sentences:  Two years later in 1823, Major Stephen Harriman Long was the first official U.S. representative to reach Pembina; his expedition came by way of the Minnesota and Red Rivers.These early expeditions on the watersheds of these two streams were among the earliest known through trips on the route of the first Red River Trail.The West Plains Trail had originated with Native Americans, and before the ox cart traffic it connected the fur-trading posts of the Columbia Fur Company.