 Located on the western banks of the Red River of the North in a flat region known as the Red River Valley , the city is prone to flooding and was struck by the devastating Red River Flood of 1997 . Originally called Les Grandes Fourches by French fur traders , Grand Forks was founded in 1870 by steamboat captain Alexander Griggs and incorporated on February 22 , 1881 . Its location at the fork of the Red River and the Red Lake River gives the city its name . 
