Lower St. Croix River - St. Croix Boom Site - Stillwater, Minnesota - National Wild and Scenic Rivers on Waymarking.com

"The St. Croix Boom Site is a National Historic Landmark located on the St. Croix River upstream of Stillwater, Minnesota. The site was founded by Stillwater lumber barons, including Isaac Staples, in 1856 after the demise of the original St. Croix Boom Company, which had operated a log boom further upstream near Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota. Staples and others purchased the Boom Company and moved the site downstream.

Timber harvested upstream was branded with the logo of the company that had harvested it. The logs were floated down to the boom, where they were sorted by the brands and delivered to the sawmills in Stillwater. The boom company collected a fee of 40 cents per thousand board feet (17 cent/m³) delivered.

The St. Croix Boom was a very profitable enterprise. In addition to a generous fee written into the company's charter and an efficient design that allowed it to be run by a small crew during slow periods, the sheer amount of timber that was being harvested made for high profits. During the 1870s, logs were frequently backed up for 15 miles (25 km) above the boom during mid-summer.

The boom site was operated until 1914, by which time all the surrounding river bank area were denuded of trees. The site was forgotten and was rediscovered in 1975 by a National Park Service survey to identify historic sites along the St. Croix River, in preparation for its designation as a National Scenic Waterway. By 1975, the area had been reforested." - Wikipedia

The boom site is located at Mile 26 on the river and is located with the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway under control of the National Park Service.

Number of WILD miles: 0 Number of SCENIC miles: 193 RECREATIONAL: yes Number of RECREATIONAL miles: 58 River Link: [Web Link] Support documentation: [Web Link] WILD: Not Listed SCENIC: Not Listed

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Date Logged Log   06/15/2015 wildernessmama visited it