M.L.Berg

The distance from Burlington to Coal Harbor was between 60 and 65 miles. The mail route between the two locations “followed the old stage road across Wolf and Snake Creeks, then in a northwesterly direction, to the present site of Garrison, where it picked

up the James Johnson ox trail, which had been laid out by Mr. Johnson, hauling building material by ox team from the Fort Stevenson steamboat landing to Burlington.”

Then, “The route took a northerly direction from present Garrison, passing the east side of Rush Lake (now known as Cleven’s slough), and at this point a shelter station was erected.” Rush Lake lies in the Spring Lake Township of Ward County. Cleven’s slough is most likely named for Ole Cleven, who was already living in that township by June, 1900, when the Ward County census of 1900 showed him living there with his wife Dorothy and four of their children. The total township population in 1900 was just 19. The main occupation of the Spring Lake Township residents was stock raising.

To continue with the description of the mail route, “The route continued north through the hills, across the flat, encountering two big coulees on the flat and finally down to the Mouse River at the foot of Gasmann’s Coulee, then up the river valley four miles to Burlington.”

It would seem that much of this mail route would have followed an established Native American trail between the Mouse River and the Missouri River/Fort Stevenson. This description of the route was provided by a long-time McLean County resident, John W. Robinson. (See Dr. John W. Robinson, Recollections, Bismarck, 1975, pages 71 and 72.)

Thaddeus Hecker had noted the presence of another Native American trail in the vicinity of Burlington, one that probably matched up with the trail from the south that ended at Gasmann’s Coulee. As Hecker described it, “About 1 mile north of the river junction (of the Des Lacs and Mouse Rivers) was an old Indian trail that meandered to the N.E.

in the general direction of the Turtle Mountains.” (See page 45 of Thad Hecker, “A survey of Indian relics found in eight counties of northwestern North Dakota,” typescript, Minot, 1937.)

John W. Robinson also mentioned that two of the mail carriers between Coal Harbor and Burlington were John J. Robinson and George W. Robinson and that John J. Robinson also had the mail contract between Burlington and Coal Harbor. John J. was the father of both John W. and George W. Robinson. (See Recollections, pages 6 and 72.)

There were other men who carried mail from Coal Harbor to Burlington in 1886 besides members of the Robinson family. One of them was Patrick Connors. On Christmas Eve of 1886, Connors started out for Burlington, despite there having been a heavy snowfall

in the preceding days which made travel difficult over the sixty miles between the two towns. He encountered Dr. Belyea and George Akeson somewhere along the way; they advised him of the difficult conditions before him, but Connors continued going.

An item on page four of the Villard Leader newspaper for Saturday, January 1, 1887, gives an account of this trip. Connors had set out as discussed, but “lost his trail when within about twelve miles of Mouse river, and wandered over the prairie from that time until the following Monday afternoon (December 27) without food or fire.

“His hands were badly frozen, but we (Richard Copeland, editor of the Leader) have not learned to what extent. Some years ago, Mr. Connors had both his feet amputated in consequence of freezing them in northern Iowa. It is a mystery how he survived those terrible days.”

In his account of life in McLean County, Dr. John Robinson gives Patrick’s last name as O’Connor. In the 1885 census of McLean County, Patrick O’Connor is listed as a 35-year-old farmer from Ireland. Robinson said Patrick seemed “to be the only one willing to risk that hazardous task of carrying mail during the winter months across the open, unsettled prairie from old Coal Harbor to Burlington during the early eighties.’ (See Recollections, page 97.) Patrick retained the use of his hands.

And he almost perished a few years later in a winter blizzard. He and a companion had delivered coal to a farmer and were on their way back, when the storm sprang up.

Patrick was lucky enough to find shelter, but his companion, a Minot resident, did not and perished in the storm. Patrick eventually moved to Canada. Robinson paid him a handsome tribute, regarding Patrick as “our old friend and hunting companion whom we had learned to respect and admire from the earliest Territorial Days.” (See Recollections, pages 99 and 100.)

To be continued …

M.L. Berg of Minot enjoys researching local history.