Show City y That Th to Never Was Was' Has Really Vanished Sixty years ago Frog Point the city that never was at the head j of navigation of the Red river in North Korth Dakota was a gathering place for hundreds of teamsters flatboat flatboat- men hunters trappers Indian trad trad- traders traders traders ers travelers and the he representatives tives thes of eastern business bus mess firms It ItI I was a sort of wilderness metropolis lis 11 whose inhabitants were chiefly I transients dwelling in shacks frame hotels and sometimes in tents I Yet the reputation of this cross cross- crossroads crossI crossroads roads of the backwoods spread to I I every part par of the American conti conti- continent nent vent and to Europe Britons thought of Frog Point as a thriving city with broad avenues tall spires and hum hum- humming humming ming wing industries outranked only by Liverpool there To speak of Frog Point in the cities along the Atlantic seaboard or abroad summoned be be- before before before fore the imagination pictures of marching armies boundary police and all the goings and comings of ofa a great commercial mart This reputation made it a mecca for for- for foreign foreign eign eigo travelers but their disillusion disillusion- 1 nent ent failed to dim its reputation while its importance continued Writers for the American Guide I the governments government's forthcoming travel handbook have been preparing an article on the forest city with the aid of the old timers In contrast to the spectacular boom towns of the mining districts Frog Point owed its burst of affluence to a low water period which made navigation tion above it impossible Freight hauled over land made connections here with the Hudsons Hudson's Bay compa compa- company ny boat the International and with the Selkirk of which James J. J Hill the Empire Builder was past owner A Hudsons Hudson's Bay company trading post port was established at Frog Point in 1871 with A. A H. H Morgan as agent He remained in charge un until un- un until til 1875 when the post was leased to Robert Ray Hill was one of the fa Ca- famous Camous fa- fa famous figures frequently seen at Frog Point On one occasion while trav trav- traveling traveling traveling eling from Duluth to Georgetown he broke through the ice not far from the Point and came near drowning Finally navigation conditions changed Robert Ray discontinued the trading post fire wiped out many of the buildings where the back back- backwoodsmen backwoodsmen backwoodsmen woodsmen had assembled and held high carnival the hotel and store storekeepers storekeepers storekeepers keepers closed up and within a rel rel- relatively relatively rel- rel relatively short time the metropolis of ot the wilderness had dissipated into a mist of memories as impalpable as the phantom city once reared on the site by the imagination of ot distant peoples Today the old Hudsons Hudson's Bay company buildings in which the Alfred agency is located survive as the one representative of ot its ancient glory Its population has dwindled to 33 people |