EXPLORING WISCONSIN'S WATERWAYS: BRULE - ST. CROIX- MISSISSIPPI  161

James Taylor Dunn has described it, "a rugged, wild region, a lonely
and
beautiful one, a land of brooks and creeks and rivers." It begins as
a "shal-
low, winding, slow-moving, wild-rice-bordered stream .... a veritable wildlife
refuge",17 and after a dramatic descent alternating between swift white
water
and placid stretches, ends at the hydroelectric dam at the Dalles, a dam
that
obscures the original swift cascades of white water from which St. Croix
Falls
derived its name. Emptying into the St. Croix, the Namekagon, the Yellow,
the Snake, the Clam, the Apple, and other tributaries are a paradise for
those
who like to fish, canoe, and explore. The St. Croix, from the Flowage Park
Dam at Gordon south to the dam at St. Croix Falls, and its tributary the
Namekagon, from the Namekagon Lake Dam to its juncture with the St.
Croix, 200 miles of rivers in all, are reminiscent today of the way they
were a
century ago. Free-flowing and relatively unpolluted they have been desig-
nated as a National Scenic Riverway. These waters were selected among the
first 8 to be so designated under the 1968 National Wild and Scenic Rivers
Act.
  The second part of the St. Croix, stretching from St. Croix Falls-Taylors
Falls just below the hydroelectric dam to the juncture of the St. Croix with
the Mississippi, is "pastoral, rich soiled, fine for the production
of wheat, and
an area of lush farmland."18 Here the river is wide, placid and smooth
flow-
ing. This lower river, 52 miles in length from St. Croix Falls to Prescott,
was
added to the Scenic Riverway system in 1972. Thus most of the St. Croix is
now protected by the narrow river and shoreline corridor administered by
the
National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
  The choice of the St. Croix as a Scenic Riverway came as no surprise to
those familiar with its great beauty, impressive to so many people for so
many centuries. Small wonder that both Minnesota and Wisconsin could
agree that the Dalles of the St. Croix should be the site of state parks
at the
turn of the century. Interstate Park, created in 1895, lies on both sides
of the
river. Since then both Wisconsin and Minnesota have created additional
state parks and state forests along the St. Croix. On the Wisconsin side
are
Governor Knowles State Forest (formerly the St. Croix State Forest) and
Kinnickinnic State Park. From north to south on the Minnesota side are St.
Croix State Forest, St. Croix State Park, Chengwatana State Forest, St.
Croix Wild River State Park, William O'Brien State Park, and Afton State
Park. These widen the narrow protective shoreline corridor created by fed-
eral legislation. The river receives additional protection in Wisconsin as
it
flows through the tens of thousands of acres of Douglas and Burnett County
Forests bordering its banks.
  The decision to preserve the St. Croix's aesthetic qualities and recreational
potential in an urban-industrial age came after centuries of other kinds
of
use. As a linkage between Lake Superior and the Mississippi it appealed to
Indian peoples. The river valley's bounty of fish, game, waterfowl, and wild
rice made the river a choice location. It had long been occupied by the Sioux,
when the westward-migrating Chippewa made their way into the region. Un-
til possibly the early 18th century the 2 groups apparently lived peacefully
in
the valley, but discord ensued. The decisive battle at Mille Lacs Lake in
1745
settled the question of which group would dominate the St. Croix. The Chip-