Crow Wing: Early Boomtown
The Crow Wing Post was established at a superior waterway junction: at the mouth of the Crow Wing River on the Mississippi. Thus nearly all downriver traffic from the region would pass through this site. The Red River Trail, the major transportation route in this period in Minnesota, was modified in order to run through the new townsite located at the post. Also Crow Wing was importantly located along the border between ceded land and non-ceded land. Thus Crow Wing was simultaneously located on the frontier of a great resource zone (the non-ceded land) and on the major transportation networks of the time (the Mississippi and the Red River Trail). The American Fur Company moved its operations for the Fun-du-lac department from Fond-du-lac (Duluth) to Crow Wing in around the late-mid 1800. With the construction of Fort Ripley, the other major military presence in Minnesota after Fort Snelling, to the South and regular steamboat service to Sauk Rapids, regular carriage service was established to Crow Wing. One coach service, called the Minnesota Stage Co., ran three times a week from Little Falls to Fort Ripley and on up to Crow Wing. The other route of Minnesota Stage departed from Sauk Rapids once a week. At its peak around 1850 Crow Wing was an outfitting center for the logging business and for the oxcarts that passed through on the Red River Trail. The town had a post office, a sawmill, two churches, three missions, and seven saloons. Crow Wing was destined for greatness.
