Park Map Reveals Parts of Old Pembina

The map above is from a booklet called Pembina: North Dakota's Oldest Settlement. Its contents are a collection of writings from some of the oldest residents of the town over many years.

Take, for instance, this map. It reveals some very interesting facts about Pembina's past...

NOTE: I advise you to click on the image above to get the larger view

In middle of the upper portion, near the top of the image, you will see on the north side of the east end of Rolette Street, near the river, a notation of 'Site of Old Fort Pembina'. Indeed, one of the versions of the fort was there. Just to the east and slightly south of that site, directly at the end of Rolette, you'll see the site of what was once known as Steamboat Landing. The first ferry took people back and forth between Pembina and St. Vincent at this site, as well as it being the embarkation/disembarkation point for travellers going by steamboat at one time, thus the name.

Upstream (south) there is another ferry crossing of later date, that meets up with the Pembina side of an old trail once used as a main road into Pembina from St. Vincent.

Inbetween, just south of Rolette Street on the east end, the map indicates where a trading post built by Alexander Henry, Jr. (aka Alexander Henry the Younger) once stood. As I recall, that area has grown over with trees, but I might be mistaken. Such is the case with the soldiers monument in the park, once out in the open, now shaded in trees.

Anyone reading this blog will recall reading about the Ferry, and Steamboat Landing, from various posts on this blog, including the ongoing seralization of Charles Walker's Sheriff Charley Brown. It is indeed gratifying to see documentation of these very real places that existed in our past!