The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1915-12-09
HISTORY OF THE
A. 4. TOP COUNTY IN
F. :. ..... N0RTH|STAR STATE
Named After Count Beltrami Of the
Royal Court of Italy; First Ex-
plorer; at Buena Vista in 1928.
Located in Central Northern Part Of
Minnesota; Has 2,515, 941 Acres;
Organized Feb. %, 1866.

Organized Feb. %, 1866.
In the spring of 1923 Count Beltra-
mi, formerly Judge of the royal court
of the ex-kingdom Of Italy, came to
America and shortly thereafter Joined
an expedition about to start for the
then practically unknown north re-
gion Of North America.
The expedition began it's journey
at st. Louis and followed up the
Mississippi. It was May 20, 1898
that the first steamer assembled the
Mississippi river to the mouth of the
Minnesota river (then the st. Peter
river)' and among the passengers on
this boat was Count Beltrami.
July 8 of the same year Beltrami
Joined an expedition and followed up
the st. Peter river to it's sources in
Big Stone Lake, where Ortonville
is now located. They followed this
lake which is about twenty miles
long lying in a northwesternly direc-
ton and passed from it by narrow
channel into Lake Traverse, then con-
sidered the source of the Red River
of the North.
The expedition continued north
ward but Count Beltrami parted from
them and took two Indians and half
breed and went to what is now Thief
River Falls. Beltrami went up the
river which was then known as Me-
ni-cia-wat-pa or the Bloody river.
Near what is known as High Land
ing they were attacked from ambush
by war party of Sioux and one of
the Indians Of Beltrami's party was
wounded. Be1trami took one Of his
Indians and following the river ar
rived at the Red Lakes. He then
went to the Ten Mile lake, portrayed
to Rice lake and canoed to the north
shore Of lake Julia. He then journ--
led to the Turtle Lake and river,
visited Lake Bemidji which he named
Torigiani and journeyed down the
Mississippi river.
The above, in brief is the discovery
of the county of Beltrami and it is
after him that the county is named.
The county was created February
%, 1866, with the county seat at Be-
midi, and is located in the northern
part of the state, it's northern boun-
Diary being the Lake Of the Woods and
the Rainy River which separates the
county from Canada.
The area of the county is 4,962.29
square miles or 515,941.77 acres, of
which 1,869,724.OS acres are land,
646,217.69 acres are water. The
land surface is divided into 1877
farms, according to report made by
the State immigration Department.
Dairying, live stock, poultry and
general farming are carried on quite
extensively. In 1913 the county
had one creamery with an output of
28,115 pounds of butter The live
stock of the county for 1913 was as
follows: horses, 1857; cattle, 1863;
sheep, 2,193; swine 1859.
nj
The county is we'll supplied with
United States rural free deliveries,
telephones, and transportation faci-
lities, having six railroads, viz: Great
Northern, Minnesota & International,
Wilton & Northern, Minneapolis, Red
Lake & Manitoba, The $780, and the
Canadian Northern. It also has five
newspapers.
The population Of the county in
1910 was 1887, of which 14,1OO
were native born. The foreign popu-
lation being as follows: Germany
363; Sweden, 1,246; Norway, 1884;
Great Britain and Ireland, 100; Dem
mark, $50; Finland, 81; Russia, ~;
other countries 1908. Their occu-
pations are the various agricultural
pursuits and numbering, together
with manufacturing industries.
It has 116 rural schools, four grad
ed schools, two high schools and "a
churches with denominations as fol-
lows: Catholic, Norwegian, Swedish
and German Lutheran, Presbyterian,
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