St. Croix Riverway Time and the River: A History of the Saint Croix

CHAPTER 4:
Up North: The Development of Recreation in the St. Croix Valley (continued)

Steamboat Excursions to the Interstate Parks

The establishment of the park generated even greater interest among the public to visit the Dalles, and George Hazzard readily responded by organizing the Twin Falls Association to coordinate tourist development and helped coordinate railroad and steamboat excursions to the park. In November 1896, Captain John Kent presented an ambitious plan to the people of Osceola and Taylors Falls to build a special excursion boat. His purpose in hosting these town meetings was in part to raise money for the boat and to enlist the support of towns upriver from Stillwater to keep the St. Croix navigable. At these meetings Kent emphasized the growing demand for excursions to the new park and the potential economic boom to the towns on the river from tourism. It did not take much to convince the towns' people of the economic opportunities coming from tourist dollars. The newly formed Interstate Navigation Company raised six thousand dollars to build the Gracie Kent — "a neat little craft built for the State Park Business." [101]

The summer of 1897 began with great enthusiasm as the river towns saw hundreds of people pour into the valley to take the boat trip through the park. Hotels and restaurants were "crowded to their utmost to the satisfaction of all." And the railroad grossed $5,418 bringing tourists to the boats and park. By July Kent installed bigger engines in the boat to make quicker trips. By August the Gracie Kent averaged excursion parties of five hundred per trip. However, by September low water levels caused major problems for the excursion industry. In that month the Gracie Kent was supposed to have met five hundred passengers disembarking from the train at Osceola. The boat, however, ran aground on a sandbar at Cedar Bend and never reached the town. In another incident when the boat was stranded in the river, passengers had to be ferried in skiffs to the train depots for their return trip. And once passengers were forced to spend the night aboard the boat when it got hung up on a sandbar. They were less patient and understanding than their 1850s counterparts when their boat was snagged and the reputation of the Dalles cruises suffered as a result. [102]

The changing water levels were not due to late summer seasonal droughts, but were the result of the deliberate actions of the lumber barons from Stillwater. In the seventy-five year period from 1839 to 1914 logging and lumbering interests monopolized the river. Although the St. Paul district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was established in 1866, its mission was essentially to promote the urban-industrial growth of the region and the country. Although the Army Corps noted the conflict of interests between the logging industry and other uses for navigating the river, it directed its operations to the support of the logging industry. In 1878, Congress appropriated funds to maintain a four-foot channel below Stillwater and 2.5 foot channel above the town. By 1882, "the Corps have removed snags, dug out sunken logs, cut overhanging trees, built revetments, closed side channels, dredged out the main sandbars, pulled out stumps, hauled away boulders, pulled up cribs, blasted rocks and constructed dikes, spur dams and wing dams." [103] The Corps of Engineers did nothing to stop the St. Croix Lumbermen's Dam and Boom Company whose boom hindered navigation from other towns on the rivers for thirty years, thus curtailing their growth and development. In 1889, the St. Croix Boom Company began work on Nevers Dam, "the capstone of logging history on the St. Croix." It was located twelve miles above Taylors Falls. Their purpose was to ensure that enough water was available to send logs through the Stillwater boom. It was among 331 logging dams that the state of Wisconsin authorized without the sanction of the Army Corps — in spite of the fact that the federal agency had jurisdiction over all navigable waterways. The dam was completed in 1890. When a log run was expected, the dam gates were closed and water was hoarded until it was needed to send the logs to the boom. The needs of towns up river and pleasure boats were of secondary concern to the loggers. At times the river dropped four inches leaving many excursionists high and dry. Since they had the railroads as an alternate form of transportation, few residents of the valley had protested the absolute power the lumber industry had over the dam and the river. Through their manipulation of water levels Stillwater lumbermen, however, had also destroyed competition from other mills on the river. [104]

When the Interstate Park opened, the tourist industry appeared to be a promising venture for upriver towns recently depressed by the collapse of their lumbering and milling operations. But when fluctuating water levels made it difficult to coordinate train schedules with boats, the railroads simply ended their excursion trains to the St. Croix. Residents in the towns upriver from Stillwater were irate. Captain Kent and the Interstate Navigation Company, however, still remained optimistic that the industry could make a go of it. He believed that the growing demand for recreation and excursions on the river would provided the leverage to file a lawsuit against the "Dam(n) Boom Company." Nothing, however, came of the lawsuit and the Interstate Navigation Company struggled to make plans for the future. In February 1898, the Navigation Company sold the Gracie Kent to a New Orleans interest in order to purchase the Vernie Mac that was bigger than the Gracie Kent. When the excursion season began in May, the new boat was not filled to capacity -- a bad omen for the new business. Low water levels caused by Nevers Dam gave the Vernie Mac the same problems the Gracie Kent had — sandbars and delays. For the next three months no excursions made their way to the park by boat. For the riverboat men it was now time for war. [105]

Figure 36. Automobiles gave touriests of modest means an opportunity to explore the St. Croix valley. Here several cars await transportation across the river via the Soderbeck ferry. From St. Croix National Scenic Riverway files.