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St Croix River (Currently in Storage–To Be Relocated Soon) | Wisconsin Historical Society

Historical Essay

St Croix River (Currently in Storage–To Be Relocated Soon)

St Croix River (Currently in Storage–To Be Relocated Soon) | Wisconsin Historical Society

Hwy. 35, 4.7 mi. N of Hudson, St. Croix County 

Beginning in one Lake St. Croix approximately 125 miles north and emptying into another Lake St. Croix just south of here, this river is appropriately named. In 1680 Daniel Greysolon de Lhut, for whom the city of Duluth is named, with its small band of hardy voyageurs and Indians, started up the Brule River, seeking a water route from Lake Superior to the Mississippi. Following up the turbulent Brule he found the St. Croix, also a river of many rapids. The passage he discovered became so important in the early fur trade that the authorities of New France dis­patched Pierre le Sueur to build a fort at each end of the route for its protection.

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[Source: McBride, Sarah Davis. History Just Ahead (Madison:WHS, 1999).]