Huot, Minnesota

Huot is an unincorporated community in Louisville Township, Red Lake County, Minnesota, United States. The name of the community evokes the French-Canadian and Métis history of the Red River Trails and the Pembina settlements of Assiniboia.

The location of Huot was originally dubbed the Old Crossing. In the 1840s and 1850s, this was a ford or crossing of the Red Lake River used by Red River ox cart trains en route from Pembina and Fort Garry in the Red River Colony to St. Paul, Minnesota. After negotiating the difficult and sometimes dangerous crossing, these cart trains typically camped overnight nearby, and the location became known as a regular stopping place on the "Woods Trail".

In the 1850s, Joe Rolette, one of the colorful promoters of trade between British Assiniboia and St. Paul, established a trading house at the Old Crossing. Rolette also proposed to establish a city named "Douglas" at the same location. Rolette's compatriots in the Minnesota state legislature actually designated Douglas the county seat of Polk County in 1858. This designation was quickly withdrawn when the Ojibwe, who had been contesting the Dakota Sioux for hunting rights in the vicinity over many decades, refused to grant permission for a ferry or a town in their territory.

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