This Week in History – 50 Years Ago:
“On a rainy afternoon recently, work began towards relocating the David Thompson memorial. It is indeed a ‘monumental’ task moving a 15-ton historical marker from the Burlington Northern Depot, where it has stood since 1926, to this new site in the downtown mini-park.”
The pathfinders monument donated by the Franco American branch of the American Goodwill Association was placed on its foundation near the Great Northern Depot in June 1926. It was unveiled to the public on July 19th of that year. The 9,600 pound monument has inscriptions on both sides commemorating the first travel route for early explorers. Designed by E.D. Litchfield, it is made of Kettle River sandstone from the quarry in Pine County, Minnesota.
Two special fifteen-car Great Northern trains arrived on July 19th full of “prominent individuals” – 150 people on the two trains. “Chief Many Tail Feathers, 95 year old Blackfoot, stepped forward with left arm raised and silently invoked the Great Spirit to bless the monument and to bless its spirit of cooperation between Indian and white.”
The monument was moved to an area near the new library and the by-pass mini park.