Manitoba Heritage Council Commemorative Plaques

The Anson Northup

The first steamboat on the Red River and the first to reach Fort Garry. Her maiden trip in 1859 proved that steamboat navigation on the Red River was practicable and initiated a new era of economic relations and transportation between the Red River Settlement and the United States. Built at Lafayette, North Dakota by Anson Northup of St. Paul. The machinery, cabin and furniture were transported overland from Crow Wing, Minnesota. Capacity, 50 to 75 tons; width 22 feet; length, 90 feet; engines, 100 horse-power. On her first trip the Anson Northup left Fort Abercrombie on June 6 and reached Fort Garry June 10, 1859, winning for her builder the prize money offered by the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce to the first person to institute steamboat travel on the Red River. Following her maiden trip she was purchased by J. C. Burbank, rebuilt and renamed the Pioneer in 1861. The boat sank at Cook's Creek near Selkirk in the winter of 1861-62, and was dismantled.