Saint Croix Falls Dam, also known as St. Croix Falls Dam, is a

hydroelectric dam Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

on the St. Croix River between St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin and

Taylors Falls, Minnesota Taylors Falls is a city in Chisago County, Minnesota, United States, located at the junction of U.S. Highway 8 and Minnesota State Highway 95. The population was 1,055 at the 2020 census. History Taylors Falls was platted in 1850 or 1851, a ...

. The only hydroelectric dam on the St. Croix River, it is operated by

Xcel Energy Xcel Energy Inc. is a U.S. regulated electric utility and natural gas delivery company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving more than 3.7 million electric customers and 2.1 million natural gas customers across parts of eight states (Color ...

History

The natural Saint Croix Falls was a series of rapids with a drop of about over . The water power served the lumber industry in the nineteenth century before the construction of the current hydroelectric dam from 1905 to 1907.

Lumber industry

In 1837

Franklin Steele Franklin Steele (c. 1813September 10, 1880) was an early settler of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, of Scottish descent, Steele worked in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, post office as a young man, where he once met ...

organized a company to build a small dam and

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

at the falls.

Caleb Cushing Caleb Cushing (January 17, 1800 – January 2, 1879) was an American Democratic politician and diplomat who served as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts and the 23rd United States Attorney General under President ...

purchased the sawmill in 1846, but the property became entangled in legal disputes and had little commercial success. The early mill fell into disrepair, and in 1869 the local ''Polk County Press'' wrote that while "industrious relic hunters might find there a dam by a mill site, they would not find a mill by a dam site." A variation of this quote now appears on a historical marker near the dam. Development for the lumber industry resumed in 1889, when William Sauntry built the wood-pile

Nevers Dam Wild River State Park is a state park of Minnesota, United States, curving along of the St. Croix River. This long, narrow park is shaped somewhat like a sideways 'S', with development largely concentrated in the lower third. The remote upper ...

upstream to help

Friedrich Weyerhäuser Friedrich (Frederick) Weyerhäuser (November 21, 1834 – April 4, 1914), also spelled Weyerhaeuser, was a German-American timber mogul and founder of the Weyerhaeuser Company, which owns sawmills, paper factories, and other business enterprises ...

control the flow of

timber rafts Timber rafting is a method of transporting felled tree trunks by tying them together to make rafts, which are then drifted or pulled downriver, or across a lake or other body of water. It is arguably, after log driving, the second cheapest mean ...

after the

1886 St. Croix River log jam On June 13, 1886, a log jam developed in the St. Croix River (Wisconsin–Minnesota), St. Croix River, close to Taylors Falls, Minnesota, and St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin. The river was used to transport large quantities of logs from the forests u ...

. Clear cutting and forest fires began to exhaust the area's lumber supply in the first decade of the twentieth century.

Hydroelectricity

In 1903, the Minneapolis General Electric Company, managed by

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

-based

Stone & Webster Stone & Webster was an American engineering services company based in Stoughton, Massachusetts. It was founded as an electrical testing lab and consulting firm by electrical engineers Charles A. Stone and Edwin S. Webster in 1889. In the earl ...

, purchased control of both the falls and the Nevers Dam upstream in order to generate

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

for the growing city of

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

. The company constructed the present concrete dam and power station from 1905 to 1907. The power station originally utilized four Westinghouse generators with a combined output of 10,000 kilowatts. Electricity was delivered to Minneapolis via a , 50,000 volt copper transmission line. The dam originally included a wooden

fish ladder A fish ladder, also known as a fishway, fish pass, fish steps, or fish cannon, is a structure on or around artificial and natural barriers (such as dams, locks and waterfalls) to facilitate diadromous fishes' natural migration as well as mov ...

on the east end and a steel "bear trap"

sluice gate A sluice ( ) is a water channel containing a sluice gate, a type of lock to manage the water flow and water level. There are various types of sluice gates, including flap sluice gates and fan gates. Different depths are calculated when design s ...

on the west end that could be raised or lowered to permit the passage of timber rafts downriver. The H. M. Byllesby Company, precursor to the

Northern States Power Company Northern States Power Company () was a publicly traded S&P 500 electric and natural gas utility holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that is now a subsidiary of Xcel Energy (). History The company's founder, Henry Marison Byllesby, ha ...

, purchased the dam in 1913. In addition to the Saint Croix Falls dam, the company continued to operate the older Nevers Dam upstream to regulate the flow of water into the power station. The Nevers Dam was badly damaged by flooding in 1954 and demolished the following year. The dam became the property of

in 1998 when Northern States Power merged with other utilities. The power station has been upgraded several times and now has a capacity of 25.9 MW.

Structure

The Saint Croix Falls Dam is a concrete hybrid arch-gravity dam with an S-shaped spillway and an integral hydroelectric power station. The main arch is long and the power station is , located on the east side of the river in Wisconsin. The dam also includes a concrete dike on the west side of the river in Minnesota.

Notes

References