National Parks:
Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway

"Whenever this country becomes settled how delightfully will the inhabitants pass their time. Nature is here calm, placid & serene, as if telling man in language mute indeed, not addressed to the ears, but to the heart & soul: It is here man is to be happy."

George Nelson
St. Croix valley fur trader
1803

Saint Croix Falls, Wisconsin -- Formed by two rivers, the St. Croix and Namekagon, the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway tells the compelling story of how water has shaped the cultural and natural landscape.

Tens of thousands of people come here annually to see the Dalles of the St. Croix, an ancient remnant of a lava rift extending from Lake Superior to Kansas. When global warming began 10,000 years ago, the mile thick glaciers that covered the valley began their northward retreat. The melting water from this retreating ice sheet carried with it immense amounts of sand, gravel and rocks. Caught in powerful whirlpools, these materials carved the basalt cliffs of the Dalles and formed the world's largest concentration of glacial potholes.

Archaeological and bison kill sites along the riverway dating from 5000-7000 B.C. show that humans moved into the valley on the heels of the retreating glaciers. Burial mounds, pottery shards and arrowheads indicate the occupation of pre-European cultures along the St. Croix was extensive. The French explorer du Lhut established European presence in the valley when he built Ft. St. Croix in 1680. Later French and English traders moved in to harvest the region’s rich fur resources.

The Treaty of 1837 with the Ojibway and Dakota Indians opened the St. Croix valley for the lumber barons Frederick Weyerhauser, Orange Walker and Isaac Staples to harvest immense stands of white pine timber. Steam-powered paddleboats soon brought waves of Scandinavian immigrants into the valley to work the lumber camps. Many remained after the logging boom ended and gave the valley its distinctive Scandinavian heritage.

Ironically, it was the harvesting of the resources of the St. Croix river area that led to its preservation. Logging companies held vast tracts of land in the watershed. A power company held miles of shoreline for possible development of hydroelectric power. Their ownership kept the area wild and largely undeveloped and allowed endangered freshwater mussels such as the Winged Maple-leaf and Higgins Eye to thrive. Riverway users are often treated to the sights and sounds of bald eagles, trumpeter swans and the elusive timber wolf.

DID YOU KNOW

• In 1883 the world's largest logjam took place at Angle Rock on the St. Croix. It took lumberjacks 57 days, and hundreds of pounds of dynamite to break the jam. The logs were backed up 11 miles and contained enough frame lumber to build an estimated 10,000 homes. The event drew worldwide attention and began the tourism industry in the St. Croix valley.
• The Dalles of the St. Croix are home to the world's largest concentration of glacial potholes.
• A 10-mile stretch of the St. Croix River below the Dalles is home to the last reproducing population of Winged Mapleleaf mussels in the world.
• The St. Croix National Scenic Riverway was among the original eight rivers to be protected under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968.
• Abraham Lincoln's cousin, Stephen Hanks, piloted the first raft of logs down the St. Croix to St. Louis in 1846.

DON'T MISS ATTRACTIONS

• The St. Croix National Scenic Riverway has 252 miles of river for canoeing, kayaking and boating.
• A thriving population of trumpeter swans make the St. Croix their year round home.
• A ranger-led migratory songbird hike in the spring.
• The Old Man of The Dalles and the Devil's Arm-chair at The Dalles of the St. Croix.
• The site of the first commercial sawmill in Minnesota located in Marine-on-St. Croix and the reconstructed fur trading post Ft. Folle Avoine.
• The fall colors along the St. Croix and Namekagon rivers are spectacular.
• The days of steamboat travel on the St. Croix can be relived by taking a concession-operated paddlewheel tour.
• World class smallmouth bass and trout fishing.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE PRIORITIES

St. Croix National Scenic Riverway provides wildland recreation opportunities a short, two-hour drive from the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area. The riverway faces many challenges as the metro population continually expands outward. As development continues to near the Riverway, the challenge to balance the St. Croix's outstanding water quality with people's enjoyment of the river will become more complex.

The hidden treasures of the St. Croix, its native freshwater mussel population, are threatened by the exotic zebra mussels that currently inhabit the lower part of the St. Croix as well as the Mississippi. An active partnership program is underway among local, state and federal agencies to monitor the spread of zebra mussels and the impacts they are having on the St. Croix's 40 species of native mussels.

The St. Croix National Scenic Riverway is committed to expanding its active partnership program with state parks and forests, county parks, municipalities and private landowners who have resided here for generations. For the first time since the Riverway was established in 1968, businesses that bring clients into the Riverway are now licensed under the Incidental Business Permit Program. The program’s is to enhance the quality of the visitor experience while at the Riverway, and foster a greater sense of safety and stewardship of the Riverway's resources. The St. Croix Watershed Research Station, a unit of the Science Museum of Minnesota, is dedicated to researching water quality issues impacting the St. Croix River.

The Interpretive Division has focused on working with local school districts by developing interactive environmental education programs, mussel monitoring and research. The most successful of these programs is the Rivers are Alive program consisting of field exercises where elementary-age students get to experience the biological diversity that exists in the St. Croix.

Private, non-profit entities such as Wilderness Inquiry and numerous YMCA and Boy Scout camps sponsor extended trips along the St. Croix, teaching principles of environmental stewardship and the historic uses of the Riverway.

In a long, linear park such as the St. Croix, there are a variety of management issues and external pressures that must be addressed. Fulfilling the mandate under which the Riverway was created requires working with a wide variety of other organizations and agencies with compatible management goals.

Source: National Park Service