- About 500 million years ago, a shallow sea covered the area, laying down layers of sand and minerals that make up much of the sandstone bluffs now seen along the river.
Alongside the Andiamo- Arcola High Bridge, Somerset, WI (johnweeks.com)
The Arcola High Bridge is the most spectacular river crossing in the Twin Cities metro area. It crosses the nearly mile wide Saint Croix River Valley between the village of Arcola, Minnesota, and Somerset, Wisconsin. It consists of five huge steel arches that tower nearly 200 feet over the bottom of the valley.
Exiting to the new bridge
Glacial erratic at William O’Brien (1 of 3)
Glacial erratic at William O’Brien (2 of 3)
Glacial erratic at William O’Brien (3 of 3)
Icy path to the Stillwater Bridge
Muddy shore by the Boom Site
Reminiscent of the old log jams
Smiling face on cliff- St. Croix Boom Site
- St. Croix River (Wisconsin–Minnesota) (Wikipedia)
The St. Croix River (/ˈseɪnt ˈkrɔɪ/ SAYNT KROY; literally “holy cross” in French) is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 169 miles (272 km) long, in the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Minnesota. The lower 125 miles (201 km) of the river form the border between Wisconsin and Minnesota. The river is a National Scenic Riverway under the protection of the National Park Service. A hydroelectric plant at the Saint Croix Falls Dam supplies power to the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area.
- Stillwater, Washington County, Minnesota, was located in 1838 and named in 1842 by John McKasick, because, owing to the great depth of the waters in the river (St. Croix), and from the fact that the fall in the water until it reaches the Mississippi River, is very slight, the waters ran very still. At an early day the town was called Dakotah from the Dakota (Sioux) Indian tribe.
- The bridge is 184 feet (56 m) above the river and 2,682 feet (817 m) long, with five steel arches towering above the river.
- The crossing of the St. Croix River was difficult for the railway, since the original bridge across the river was very low and trains had to contend with steep grades on both sides of the river. This made it necessary to use helper engines and to make trains shorter.
- The presence of older glacial deposits within the St. Croix River basin proves that the Laurentide Ice Sheet has repeatedly glaciated this region during the Pleistocene Epoch.
- The St. Croix Log Boom used a series of booms—logs chained end-to-end across the river—to catch timber as it floated downstream.
- U.S. Highway 12 once crossed the St. Croix River on a toll bridge between Wisconsin and Minnesota, which provided revenue for the town. With the construction of Interstate 94, the toll bridge was removed, though the long causeway extending to the former bridge location is now open to the public as a pedestrian walkway, known as “The Dike”.
- Wisconsin Central Bridge Ruins, Somerset, WI (johnweeks.com)
The Wisconsin Central bridge over the Saint Croix river was built in 1884 by the Union Bridge & Iron Works. The Wisconsin Central was pushing west, and this bridge was the last link to connect Milwaukee and Chicago to Saint Paul. The bridge features a number of very well crafted cut-stone piers. There were nine 160-foot deck truss spans, one 160-foot pin-connected though truss span, and 25 plate girder spans, each 30-feet long.