis men often served as canoe men (voyageurs), guides, and interpreters, their dual heritage serving as a link between Native and European participants in the fur trade. Native and Métis women tanned perishable hides, and made pemmican, a most valuable food.

In 1821, approximately 500 Métis were living in or near Pembina. The Métis population climbed to 2600 by 1843, and in 1870 it exceeded 12,000.

Red River Carts

Red River carts were well-known symbols of Métis culture. These highly functional carts were introduced to the area in the early 1800s. Pulled by horses or oxen, they could haul up to 1000 pounds. When fitted with canvas-covered bows, they served as tents, and with the wheels removed the carts could be floated across a river.

Because they were made completely of wood and rawhide, repairs did not require a blacksmith. The wooden wheels produced a piercing squeak, but couldn’t be oiled because trail dust and mud would adhere to the wheels.


	[Native Americans]


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The Hunt

Mounted Warrior Chief