286 - Historical Trail

The Fort Totten Trail is an overland route that was used first by Indians and also by settlers moving with their wagons across the North Dakota prairie. It went about four miles south of Petersburg to a hotel located in Adler township and proceeded to Larimore. From Fort Totten it went west to Bismarck. The story goes that Native Americans traveled the trail to spend the winter along the Red River. As the Indians were on the trail one of the women was having a difficult childbirth. They asked the early settlers for help but in spite of their efforts the baby died and was buried along the trail. To mark this site the children at Unity school put a marker that reads “Native American Baby Girl 1904 recognized by Unity School Children”.

A tree was planted and on another marker just north of the tree is written “Fort Totten Trail crossing here Going to Fort Totten, Adler Hotel at two miles due east”.

During the North Dakota centennial celebration in 1989, the Unity Grade School (now part of Dakota Prairie) sponsored the memorial and an elder from Spirit Lake Sioux tribe was invited to speak to the students. He remembered the hardships of both white and Indian women and children who died along the trail. The tree that was planted and the two memorial stones can be approached from highway 32 south of Petersburg about four miles and there is a marker identifying it as an historical site.