 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
The first English speakers in North Dakota came from Canada and wintered near Pembina in 1817, the first white settlement in the state. Ox carts and river traffic grew to support the fur trading industry. By the 1870's this trade-based settlement had expanded to include hundreds of Canadian farmers from the eastern Provinces of Ontario and Quebec who came seeking land for themselves and their sons. By 1880, Canadians comprised 7.9% of the population and were settled mainly in the Northern Red River Valley. According to William C. Sherman's Prairie Mosaic, "Thousands of English-speaking settlers came to North Dakota during the homestead days. They came not with the timidity of recent immigrants, but with a self-confidence that was at he product of several generations of American living. There were, quite simply, citizens from eastern states who decided to 'move west'." Their stay was short. Many moved on upon acquiring clear titles to their properties-some continued westward, some return to the eastern U.S. |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
