Drayton, ND

Drayton is a Pembina County city on the Red River of the North, founded in 1878 by a group of settlers from Drayton, Ontario. The original settlement was known as Hastings Landing, a river stop at one of the higher points between Grand Forks and Winnipeg. The Northern Pacific Railroad reached town in 1887, and Drayton incorporated as a city in 1896. The river and the tracks gave the place two ways to move people, supplies, and farm goods across the Red River Valley.

Drayton's bridge story is one of the more unusual pieces of its local map. A pontoon bridge was built in 1890, followed by a drawbridge in 1911 that was meant to connect the town with Minnesota and accommodate riverboats. The boats never returned in force because the river ran too low, so the drawbridge never needed to rise for the traffic it anticipated. Today Drayton remains tied to the river through boat ramps, anglers, and its Catfish Capital nickname, while an American Crystal Sugar refinery adds a major industrial presence to the edge of town.