Bicentennial Story #86-Camp Houston-Belfield

Bicentennial Story #86-Camp Houston-Belfield

History of the creation of Belfield, ND.

8/28/1975

Father Louis Pfaller

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mp3

audio reel, analog, 1/4 inch polyester tape

English

BS-086

Belfield, ND

Copyright Stark County Historical Society and Dickinson Museum Center

Frontier Armies on an expedition had the custom of giving a name to each campsite, even if it was only an overnight stop. In 1876 a detachment of soldiers under General Merrill camped shortly on the site of present Belfield. He named it Camp Houston in honor of his son. It was not a fort, but a camp. For less than a year it was a stage station on the Keogh Trail, 1878, when the trail was located farther south. In 1880 the construction crews of the Northern Pacific camped on the site, but it was only in 1883 that the town was platted and settlement begun, and the name changed from Houston to Belfield. Some say it was named by a railroad engineer by the name of Fields who had a daughter named Belle. Another version is that it was named for the wild prairie bluebells that bloomed on the site.

This is Bicentennial Story No. 86, prepared by Father Louis Pfaller for the Stark County Historical Society.

Sound recordings

1:59

128kbps

1970 1979

Bicentennial tape #5, Bicentennial stories 67-86