Treaty of Old Crossing

Treaty Of Old Crossing

By the Treaty of Old Crossing (1863) and the Treaty of Old Crossing (1864), the Pembina and Red Lake bands of the Ojibwe, then known as Chippewa Indians, purportedly ceded to the United States all of their rights to the Red River Valley. On the Minnesota side, the ceded territory included all lands lying west of a line running generally southwest from the Lake of the Woods to Thief Lake, about 30 miles (48 km) west of Red Lake, and then angling southeast to the headwaters of the Wild Rice River near the low-lying divide separating the watershed of the Red River of the North from the watershed of the Mississippi River. On the North Dakota side, the ceded territory included all of the Red River Valley north of the Sheyenne River. The total land area, roughly 127 miles (204 km) wide east to west and 188 miles (303 km) long north to south, consisted of nearly 11,000,000 acres (45,000 km2) of rich prairie land and forests.

These land cessions are known as the Old Crossing Treaty because the primary site of negotiations was the "Old Crossing" of the Red Lake River, now known as Huot, located about 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Red Lake Falls. This was a river ford and layover resting site normally used by Red River ox carts using the "Pembina" or "Woods" trail, one of several routes known as the Red River trails between Pembina and the settlements at Mendota and St Anthony.