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St. Croix River (Wisconsin-Minnesota)
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The St. Croix River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 164 miles (264 km) long, in the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Minnesota. The lower 125 miles (201 km) of the river form the state line between Wisconsin and Minnesota. The river is a National Scenic Riverway under the protection of the National Park Service.
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Encyclopedia
The St. Croix River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 164 miles (264 km) long, in the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Minnesota. The lower 125 miles (201 km) of the river form the state line between Wisconsin and Minnesota. The river is a National Scenic Riverway under the protection of the National Park Service. A hydroelectric plant at St. Croix Falls supplies power to the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area.
Hydrography
Known as Manoominikeshiinh-ziibi (Ricing-Rail River) in the Ojibwe language, the St. Croix River rises in the northwestern corner of Wisconsin, out of Upper St. Croix Lake in Douglas County, near Solon Springs, approximately south of Lake Superior. It flows south to Gordon, then southwest. It is joined by the Namekagon River in northern Burnett County, becoming significantly wider, which the Ojibwe renamed the river as Gichi-ziibi (big river), then encounters and forms the boundary between Minnesota and Wisconsin, flowing generally south, past St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin and Stillwater, Minnesota. Just below Stillwater the river widens into Lake St. Croix, and joins the Mississippi River at Prescott, Wisconsin, approximately southeast of St. Paul, Minnesota.
The upper reaches of the river in Wisconsin below the St. Croix Flowage, 15 miles (24 km) downstream from its source, as well as the Namekagon River, are protected as the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway.
The lower 27 miles (43 km) of both sides of the river along the Minnesota-Wisconsin border, from St. Croix Falls / Taylors Falls to Prescott, are protected as part of the Lower St. Croix National Scenic Riverway. The protected area includes the Dalles of the St. Croix River, a scenic gorge, located near Interstate Park, south of St. Croix Falls.
Naming
Father Louis Hennepin wrote in 1683, from information probably provided by Du Lhut: "There is another River which falls ... into the Meschasipi ... We named it The River of the Grave, or Mausoleum, because the Savages buried there one of their Men ... who was bitten by a Rattlesnake." In the original French, this is translated as "Rivière Tombeaux".
Jean-Baptiste Franquelin's 1688 map recorded a "Fort St. Croix" on the upper reaches of the river. The name "Rivière de Sainte-Croix" was applied to the river sometime in 1688 or 1689, and this more auspicious name supplanted Father Hennepin's earler designation.
At the time of European settlement of the valley, the Ojibwe and Dakota were engaged in a long and deadly war with each other. Consequently, the portion of the river below the confluence with Trade River is called Jiibayaatig-ziibi (Grave-marker River) in the Ojibwe language.
History
The river valley and the surrounding area was originally occupied by the semi-nomadic Ojibwe, Dakota and nine other American Indian tribes. The Indians mainly lived on wild rice, fish, and game.
Fur trade
The first Europeans to arrive in the area were Sieur du Lhut and his men in the fall and winter of 1679-1680. For the next eighty years the area was primarily under French influence, and the fur trade grew throughout the first half of the 18th century, with beaver pelts as the prize trade good. After the end of the French and Indian War in 1760, British traders entered the area, and grew in numbers and influence with the help of the powerful North West Company.
Logging
In 1837 a treaty with the Ojibwe was signed at Fort Snelling which ceded all lands in the triangle between the St. Croix and the Mississippi River up to the 46th Parallel to the United States government. This opened the region to logging. The river was important to the transportation of lumber downstream, from the areas where it was being cut to the sawmills that processed it. During the 1840s, important sawmills were located at St. Croix Falls and Marine on St. Croix, but as the 1850s progressed Stillwater became the primary lumber destination. During this time the population of Stillwater boomed, several additional sawmills were opened, and the town saw an influx of capital, primarily from lumber companies based downriver in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1856 construction began on a boom site two miles north of Stillwater, which was used to store and sort the lumber floating downstream and remained in operation for over fifty years. The St. Croix Boom Site is now a wayside rest and National Historic Landmark along Minnesota State Highway 95.
The lumber industry continued to grow throughout the latter half of the 19th century, with progressively larger spring drives and consequent dangers to navigation on the river above Stillwater. Logs were frequently caught in jams at the narrow Dalles of the St. Croix River, and in 1883 the blockade was so severe it took almost two months before the flow of logs was re-established. At its peak in 1890, logging in the St. Croix River valley produced 450 million board feet (1,100,000 m³) of lumber and logs (). The lumber industry continued until the last major log drive in 1912 marked the end of the rich white pine forests of the area.
It was along the banks of the St. Croix, in the milltown of Stillwater, that the state of Minnesota was first proposed in 1848.
Cities and towns
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| North Hudson, WisconsinOak Park Heights, MinnesotaOsceola, WisconsinPrescott, WisconsinSt. Croix Falls, WisconsinSt. Marys Point, MinnesotaSolon Springs, WisconsinStillwater, MinnesotaTaylors Falls, MinnesotaScandia, Minnesota |
Bridge crossings
Significant bridge crossings of the St. Croix River are listed below, ordered from source to mouth.
- Scott Bridge in Burnett County, Wisconsin.
- County Road T bridge in Burnett County, Wisconsin.
- C.C.C. Bridge in Burnett County, Wisconsin.
- Wisconsin State Highway 35 bridge near Danbury, Wisconsin.
- Minnesota State Highway 48 to Wisconsin State Highway 77 bridge near Danbury, Wisconsin.
- Minnesota State Highway 70 to Wisconsin State Highway 70 bridge near Grantsburg, Wisconsin.
- U.S. Highway 8 bridge between Taylors Falls, Minnesota and St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin.
- Minnesota State Highway 243 bridge at Osceola, Wisconsin.
- Arcola high bridge north of Stillwater, Minnesota. This private, rail-only bridge is long and above the river. It roughly marks the northern limit of zebra mussel infestation in the St. Croix.
- The Stillwater lift bridge between Stillwater, Minnesota and Houlton, Wisconsin.
- Interstate 94 bridge at Hudson, Wisconsin.
- U.S. Highway 10 bridge at Prescott, Wisconsin.
Commerce
The St. Croix is a popular recreational river. Common uses include boating, fishing, camping and canoeing. Highways along both sides of the river offer scenic drives punctuated by small towns offering restaurants, shopping (especially antiques, books and gifts), bed and breakfasts, historical tours and other common tourist activities.
Parks and public lands along the St. Croix River include:
The Stillwater Bridge is a working lift bridge built in 1931, in Stillwater, Minnesota.
Gallery
External links
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