A married couple, Terry and Patty Doerksen from Winnipeg are looking to create the old Ox Cart Trail to make sure history of the traditional Metis trade route is still alive to today, and is making a stop in Crookston on Wednesday, June 15, and Thursday, June 16.
The Doerksen’s are looking to complete the 800-kilometres trail that runs from Winnipeg to St. Paul, Minnesota in a classic way, in one that hasn’t been done since the 1870s. The couple is taking an ox cart, pulled by an shorthorn ox named Zeke, and is traveling down the Red River Trail to the Twin Cities after Terry Doerksen was inspired to do so after reading the ending of the book “The Legend of Pierre Bottineau” and looks to show the author and the nation that the classic trails that had been used 164 years ago haven’t been lost entirely to settlement and civilization.
Last month, Terry, Patty, and Zeke had crossed Highway 8 in St. Andrews, Canada and now, about a month later, is about to ride into Crookston to stop at the Minnesota Wheat Research and Promotion Council Board Member Tim Dufault’s farm on Wednesday and Thursday night to rest.
KROX will be there to interview both riders and deliver more information about the trip and give more details about this historic ride.
