Pierre Bottineau, son of Charles Joseph Bottineau, a French-Huguenot, and Marguerite Adhik Songab, Clear Sky Woman, a Lake of the Woods Chippewa, was born near the mouth of the Turtle River, twelve miles north of Grand Forks, North Dakota. Bottineau County was named in his honor by the Dakota Territory Legislature in Yankton, Dakota Territory, in 1873 in recognition of his service as a guide to numerous expeditions in Dakota Territory. He was fluent in French, English, Sioux, Chippewa, Cree, Mandan, and Winnebego, and was referred to as a "Walking Calument," or peace pipe. As a guide, he was said to know just where he was on the prairie, boundless as the ocean, and even on the darkest night or foggiest day he was never lost. Pierre Bottineau was over six feet tall and straight as the pathways he marked through the wilderness, with expressive black eyes that were keen but commonly held a kindly sense of humor and good fellowship. His word was a bond never broken, and no task he undertook was ever left unfinished.