| St. Croix River (Dakota: Ouasisacadeba) | |
| Ojibwe: Manoominikeshiinh-ziibi, Ojibwe: Gichi-ziibi, Ojibwe: Okijii-ziibi, Ojibwe: Jiibayaatig-ziibi, French: Rivière de Sainte-Croix, Italian: Fiume San Croce, French: Rivière Tombeaux | |
| River | |
 The St. Croix River, looking downstream toward Stillwater, Minnesota
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| Country |  United States |
|---|---|
| States | Wisconsin, Minnesota |
| Tributaries | |
| - left | Sunrise River, Snake River, Kettle River |
| - right | Apple River, Yellow River, Namekagon River, Eau Claire River |
| Cities | St. Croix Falls, WI, Taylors Falls, MN, Osceola, WI, Stillwater, MN, Hudson, WI, Prescott, WI |
| Source | Upper St. Croix Lake |
| - location | near Solon Springs, Wisconsin, Douglas County, WI |
| - coordinates | 46°23′19″N 91°45′34″W / 46.38861°N 91.75944°W |
| Mouth | Mississippi River |
| - location | Prescott, WI, Pierce County, Washington, Dakota, MN, WI |
| - coordinates | 44°44′45″N 92°48′10″W / 44.74583°N 92.80278°W |
 Map of the St. Croix watershed.
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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. A hydroelectric plant at St. Croix Falls supplies power to the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area.
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Geography and hydrography
The St. Croix River rises in the northwestern corner of Wisconsin, out of Upper St. Croix Lake in Douglas County, near Solon Springs, approximately 20 miles (32 km) south of Lake Superior. It flows south to Gordon, then southwest. It is joined by the Namekagon River in northern Burnett County, where it becomes significantly wider. A few miles downstream the St. Croix meets the boundary between Minnesota and Wisconsin, which it demarcates for another 130 miles (210 km) until its confluence with the Mississippi River.
Other major tributaries include the Kettle River, Snake River, and Sunrise River joining from the west, and the Apple River, Willow River, and Kinnickinnic River joining from the east. Just below Stillwater, Minnesota the river widens into Lake St. Croix, and eventually joins the Mississippi River at Prescott, Wisconsin, approximately 20 miles (32 km) southeast of St. Paul, Minnesota.
The St. Croix River was one of the original eight rivers to have significant portions placed under protection by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1964. 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 free-flowing nature of the river is interrupted only by a hydroelectric dam operated by Northern States Power at St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin.
The lower 27 miles (43 km) below the dam, including both sides of the river along the Minnesota-Wisconsin border, are protected as part of the Lower St. Croix National Scenic Riverway. This area includes the Dalles of the St. Croix River, a scenic gorge located near Interstate Park, south of St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin.
Naming
Father Louis Hennepin wrote in 1683, from information probably provided by Daniel Greysolon, Sieur 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".[1]
Jean-Baptiste Franquelin's 1688 map recorded a "Fort St. Croix" on the upper reaches of the river[2][3]. The name "Rivière de Sainte-Croix" was applied to the river sometime in 1688 or 1689[4], and this more auspicious name supplanted Father Hennepin's earler designation.
On Carte de la Louisiane et du cours du Mississippi (1718) by Guillaume Delisle and on A Map of North America (1768) by John Blair, the St. Croix River—more specifically what was then known as the east branch of the St. Croix River (known today as the Namekagon River)—is shown as the Ouasisacadeba, a French representation of the Dakota name for the St. Croix River.
The upper portion of river—originally called the north branch of the St. Croix River—was known to the Ojibwa as Manoominikeshiinh-ziibi (Ricing-Rail River).[5][6] Downstream of its confluence with the Namekagon, the Ojibwa renamed the river as Gichi-ziibi (Big River)[6][7] or Okijii-ziibi (Pipestem River)[8]
At the time of European settlement of the valley, Dakota and Ojibwe 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,[6] reinforcing the earlier "Rivière Tombeaux" name in their language.
On Map of the Territories of Michigan and Ouisconsin (1830) by John Farmer, the St. Croix River is shown as the "Chippewa River". However, by 1843, Joseph Nicollet's Hydrographical Basin of the Upper Mississippi River reinforced the name provided by Franquelin.
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.[9]
Logging
The 1837 Treaty of St. Peters with the Ojibwe was signed at St. Peters (now Mendota) which ceded to the United States government a vast tract of land in what today is north central Wisconsin and east central Minnesota, roughly bounded by the Prairie du Chien Line in the south, Mississippi River in the west, St. Croix and Chippewa River watersheds in the north, and a 25-mile parallel east of the Wisconsin River in the east. 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.[10] 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.[11] 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 (source). 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
Bridge crossings
Significant bridge crossings of the St. Croix River are listed below, ordered from source to mouth.[12][13]
- 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.
- Soo Line High Bridge north of Stillwater, Minnesota. This private, rail-only bridge is 4,000 feet (1,200 m) long and 180 feet (55 m) above the river. It roughly marks the northern limit of zebra mussel infestation in the St. Croix.[14]
- 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 and recreation
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:
- Governor Knowles State Forest (Wisconsin)
- St. Croix State Forest (Minnesota)
- Saint Croix State Park (Minnesota)
- Wild River State Park (Minnesota)
- Interstate Park (Minnesota and Wisconsin)
- William O'Brien State Park (Minnesota)
- Afton State Park (Minnesota)
- St. Croix Boom Site (Minnesota)
The Stillwater Bridge is a working lift bridge built in 1931, in Stillwater, Minnesota.
Gallery
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 Upstream of Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota |
 Between Hwy 70 and Rush City, Minnesota |
 Looking downstream towards Afton, Minnesota |
References
- ^ Dunn, James Taylor (1979). The St. Croix: Midwest Border River. Minnesota Historical Society Press. p. 28. ISBN 0-87351-141-7.
- ^ Holland, Robert A. Chicago in Maps: 1612-2002
- ^ Franquelin, Jean-Baptiste Service historique de la Marine, Vincennes, France
- ^ Dunn, p. 28
- ^ Verwyst, Chrysostom Adrian. "Reminiscences of a Pioneer Missionary" in Proceedings of the Society at its Sixty-fourth Annual Meeting (Madision, WI: Wisconsin Historical Society, 1916). p. 174
- ^ a b c Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission. Gidakiiminaan = Our Earth. (Odanah, WI: Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, 2007) ISBN 9780966582048
- ^ Treuer, Anton. Living our language: Ojibwe tales & oral histories (St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2001) ISBN 0873514041
- ^ Armstrong, Benjamin G. and Thomas P. Wentworth. Early life among the Indians : reminiscences from the life of Benj. G. Armstrong. Treaties of 1835, 1837, 1842 and 1854. Habits and customs of the red men of the forest. Incidents, biographical sketches, battles, &c. (Ashland, WI. : Press of A.W. Bowron, 1892) p.254.
- ^ Dunn, pp. 32-35
- ^ Dunn, p. 102
- ^ Dunn, p. 76
- ^ Minnesota DOT County Maps
- ^ National Park Service river section maps
- ^ http://www.nps.gov/sacn/naturescience/boating-checklist.htm
External links
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