Get to know the St. Croix River

Did you know?

#1 - When you are paddling SOUTH (Down River) Minnesota is on your right and Wisconsin is
the land on the left (to the east)

#2 - The St. Croix River is 169 miles in length…125 miles of it form the border between Minnesota
& Wisconsin.

#3 - The water and the land surrounding the St. Croix is considered a US National Scenic Riverway
and is protected/regulated by the National Park Service.

#4 - “Rivere de Sainte-Croix” is the original name given to the river in 1689 after a French Fur
Trader named Sainte-Croix.

#5 - Original inhabitants who lived and roamed throughout this river system came from the Ojibwe
and Dakota tribes.  

#6 - First European to arrive in the St. Croix river region was a Frechman named Sier du Lhut…who
is also the person the city of Duluth (du Lhut) is named after.

#7 - Around the mid 1850s to 1900s the 8th Graders would not have been able to canoe the St.
Croix river due to logging, as this river was used to float millions of logs to saw mills near
Stillwater.  FYI - in 1883 the flow of logs was so thick the logs jammed and it took over 2
months to clear the river! (literally could have walked across river on logs) 

#8 - Minnesota has approximately 91,944 miles of river, of which 226 miles are designated as wild &
scenic…approximately 2/10ths of 1% of the state's river miles.

#9 - Let’s GO SWIMMING…the largest fish ever caught in the St. Croix was a 120lb Lake
Sturgeon (this little buddy measured 6.5 feet long)  FYI - over 60 species of fish have been
documented in the water, with most common being smallmouth bass, walleye, pike & panfish