Pierre Bottineau - Sources

Scout, born in Minnesota, USA. Of part Chippewa descent, he guided many expeditions during 1850–70, including a Pacific Railroad expedition (1853) and a campaign against the Sioux (1863). He was often called the ‘Kit Carson of the Northwest’. He retired to Minnesota in 1870.

Pierre Bottineau (1817-1895) was a Minnesota Frontiersman.

Known as the "Kit Carson of the Northwest", he was an integral part of the history and development of Minnesota and North Dakota. Those settlements would become cities such as Osseo, MN and Maple Grove, MN northwest of the Twin Cities, as well as Breckenridge, MN and Wahpeton, ND on either side of the Red River. He also took part in the founding of Orono, MN, Elk River, MN and the booming city of St. Anthony (later absorbed by Minneapolis).

Pierre was born in a hunting camp on the buffalo trail near Grand Forks. Even after the 1815 Treaty of Ghent returned the land to the United States, British and Canadian traders and the Native American tribes held all real control in the area. Most mixed race, or Métis, lived as outcasts to both White and Native societies, but Pierre would soon use his many talents to become accepted as an American hero.

Bottineau County, ND, and it's county seat Bottineau, ND are named in his honor as well as the Pierre Bottineau branch library in Minneapolis.

Sources

The Bottineau Family Website http://users.ap.net/~chenae/bottineau8.html

The Bottineau Boulevard Partnership http://www.bottineaupartnership.org/pierre/bottineau2.html

Minnesota Historical Society http://www.mnhs.org

City of Osseo Website http://www.ci.osseo.mn.us/index