Some ten years before the settler's advent, the fur traders on the upper Red River had most bitter rivalries and for two or three years the fire water--the Indian's curse--flowed like a flood.

The danger appealed to the traders, and from a policy of mere self-protection they had decided to give out no strong drink, unless it might be a slight allowance at Christmas and New Year's time.

Red River was now the central meeting place of four of the great Indian Nations.
The Red Pipestone Quarry down in the land of the Dakotas, and the Roches Percees, on the upper Souris River, in the land of the wild Assiniboines were sacred shrines.

At intervals all the Indian natives met at these spots, buried for the time being their weapons, and lived in peace.

But Red River, and the country--eastward to the Lake of the Woods--was really the "marches" where battles and conflicts continually prevailed.
Red River, the Miskouesipi, or Blood Red River of the Chippewas and Crees, was said to have thus received its name.