Show description

From the high southern headwaters in their dark meadows, to the flashing riffles of the Blackhoof, from cold brook trout creeks to the sluggish red rivers in their deep gorges, the streams weave a treasured recreation potential. Minnesotans in the future will appreciate even more the riches of this bit of running-water wilderness in the Nemadji basin. Chapter 2 The St. Louis River of Glaciers T he St. Louis River flows indolently past the twin ports of Du- luith, Minnesota, and Superior, Wisconsin, through its wide, atfl estuary —St.

The alternation of pools and riffles is as nearly perfect as a trout stream manager could wish. The Blackhoof is not large enough to be canoed, at least not without more dragging of the canoe over riffles and downed trees than would be worthwhile. On the other hand, this feature ensures the trout angler the solitude that is an essential ingredient of the sport. One major detraction from the beauty of the lower reaches of this stream is the siltation that occurs in the pools and interstices of the gravel riffles.

Louis, the Embarrass, the Whiteface, and the Cloquet were all considered easy-driving streams, slow and of low gradient. The lower St. Louis, however, with its rocky gorge and the falls at Thomson presented an insurmountable obstacle to the transportation of logs to Lake Superior. Attempts to improve this section of river for driving logs met with failure. Consequently it was the town of Cloquet above the gorge, and not Duluth, that prospered first as a sawmill town, for it received the vast supply of pine that was floated down the upper rivers from almost the entire St.