Title: St. Croix River (Wisconsin–Minnesota) - Wikipedia
Headings: St. Croix River (Wisconsin–Minnesota)
St. Croix River (Wisconsin–Minnesota)
Contents
Geography and hydrography
Conservation efforts
Naming
History
Fur trade
Logging
Cities and towns
Bridge crossings
Commerce and recreation
Further reading
See also
References
External links

Content: By the 18th century, the Ojibwe and Dakota were the two primary tribes that inhabited the area, until around 1745, when the Dakota have driven out from the St. Croix Valley as a result of the Battle of Kathio. Fur trade
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. French trade in the upper valley was dominated by the Ojibwe and tied to Lake Superior traders, whereas in the lower valley the Dakota assisted in trading with merchants based out of St. Louis downstream. After the end of the French and Indian War in 1763, British traders entered the area and grew in numbers and influence with the help of the powerful North West Company. Logging
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 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 river was important to the transportation of lumber downstream, from the areas where it was being cut to the sawmills that processed it. During the 1840s, important sawmills were located at St. Croix Falls and Marine on St. Croix, but as the 1850s progressed Stillwater became the primary lumber destination. During this time the population of Stillwater boomed, several additional sawmills were opened, and the town saw an influx of capital, primarily from lumber companies based downriver in St. Louis, Missouri .