Before there were roads in the wilderness area, the best method of transportation was by water; and as the Leaf Lakes drain towards the Gulf of Mexico and Otter Tail Lake toward Hudson Bay by way of the Red River of the North.

The early explorer would portage from Leaf Lake to Portage Lake to Donald Lake to Pelican Bay on Otter Tail Lake and be on his way through Canada to Hudson Bay.

The first explorers through this area about 1750 were a Frenchman and an Englishman. They met with a band of Indians on the shore of "Lac de la Queue de la Outer", which translates roughly to the Lake of the Otters Tail.

This is on record in the archives of Congress, and I would think that it was called that for many years before that as the name derives from the sand bar shaped like an otter's tail where the Otter Tail River enters Otter Tail Lake and now over two centuries later the otter's tail sand bar is still there.

Before there were roads in the wilderness area, the best method of transportation was by water; and as the Leaf Lakes drain towards the Gulf of Mexico and Otter Tail Lake toward Hudson Bay by way of the Red River of the North.

The early explorer would portage from Leaf Lake to Portage Lake to Donald Lake to Pelican Bay on Otter Tail Lake and be on his way through Canada to Hudson Bay.

The first explorers through this area about 1750 were a Frenchman and an Englishman. They met with a band of Indians on the shore of "Lac de la Queue de la Outer", which translates roughly to the Lake of the Otters Tail.

This is on record in the archives of Congress, and I would think that it was called that for many years before that as the name derives from the sand bar shaped like an otter's tail where the Otter Tail River enters Otter Tail Lake and now over two centuries later the otter's tail sand bar is still there.

Farming

At the time of its early settlement, about two-thirds of the survey area was forested and one-third was native prairie. Today(1994), about 20 percent of the county is forested and 80 percent is used as cropland or pastureland.

In the early years, wheat was the dominant crop grown. At several times throughout Otter Tail County’s farming history, the grasshopper infestations were so terrible that bounties on grasshoppers were enacted. The production of corn and other crops did not begin until about 1905. The Food Security Act of 1985 included the Conservation Reserve Program. This program involved taking selected cropland acres out of commodity crop production for 10 years and planting those areas to trees or other vegetative cover for the purpose of controlling erosion. From October 1985 to the present, Otter Tail County has had approximately 80,000 acres in the Conservation Reserve Program. Former cropland could be brought back into crop production starting in October 1995, as the Conservation Reserve Program contracts started to expire.

History and Settlement

Native Americans used the survey area for hunting and fishing and had permanent dwelling sites. Two Native American tribes were in constant conflict. The Dakota (Sioux) were being pushed from their home area by the Ojibwa (Chippewa) during the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. Burial mounds and artifacts can still be found. Some of the oldest remains of Native Americans were found near Pelican Rapids, Minnesota. The remains, nicknamed Minnesota Girl, were dated at about 11,000 B.C. (Otter Tail County Historical Museum).

The first white men to enter the county were French and British fur traders. Efforts were made to set up trading posts on the Leaf Lakes and Otter Tail Lake. In the late 1800’s, most of the towns were built along the railroad lines. Lumber and agriculture were the major industries in the county at that time. The pine and hardwood forests, transportation system, and markets were instrumental in the development of Fergus Falls into a lumber center.

In 1870, the population of the county was about 2,000. At that time the principal languages spoken in the county were Norwegian, Swedish, German, and English (Mason, 1916). Otter Tail County was established in March 1858 by a legislative act. It was organized in 1868. The original county seat was Ottertail City.

The people of Fergus Falls organized a new county named Holcomb. In 1872, a legislative act abolished Holcomb County, added additional townships to the west, and established Fergus Falls as the county seat of Otter Tail County. There are 62 townships in the county. The county is named for Otter Tail Lake and the Otter Tail River.