“The horse has come. Almost overnight, it seems, he has captured the west; and by his coming the west has been awakened, transformed. It was one of the most dramatic and one of the most momentous transformations that ever took place in any land under the sun.” This quote, taken from a 1936 edition of the Country Gentlemen magazine rings true across the Americas, even in the far-reaching corners of Dakota Territory.

Horses came to the Americas in the 15th century, brought by the Spanish who used them as powerful weapons of conquest and made every effort to keep them out of Native hands. Of course, some horses escaped from their owners and flourished on the vast grasslands of the Great Plains. Before long, Spanish horses became Indian horses, altering Native lifestyles in the process.

By the 1700s, the Great Plains Indians adapted from traveling on foot to riding horses, and modifying the world’s most prolific equestrian cultures. Horses quickly became currency, with trading and stealing common practice among Indian tribes. Soon, a competent horse, called a buffalo runner, was not only essential to the hunt, but was a prized companion as well to the Metis/Michif hunters.

By 1820, the Pembina Chippewa had transitioned to the Northern Plains, along with their Metis/Michif relatives. They brought with them their horses, of course, but had other resources as well, one of which they are credited with inventing, a two-wheeled cart referred to as the Red River Cart. The cart played an important role in early transportation in the northern Dakota Territory, moving goods such as tents, dried buffalo meats, and hides. During the booming fur trade years, guns became more prevalent and rapidly spread from tribe to tribe as a highly valued article of trade. The Pembina Chippewa and their Metis/Michif relatives used the horse, guns, and Red River carts to become a commanding force in the area from the northern Red River country to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.