St. Croix River

Back to Wisconsin to Minnesota

The St. Croix River (French: Holy Cross) is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 169 miles (272 km) long, in the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Minnesota. The lower 125 miles (201 km) of the river form the border between Wisconsin and Minnesota. The river is a National Scenic Riverway under the protection of the National Park Service. 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.

History
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. 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 lumber industry continued until the last major log drive in 1912 marked the end of the rich white pine forests of the area.

Maps
A map of the St. Croix River.

Websites

 * NPS History of St. Croix Riverway
 * More St._Croix_River Maps
 * St. Croix River (Wisconsin–Minnesota)
 * St Croix River Map (Wikipedia)