Editing Pembina County, North Dakota (section)

==History==
[[File:Dr. Charles Boarman Harris.jpg|thumb|Frontier doctor Dr. [[Charles Boarman Harris]], one of the original pioneers to settle in Pembina, was the first county physician. He delivered over 3,000 babies born in the region between 1882 and 1942.]]
For thousands of years, various [[indigenous peoples]] inhabited the area along the Pembina and [[Red River of the North|Red rivers]]. At the time of European contact in the 16th century, the dominant tribes were the [[Assiniboine people|Assiniboine]] and the [[Lakota people|Lakota]] (or [[Sioux]], as the French colonists called them). The [[Ojibwe]], also known as Chippewa, a branch of the [[Anishinaabe]]-speaking language group, gradually migrated west along both sides of the [[Great Lakes]]. They developed a long trading relationship with French trappers and colonists. Throughout the [[Red River of the North]] area, French trappers married Native American women, and their descendants continued to hunt and trap. A large [[mixed-race]] population developed, recognized as an ethnic [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] group in Canada called the ''[[Métis]]''. The Ojibwe and Métis generally supported the French forces during the [[Seven Years' War]] in the mid-eighteenth century against [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]].

With the British defeat of France and takeover of its colonial territory, the Chippewa learned to deal with a new trading culture. Armed with guns by trading and having adopted the horse from the [[Mandan]] and [[Hidatsa]], by the end of the eighteenth century the Chippewa had migrated from woodlands to the [[Great Plains]] and begun to push the Lakota west before them. By the time of the [[War of 1812]], the Ojibwe allied with the British against the United States, hoping to forestall European-American settlers' encroaching on their territory. With the settlement of the northern boundary with Canada, the Chippewa within the Dakota Territory were forced to deal with the United States. During the first half of the nineteenth century, the Chippewa had continued conflicts with the Lakota along the Red River, finally pushing them into present-day western North and South Dakota.

Father George Belcourt, a Catholic [[Jesuit]] [[missionary]] who served them, described their territory in 1849 as the following
<blockquote>We understand here, that the district or department called Pembina, comprises all of the country or basin which is irrigated or traversed by the tributaries of the Red River, south of the line of the 49th parallel of latitude. The prairies' rivers and lakes which extend to the height of land of the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]], and the immense plains which feed innumerable herds of [[bison]] to the westward and from which the Chippewa and [[half breeds]] [Métis] of this region obtain their subsistence, contains within their limits a country about 400 miles from north to south and more than five hundred miles from east to west.<ref>[http://tmbci.net/wordpress/?page_id=254 About US: "Move to the Plains"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110310140425/http://tmbci.net/wordpress/?page_id=254 |date=March 10, 2011}}, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, accessed June 27, 2011</ref></blockquote>

The Métis used two-wheeled ox-drawn carts to transport furs to market along the [[Red River Trails]], between what is now [[Winnipeg]], Canada and [[Mendota, Minnesota|Mendota]] or [[Saint Paul, Minnesota|St. Paul]], Minnesota. They also used ox-carts to transport food and shelter during extended [[American Bison|buffalo]] hunts.

Over time, the Ojibwe were persuaded to cede much of their land by treaty to the US, which in turn sold it to homesteaders. They moved to relatively small [[Indian reservations]] within their earlier territory.

The precursor to Pembina County was a county of the same name in the [[Minnesota Territory]], extending from the Upper Mississippi River to the western boundary of the territory. When Minnesota became a state in 1858, its western boundary was set at the Red River, and the land to its west was unorganized. A new Pembina County was established as part of the [[Dakota Territory]] in 1867. At the time it was a large territory, and in 1871 it was expanded to include much of the territory in what is now eastern North Dakota from [[Canada]] to the [[South Dakota]] border.

The [[Dakota Territory]] legislature created Pembina County on January 9, 1867, from previously unorganized territory. Its government was organized on August 12 of that same year. It was named for a [[Chippewa]] term for stab or stabbing.<ref>[https://file.io/lmeKy4 Ojibwe People's Dictionary]{{Dead link|date=December 2018|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}, University of Minnesota</ref> [[Pembina, North Dakota|Pembina]], the oldest European-American settlement in the future state, was the county seat. In 1911 the seat was relocated to [[Cavalier, North Dakota|Cavalier]].<ref name=wick>{{cite book|author=Wick, Douglas A.|title=North Dakota Place Names|year=1988|publisher=Hedemarken Collectibles|location=Bismarck ND|isbn=0-9620968-0-6|oclc=191277027}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=County History |url=https://www.nd.gov/government/state-government/county-history |website=www.nd.gov |publisher=State of North Dakota |access-date=May 9, 2025}}</ref>

The county boundaries were altered in 1871, 1873, 1881, and 1887. It has retained its present boundaries since 1887. Between 1873 and 1881, eleven new counties were created from Pembina, including [[Cass County, North Dakota|Cass County]] and [[Grand Forks County, North Dakota|Grand Forks County]]. Pembina took its current form in 1887, when [[Cavalier County, North Dakota|Cavalier County]] was increased in size.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dakota Territory, South Dakota, and North Dakota: Individual County Chronologies |url=https://publications.newberry.org/ahcb/documents/DAKs_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm |website=publications.newberry.org |publisher=The [[Newberry Library]] |date=2006 |access-date=May 9, 2025}}</ref>

[[Icelandic State Park]] is located in Pembina County. The first Icelandic immigrant settlement in present-day North Dakota was in Pembina County in the late 1870s, when a colony of settlers from Iceland moved into the county from the [[New Iceland]] homesteads near [[Lake Winnipeg]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Sveinbjorn|editor=Libby, Orin Grant|title=The Icelandic Settlement of Pembina County|series=Collections of the State Historical Society of North Dakota|publisher=Tribune, State Printers and Binders|year=1906|location=Bismarck ND| volume=1|pages=89–130|oclc=01773487}}</ref>

[[File:Map of Pembina County, N.D., 1909.jpg|thumb|Outline map of Pembina County, North Dakota, 1909]]

The first Icelandic settlements in what is now North Dakota were established in Pembina County in the late 1870s. Many of the immigrants came from [[New Iceland]] near [[Lake Winnipeg]], along with other [[Icelanders]] who moved into the area from colonies in [[Wisconsin]]. The new settlers lived primarily in the so-called "Icelandic Townships" of [[Akra Township, Pembina County, North Dakota|Akra]], Beaulieu, Gardar, and Thingwalla. The [[State Historical Society of North Dakota]] reported fewer than 3 or 4 non-Icelandic families living there in the early 1900s. Evidence of this heritage is found in several township and city names with Icelandic origins. Akra was named after the town of [[Akranes]], near [[Reykjavík]]; Gardar was named for [[Gardar Svavarsson]], who was reportedly the first Scandinavian to visit [[Iceland]]; and [[Hallsson, North Dakota|Hallsson]] was named for an early settler, Johann P. Hallson.<ref name=barnes>{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Mary Ann (Barnes)|title=Origins of North Dakota Place Names|publisher=Bismarck Tribune, 1966|location=Bismarck ND|year=1966|oclc=431626}}</ref>

Icelandic State Park was established to preserve evidence of this early pioneer heritage.<ref>{{cite book|last=North Dakota Secretary of State |title=North Dakota Centennial Blue Book |publisher=North Dakota Legislative Assembly |year=1989 |location=Bismarck, ND |pages=539 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HZKEOgAACAAJ}}</ref>