Image courtesy of Red River Valley Research Corridor

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Red River Valley An Urban Landscape
Kerri S.W. Westgard Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Jr.
High kwestgard_at_dgf.k12.mn.us
Image courtesy of Red River Valley Research
Corridor
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Introduction to the Red River Valley of the North
Maps courtesy of worldatlas.com
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The Red River of the North flows north about 545
miles from its source the confluence of
the Bois de Sioux and Otter tail Rivers in
Breckenridge, Minnesota to Lake Winnipeg.
Map courtesy of Prairie Public
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(No Transcript)
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Cities of the Red River Valley
Courtesy of Prairie Public
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What brought and still brings people to the Red
River Valley?

• Trade and Transportation routes
• Agriculture
• Innovation

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Trade and Transportation in the Red River Valley

• Canoe
• Oxcart
• Steamboat
• Railroad
• Interstates, Highways
• Airport
• Technology

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Image courtesy of State Historical Society of ND
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This is near Reading, PA
Photo courtesy of airphotoNA.com
Roads and fields are square and perpendicular in
the Red River Valley
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Railroads of the Red River Valley
Map Key1. Red River of the North2. Mississippi
River3. Minneapolis, MN4. Duluth, MN
Map courtesy of the Library of Congress
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Great Northern Railway
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Agriculture

• Bonanza Farms, wheat and railroads
• Homestead Act
• Sugar Beets

                                                
          (Fred Hultstrand History in Pictures
Collection, North Dakota Institute for Regional
Studies, North Dakota State University, Fargo)
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Bonanza Farm
(State Historical Society of North Dakota,
photographer unknown)
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American Crystal Sugar

• American Crystal Sugar today is a successful
  grower-owned cooperative, the nation's largest
  producer of beet sugar. It pumps millions of
  dollars into the Red River Valley economy in
  products and wages.

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Innovation

• Innovation is the introduction of new ideas,
  goods, services, and practices which are intended
  to be useful.

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ND Senator Byron Dorgan

• In 2002, Senator Byron Dorgan proposed to bring
  millions of Federal research dollars to the Red
  River Valley.
• Using NDSU and UND between Fargo and Grand Forks
  this area would be called the Research Corridor.
• Over the past two years alone more than 100
  Million of scientific research funding has been
  directed to UND and NDSU.