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The St Croix River Road, beginning in St Croix Falls and extending north along the River to Wolf Creek, then on north away from the River to near Grantsburg is the settlement route this area.
Most of the travel in the Indian and earlly settler days was via the St Croix River. However from where Wolf Creek enters the St Croix River south for 6 miles ending at the Falls of St Croix, was rapids. Travel up the St Croix via steam boat ended at the Falls. Canoes did travel through the rapids, portaging around the falls and worst areas.
In 1831, Indian trader, Joseph R Brown built a trading post on the St Croix where Wolf Creek enters. Although the trading post didn't continue, by the 1840s another post was at Wolf Creek.
In 1837, the Indians signed a treaty opening up St Croix River Valley to settlement and logging. There was a huge demand for lumber to build to the south along the St Croix and the Mississippi. Loggers rushed in and began cutting the trees. However, all of the supplies needed to be brought up river from the south by steamboats, ending at the falls and rapids.
An old Indian trail was improved for oxen and wagons or sleds. Supplies were unloaded at St Croix Falls and then hauled up the River Road to the logging camps to the north. Along the route, stopping places were built for overnight stays, a place to eat, feed the oxen or horses and sleep. Wolf Creek was one of the main ones.
By 1854, a few settlers were already trying some farming along the road, with a good market for anything they grew at the logging camps. Gradually folks settled along the road, gradually branching out on either side.
When we look at the River Road, we see it as the primary route for the settlment of our area. It was the state road to the north, connecting eventually to Lake Superior. When we study the history of our area, it begins with the River Road and the folks who used it. We celebrate it as the oldest road in the area, and the most important one for well over a century.
Highway 87 replaced the River Road in the 1920s as the state road to the north. We think of it as the modern River Road.
The winter of 1831-32, Joseph Renshaw Brown built an Indian Trading Post on the St Croix River about where Wolf Creek joins the river. This post was on the MN bank of the river, but within a decade, a trading post was located on the Wisconsin bank, near where Wolf Creek is now located. It served as an Indian trading post as well as a river road stopping place.
In 1837 a treaty was signed by the US Government with the Ojibwe Indians that allowed logging in the upper St Croix valley. The valley was filled with millions of white and red pine trees, that were in huge demand in cities down the St Croix and Mississippi rivers.
Almost no one lived in the area other than Native Americans and a few traders before that. Suddenly many logging crews moved in and started cutting the pines.
There were no local farms to support the loggers with food and no local stores for supplies. All came from the south up the Mississippi by steam boat and on north as far at the falls on the St Croix where rapidly a town of Taylors Falls and St Croix Falls sprang up.
Above the falls about 6 miles were rapids that also were prevented navigation. So at the falls, food and supplies were unloaded onto wagons and in winter bobsleds for transportation to the logging camps in the north.
The road from St Croix northward along the river, followed old Indian trails, widened to allow a team of oxen and their load. Oxen traveled about 2-3 miles per day, and horses who came later, 6-10 miles per day. To accommodate the teamsters early settlers built stopping places, houses and barns with extra room for the travelers.
For more about the River Road
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