The Red River Valley as it exists today emerged from receding glacier ice at the end last major ice age. Over a period of time that began about 14,000 years ago, an enormous "ice lobe" crept south from the Arctic, pulverizing all in its way and kneading the land into a new configuration.

French explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye arrived to the Red River Valley area in 1732. He coined the term “Red River” due to its reddish-brown silt. It was the primary source of transportation between Lake Winnipeg and the Mississippi River system.

Instead, the origins of this flat plain lie as the floor of what was an enormous glacial lake. The actual "valley" of the Red River is only a few hundred feet wide at Fargo. Because of the low gradient of the Red and the young age of the river, the "valley" is not fully mature.

The valley was long an area of habitation by various indigenous cultures, including the historic Ojibwe and Métis peoples.