First Bridge

Ransom County Notes: The picture Cindy Olson recently posted on the "You are from Ransom County..." site shows something of historical interest. The second meeting of the newly formed county commission in Ransom County, April 16, 1881, dealt with authorizing the building of the first bridge over the Sheyenne River at the north end of main street in Lisbon. The bridge seen here could well have been that bridge.

Early Impressions

Ransom County Notes:  In his diary, Oscar Garrett Wall, a cavalryman with Co. F, 1st Minnesota Mounted Rangers wrote his impressions of the Sibley Expedition’s stay in Ransom County on July 4, 1863.  “This was indeed a strange Fourth of July.  No man in the command had ever before seen one like it.  No mark of civilization had ever been raised in this country.  No surveys had been made.  No white men had disturbed the solitude into which we had entered.  Herds of buffalo were visible in almost any direction.  Aside from these nothing was seen but arched skies and boundless plains.”

Ransom County Notes:  The accompanying map has been highlighted to show two trails leading from the Pigeon Point station to Fort Ransom. The northernmost was known as the low-water trail and became the preferred route for travelers and freighters in dry periods when the Sheyenne River ran low and could be easily forded.  The southernmost or high-water trail added miles and time to the trip, an important consideration with slow moving oxen pulling most of the freight.  The Stevenson wagon train returning empty from Fort Ransom chose the high-water route and found themselves stalled in a three-day blizzard near Okiedan Butte.  It is not known why they didn’t use the low-water trail when they could have forded the river on frozen ice.  The reason is lost on the wind.

Bringing the WORD

Ransom County Notes:  A Catholic priest, Father Stephan, conducted the first services in the county.  In 1878-79, and dedicated to bringing the WORD to settlers, he walked out from Moorhead to perform his priestly duties in settlers’ cabins in which attendees crowded, coming from as far away as twenty miles.