Canada to North Dakota: You may hold the golden key.
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Do you know of where I might find a listing of ships carrying passengers >from through Canada to a North Dakota port in 1880 or thereabouts?
You could take a boat up the Red River >from Winnipeg, but how would you get to Winnipeg? The most likely way for an immigrant to get to North Dakota through Canada around 1880 might be to take a ship through the Great Lakes >from southern Ontario to Duluth, and then a train to North Dakota. Or possibly he originally settled in Western Canada and later moved to North Dakota.