Ramsey County History – Fall 1972: “Forgotten Pioneers: James C. Burbank, The Man Who Used Coach and Boat to Link the Northwest to St. Paul”

Forgotten Pioneers: James C. Burbank, The Man Who Used Coach and Boat to Link the Northwest to St. Paul
Author: Robert Orr Baker

Bringing the Red River country, and by extension all of the “Hudson Bay country this side of the Rocky Mountains, into … communication with St. Paul was the work of one man, James Crawford Burbank.” Burbank (1822–1876) started as a patent medicine salesman, then began a parcel and mail carrying enterprise. From there he advanced to retail and wholesale merchandising, shipping, then overland passenger hauling. He ran the Northwestern Express Co., a St. Paul city omnibus line, and the Minnesota Stage Company, which ran to the Red River country. In 1861 the Hudson’s Bay Company began shipping furs to the world through Burbank in St. Paul. Burbank also became the major hauler of supplies to U.S. forts in the upper West. He was president of the first St. Paul street railway and of St. Paul Fire and Marine from 1865 to his death. Burbank also served in the Minnesota Legislature and as president of the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce.
PDF of Baker article