page_title: St. Croix River (Wisconsin–Minnesota)
section_title: Naming
hierarchical_section_title: St. Croix River (Wisconsin–Minnesota) / Naming
caption_attribution_description: English: St. Croix River Dalles at Interstate State Park, Wisconsin.
context_page_description: The St. Croix River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 169 miles long, in the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Minnesota. The lower 125 miles 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 St. Croix Falls supplies power to the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area.
context_section_description: Father Louis Hennepin wrote in 1683, from information probably provided by Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut: "There is another River which falls ... into the Meschasipi ... We named it The River of the Grave, or Mausoleum, because the Savages buried there one of their Men ... who was bitten by a Rattlesnake." In the original French, this is translated as "Rivière Tombeaux".
  Jean-Baptiste-Louis Franquelin's 1688 map recorded a "Fort St. Croix" on the upper reaches of the river. The name "Rivière de Sainte-Croix" was applied to the river sometime in 1688 or 1689, and this more auspicious name supplanted Father Hennepin's earlier designation.
  On Carte de la Louisiane et du Cours du Mississipi (1718) by Guillaume Delisle and on A Map of North America  (1768) by John Blair, the St. Croix River—more specifically what was then known as the east branch of the St. Croix River (known today as the Namekagon River)—is shown as the Ouasisacadeba, a French representation of the Dakota name for the St. Croix River. On the 1778 Mitchell Map, the river is simply titled "Ouadeba", which represents the Dakota watpá meaning "river".
  The upper portion of river—originally called the north branch of the St. Croix River—was known to the Ojibwa as Manoominikeshiinh-ziibi (Ricing-Rail River). Downstream of its confluence with the Namekagon, the Ojibwa renamed the river as Gichi-ziibi (Big River) or Okijii-ziibi (Pipestem River)
  At the time of European settlement of the valley, Dakota and Ojibwe were engaged in a long and deadly war with each other.  Consequently, the portion of the river below the confluence with Trade River is called Jiibayaatig-ziibi (Grave-marker River) in the Ojibwe language, reinforcing the earlier "Rivière Tombeaux" name in their language.
  On Map of the Territories of Michigan and Ouisconsin (1830) by John Farmer, the St. Croix River is shown as the "Chippewa River".  However, by 1843, Joseph Nicollet's Hydrographical Basin of the Upper Mississippi River reinforced the name provided by Franquelin's 1688 map.
caption: St. Croix River Dalles at Interstate State Park, Wisconsin.
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON 1 J5", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS4 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2016:08:06 19:39:58", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "244", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "932", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1046", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9497", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "160", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:08:02 09:39:55", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:08:02 09:39:55", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "18/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "10", "EXIF SubSecTime": "12", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "12", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "12", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2026", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "900", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[2, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "27", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF LensModel": "1 NIKKOR VR 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 PD-ZOOM"}