In 1823 the first river steamboat reached St Paul; the Mississippi was soon afterwards opened to continuous if irregular navigation; and in 1826 a party of refugees from Lord Selkirk's colony on the Red River settled near Fort Snelling.
After the erection of Fort St Anthony (1819; later called Fort Snelling), a water-power saw-mill was erected (1822) to saw lumber for the fort on the east bank of the river at the Falls of St Anthony.
Cat Christmas cards by renowned animal artist Chrissie Snelling might actually become holiday keepsakes.
On the latter tract a military post was established by Lieut.-Colonel Henry Leavenworth (1783-1834) in 1819, and in the following year the construction was begun of a fort at first named Fort St Anthony but renamed Fort Snelling in 1824 (two years after its completion) in honour of its builder and commander Colonel Josiah Snelling (1782-1829).
