Looking For A Better Life

Many earlier peoples used the St. Croix River Valley because it offered ways to improve life, including food, clothing, building materials, and efficient travel. The earliest known humans in the area used the river for hunting, fishing, and transportation. Vast forests of white pine were cut for lumber to help build a growing nation, and the river carried logs to sawmills. Immigrants from the eastern United States and western Europe later came in search of good farmland, and an early Minnesota road made travel easier for settlers. The Arrow Line Railway marked an effort to create the shortest route from Minneapolis to Lake Superior, though it came to an unexpected halt. Beyond the park, fur traders followed the river seeking beaver and other animals trapped by the Ojibwe and Dakota people, and the Mille Lacs Indian Museum near Onamia, Minnesota, offers information about the Ojibwe way of life.

Minnesota · United States