Brule–St. Croix Portage

The Brule and St. Croix rivers formed a natural water highway between Lake Superior and the Upper Mississippi. Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, became the first white man known to use this passage in 1680. Traveling from Prairie du Chien in 1766, Jonathan Carver was advised by his Chippewa guide not to ascend the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers because he lacked enough gifts for the numerous and unfriendly Sioux along that route. Carver's party instead detoured up the Chippewa River to Lac Court Oreilles, portaged to the Namekagon, traveled downstream to the St. Croix, and then went up that river to the passage north of St. Croix Lake. Another exploration party led by Henry Schoolcraft used the two-mile portage between the St. Croix and Brule on August 6, 1832. One of Schoolcraft's companions recorded that the Brule was a brook of clear, cold water "filled with brook trout," and the Brule remains one of the best trout streams in the United States.

Solon Springs, Wisconsin · United States