Red Lake Falls in Red Lake County, Minnesota — The American Midwest (Upper Plains)

Pierre Bottineau

1817 — 1895

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 29, 2022

1. Pierre Bottineau Marker

Inscription.
Last of the great voyageurs, supreme in his knowledge of the wilderness, he was a trusted guide, and an able negotiator with the Indian tribes for the United States Government and the State of Minnesota. He served his country well.

Contributed by
The Citizens of Red Lake County
1858 — Minnesota Centennium — 1958

Erected by The Citizens of Red Lake County.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Exploration • Indigenous Peoples and Communities • Industry & Commerce • Settlements & Settlers. A significant historical year for this entry is 1817.

Location. 47° 53.18′ N, 96° 16.524′ W. Marker is in Red Lake Falls, Minnesota, in Red Lake County. It is on Bottineau Avenue Northwest just east of Bridge Street Northwest, on the left when traveling east. The marker is on the south side of Riverview Park. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 171 Bridge Street Northwest, Red Lake Falls MN 56750, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Minnesota’s Northland. It is also in the American Midwest,

in the Corn Belt,

on the prairies,

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on the Great Plains,

and specifically on the Northern Plains.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Great North Woods,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once Rupert’s Land,

the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

and the Louisiana Purchase.

Other nearby markers. At least 2 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Red Lake County Courthouse (about 600 feet away, measured in a direct line); Red Lake Falls Community Hall (approx. ¼ mile away).

Also see . . . Pierre Bottineau (Wikipedia).

Excerpt: Pierre Bottineau was a Métis guide, interpreter, and landowner who played a central role in the settlement of parts of Minnesota and North Dakota during the nineteenth century. He helped link Native nations, fur trade companies, and United States officials through his work on expeditions and treaties.
Pierre Bottineau was born in 1817 at a hunting camp at Bear Point near the mouth of the Turtle River, close to the later site of Grand Forks, North Dakota. His father, Charles Joseph Bottineau, came from French Canada and worked in the fur trade, and his mother, Margaret Ah-dik-Songab (Clear Sky), was Ojibwe. Bottineau began work as a messenger and voyageur in 1830, traveling from the Red River colony to Prairie du Chien for the North West Company. He later carried communications between Hudson's Bay Company posts in present-day Manitoba and American Fur Company stations across Minnesota. From the 1830s through the 1860s he guided emigrant families, traders, and military parties across the upper Mississippi and Red River regions. Isaac Stevens, governor of Washington Territory, selected Bottineau as principal guide for the 1853 Pacific Railroad survey across northern Dakota to Fort Union and praised his knowledge of frontier travel and hunting.
Around 1840 Bottineau settled near Fort Snelling at a French-Métis village while also farming. After military orders cleared that settlement, he bought land in what became St. Paul and later acquired property along the east bank of the Mississippi above St. Anthony Falls, together with Franklin Steele holding much of that waterfront. In 1855 Bottineau moved to what became Osseo, Minnesota, where his farm lay on "Bottineau's Prairie" and he held the elected office of Supervisor of Roads in Ramsey County in 1850. Over time he took part in founding or early development of settlements later known as Osseo, Maple Grove, Breckenridge, and Red Lake Falls in Minnesota and Wahpeton in North Dakota. In 1876 Bottineau left the growing community near Osseo and resettled at Red Lake Falls, Minnesota, where he laid out the town and built a brick house near a bend in the river. In 1879 residents of Minnesota petitioned Congress to grant him a pension in recognition of his work as guide and interpreter. Bottineau died at Red Lake Falls on July 27, 1895.

(Submitted on July 29, 2026, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 29, 2022

2. Pierre Bottineau Marker

The marker is mounted on a boulder located near Bridge Street Northwest on the south side of Riverside Park.

Credits. This page was last revised on July 29, 2026. It was originally submitted on July 28, 2026, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 6 times since then. Photos: 1. submitted on July 28, 2026, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. 2. submitted on July 29, 2026, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.