The Rum River is a 148 mile river of gradual grade with a long history shaped by French exploration, fighting between the Chippewa and Sioux, and the lumber boom of the 1800's, when pine logs that helped build Midwestern cities were floated down it into the Mississippi River above the falls of St. Anthony. Like the Mississippi River to the west and the St. Croix River to the east, it carried away the vast pine stands of east-central Minnesota in less than 50 years. Its name may have come from a European mistranslation of the Sioux name for Lake Mille Lacs, its source, which they called Spirit Lake. The river is suited to beginning and intermediate canoeists because its flows are moderate, rapids are few, and it is generally shallow except in the extreme southern reach. It is a designated Wild and Scenic River, a status that preserves and protects its outstanding scenic, recreational, and historic values, and it was added to Minnesota's Wild & Scenic Rivers program in 1978 along a stretch through Mille Lacs, Sherburne, Isanti, and Anoka counties. The river also supports popular fishing for northern pike, smallmouth bass, and walleye, especially in its deeper middle and lower stretches, and its corridor provides habitat for white-tailed deer, beaver, mink, muskrat, raccoon, hawks, osprey, owls, eagles, ruffed grouse, squirrels, and chipmunks, while also ranking among the top birding locations in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area.