Steamboats On The Red

Looking at the shallow twists and turns of the Red River, it's hard to imagine that steampowered paddlewheel boats were once the most important transportation link between St. Paul and Winnipeg. From the first in 1859 to the last that sank in 1909, Red River steamboats hauled thousands of settlers and millions of pounds of freight across the border. Although it lasted barely 50 years, the age of the steamboat forged a commercial network between the United States and Canada that exists to this day in the I-29 corridor.
To shine a spotlight on this important piece of prairie history, Steamboats on the Red examines the history of steamboat transportation on the Red River and the impact this important trade route had on the development of the region.
The $1,000 prize that was the key to unlocking trade floodgates between the United States and Canada.
How the partnership between railroads and riverboats turned to cut-throat competition.
The larger than life personalities who launched steamboats on the Red.
The evolution of Red River communities from backwater outposts to thriving boom towns.
How the riverboats carried the seeds of their own destruction.
Funding for online video streaming is provided by the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund
About the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund
In 2008, Minnesota voters passed a landmark piece of legislation the Minnesota Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment which provided funding to public television stations serving audiences in Minnesota. Its mission is to help preserve and document the treasures of culture, history, and heritage that make Minnesota special, and to increase access to the natural and cultural resources we all share.

[@NickolasKrueger]

I absolutely adore the intro song.

[@steamboatsteve6874]

This is the best video ever

[@ericlakota1847]

Wow that river you could go 20 miles to cover 2miles as the crow fly

[@Alto1960]

My 3X great grandfather was Norman Wolfred Kittson.

[@stevehannah56723]

At 22:16 Mayor Arseny states the locomotive Countess Dufferin was towed on a barge from Fargo to Winnipeg. The locomotive was loaded onto the barge at Fisher's Landing, which from 1874-1878 was the head of navigation for the Red River Transportation Company. Hill and Kittson bought 12 miles of track from the struggling St. Paul & Pacific Railroad that had been laid north of Crookston to about the present day Euclid. The tracks were laid from Crookston to Fisher's Landiing, now present day Fisher, and the steamboats moved there, taking five days off the round trip. This fact is greatly ignored by most histories of the steamboat industry on the Red.

[@ericlakota1847]

Watching all your oxen freez and starve to death had to be so hard for teamster

[@johnwright291]

I'll tell you what is even more amazing. Fort benton Montana was once the most inland port in the world. It was at the head waters of the Missouri river in western montana.

[@harmony9591]

so?

[@jD-st7jm]

cool bro

[@lupusdei0819]

True freedom

[@Ethiokarate1]

*m a n i t o b a*

[@jonathancook1821]

William E. Lass has the weirdest voice ever

[@circularcodex1366]

truuuuuuu