Editing Crookston, Minnesota (section)

===Early history===
The Crookston area was virtually unoccupied until European contact and remained little more than a hunting ground associated with the [[Pembina Region|Pembina]] settlements until the 1860s.<ref name="LakesnWoods">{{cite web |title=Crookston Minnesota Community Guide |url=https://lakesnwoods.com/Crookston.htm |publisher=LakesnWoods |access-date=April 15, 2024 |archive-date=April 14, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240414175815/https://lakesnwoods.com/Crookston.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The land in Crookston's immediate vicinity is not connected with any verifiable [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] or European historic events or circumstances until transfer in the [[Treaty of Old Crossing|Treaties of Old Crossing]] in 1863–64.{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}} Before that, the territory now included in Crookston was part of [[Rupert's Land]] and [[Assiniboia]] before becoming part of the United States as a result of the boundary settlement in the [[Treaty of 1818]].<ref name="LakesnWoods"/>

The Crookston area was traversed by trappers and traders, including [[Ojibwa]] and [[Lakota people|Lakota]], [[Métis people (United States)|Métis]], and European settlers, between 1790 and 1870. A branch of the [[Red River Trails]] passed nearby; it was used by [[fur trade]]rs between the 1840s and 1870s.<ref name="UMC - Polk County">{{cite web|title=Compendium of History and Biography of Polk County, Minnesota|url=http://umclibrary.crk.umn.edu/digitalprojects/polk2/index.html}}</ref>