Tent Town

Minot Early rival – in late 1886 Minot seemed to have a rival city in Tent Town…. This was the temporary camp set up at the Gasman Coulee near the railroad bridge that was being built. Rumor had it that the railroad planned to build a city at the second crossing of the Mouse River. The first crossing of the Mouse was near Towner. Many thought the city would be “at the big bridge”. Some started building make shift wooden buildings in anticipation of the city growing there. The decision to establish the city at the Minot location had been made but kept secret for a while. When word got out, the city of Minot grew and Tent Town remained through the construction of the bridge as many workers wanted to live close to the job site. Pictured below are the original Gasman Coulee wooden tressel, after the wind storm blew it down (1898) and supplies for the railroad construction - possilble for the tressel (1896)