North Woods River

The St. Croix River, the free-flowing boundary between Wisconsin and Minnesota, is a federally protected National Scenic Riverway. The area’s first recorded human inhabitants were the Dakota Indians, whose lands were transformed by fur trade empires and the loggers who called it the “river of pine.” A patchwork of farms, cultivated by immigrants from many countries, followed the cutover forests. Today, the St. Croix River Valley is a tourist haven in the land of sky-blue waters and a peaceful escape for residents of the bustling Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan region. North Woods River is a thoughtful biography of the river over the course of more than three hundred years. Eileen McMahon and Theodore Karamanski track the river’s social and environmental transformation as newcomers changed the river basin and, in turn, were changed by it. The history of the St. Croix revealed here offers larger lessons about the future management of beautiful and fragile wild waters.

Someone once asked me how much I charge to guide people into the woods. “That’s free,” I explained. “Anyone can get themselves into the woods. You pay me to get you out.” Can anyone really know the northern forest? It is something you feel more in your heart than in your head. You may be able to locate your place on a map, but can you pinpoint the places the forest has hold of your soul? For more than forty years, Maine Guide Earl Brechlin has sought the answers. Through this series of interconnected essays, Brechlin recounts the annual canoe trips to the North Maine Woods he has made with a small group of friends, closing with the death of his twin brother and the group’s last trip to spread his brother’s ashes in the place he loved best. Often humorous and thrilling at once, the heartfelt narrative is peppered with tidbits of history, woods lore, and sage advice from a seasoned outdoorsman. What shines through is the author’s profound love of the natural world and his place in it.

This book tells the story of how northern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, and Michigan's Upper Peninsula became a tourist paradise, turning a scarred industrial countryside into the playground we know today. Aaron Shapiro describes how residents and visitors reshaped the region from a landscape of exploitation to a vacationland and reveals how leisure--and tourism in particular--has shaped modern America.

Whether hearing wood frogs peep, choosing the finest skipping stone, observing squirrels gathering nuts, or inhaling crisp, cold air, a hike through Grandma's woods engages all the senses.

Walt Pitowski is a driven man living alone in a small northern Michigan town and obsessing over the many perceived injustices of his life. Walt's one glimmer of hope derives from his desire to compete in and finish the Grand Limoneaux Canoe Marathon, a grueling, sixteen hour test of paddling strength. When, during the course of his daily routine, Walt discovers partial human remains floating in the freezing waters of the Sparrow River, things get crazy. The local sheriff's department is stumped. The state police make no progress in solving what appears to be a ten-year-old mystery. And Walt, a right-fighting vigilante with a perpetual chip on his shoulder, takes it upon himself to get to the bottom of it all. A tale of death, intrigue, and redemption, Sparrow River takes you on a journey through the stark isolation of the northern wilderness with a host of colorful characters you won't soon forget.

""Living on the Kipawa River is pretty quaint and simple, isn't it?" "That's right, Ma'am, quaint and simple is good enough for us." Scott Sorensen knew that arguing with her would be useless; for it is only to those who can see a little farther, climb a little higher, and dive a little deeper that the answer is not so simple -- only the question is quaint.Perhaps if she had paddled a canoe with the wild, red-haired Whistler of the North, or kayaked the rapids with Don Quixote de la Kipawa, or come face to face with the thirteen lifeless boys adrift in the currents of Lake Temiskaming, she might never have put her question to words. The remote and rugged shores of the Kipawa River have been home to the Sorensens for 25 years. Their lives and those of numerous others are intertwined with the flow of this world-class whitewater river. But the Kipawa River is at risk. The most powerful hydro-electric company in North America has proposed to reduce this historic waterway to a trickle of water in a rocky ditch. This book captures the unique heritage of the Kipawa River, and the struggle to preserve it for future generations."--from www.chapters.indigo.ca.

Every season in the Northwoods is a wonder of plants and animals. This book features detailed and fascinating descriptions of the natural cycles during fall and winter. Youíll know whatís blooming, crawling, singing or migrating in any month.