General Info
Known for having rich, fruitful, soil, Pembina county was a huge glacial lake for around 5,000 years. The lake eventually dried up and left the sediments behind. Years later, after bison grazing and Native settlements, Pembina county was the first organized county of what was to become the state of North Dakota in 1867. Cass, Traill, Grand Forks, Steele, most of Nelson and Walsh and parts of Richland, Barnes and Ransom counties were all part of the original settlement. 1871, Pembina county nearly doubled in size acquiring land to the South and West. In 1873 Pembina county was downsized by almost one and a third of it’s size. Again in 1885 it lost land to Cavalier County and remains that size today. Pembina county was named after the Chippewa word for the high bush cranberry, which flourished along the Pembina river. The County Seat is Cavalier. Pembina county is now home to around 7,200 people.
