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This Day in Minnesota History

January 9, 1789

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Geographer David Thompson leaves the trading post of Jean-Baptiste Cadotte on Red Lake River, beginning the last part of his 4,000-mile survey of the northern wilderness, the first scientific study of the state. Beginning in Grand Portage in August 1788, he had traveled to the upper Missouri River and then through Minnesota, where he wintered with Cadotte. He would complete his trip by returning to Grand Portage in June.

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