East Savanna River
Encyclopedia
The East Savanna River is a small yet historic stream in Aitkin and Saint Louis counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota
. The stream now rises in Wolf Lake, a small body of water within a spruce bog
in Savanna Portage State Park
, and flows northeasterly to the Saint Louis River
at Floodwood, Minnesota
, whence its waters flow through the Great Lakes
and the Saint Lawrence River
to the Atlantic Ocean. A few thousand years ago however the East Savanna was part of the Mississippi River
itself, originating in northeast Minnesota and flowing southwesterly to Big Sandy Lake
, whence the great river drained down its present valley to the Gulf of Mexico
. The low divide which now separates the Mississippi tributaries from the East Savanna was part of a historic trade route connecting the Saint Lawrence and Great Lakes to the Mississippi basin.
located a half-mile (.8 km) to the west of Wolf Lake, on the other side of the Saint Lawrence River Divide, kept the name given by French explorers, la Savanne. This French word for savanna
however originally is of American Indian
origin, and meant a "treeless area". The word was used here to refer to the marshy grasslands where the river begins and through which it flows. The Ojibwe name, Mashkiig-onigami-ziibi, was more precise, being translated as "marsh-portage river".
, Lake Upham formed from glacial meltwaters. As the lake receded, its watershed at first was drained by the Mississippi River, which rose from the northeast at the present headwaters of the Saint Louis River, and flowed southwest to Sandy Lake along the course of the East Savanna. By the process of stream piracy, the smaller Saint Louis River captured the Cloquet and then the Mississippi east of the present divide, diverting their waters southeast to Lake Superior. In fact, the river now known as the East Savanna reversed its course; it once was the far upper Mississippi, flowing to the Gulf of Mexico, but after the Saint Louis eroded its way upward to Floodwood, it became the present small tributary of the Saint Louis River in the Saint Lawrence River watershed.
is part of the Tamarack Lowlands Subsection within the Northern Minnesota Drift Plains Section of the Laurentian Mixed Forest. Sediments deposited by the glacial lake are parent to the present soils of peats, silt, and sand; the peats are in marshes which dominate the upper reaches of the river. These marshes, in which the river rises and through which it flows, were known as the "Great Savannah". The lower course was a winding stream with clay banks through a mixed forest; beavers dropped many trees into and across the river.
The river now flows through a channel, following the section line from Wolf Lake east for about four miles (six km), then angling northeast and east through what is now prosaically named "Judicial Ditch No. 3". The ditching neither drained the marsh nor made it suitable for agriculture: "The land is still hopeless swamp, and so far as anyone can now see will always remain so." As the river leaves the park boundary and enters Saint Louis County, local relief begins to increase, and the channel crosses and obliterates the meanders and oxbows of the former naturally-flowing river.
The stream was part of the Northwest Trail, and led to the Savanna Portage, a historic trade route between the Great Lakes
and the Mississippi basin in central North America. Members of the First Nations, and later fur traders, missionaries, and explorers, ascended the Saint Louis River from its mouth at Fond du Lac
(in modern Duluth, Minnesota
), then went up the East Savanna to the portage, crossed the portage and the divide to the West Savanna River, and descended that stream to the Prairie River and Big Sandy Lake
to the Mississippi.
In preindustrial times, the winding river was some 24 miles (about 40km) from the Saint Louis River to the start of the portage. Prior to the channelization of the river described above, Muskeg Lake, several miles to the south of the start of the portage, was considered to be the source. In truth, both Wolf and Muskeg Lakes were open areas of water in the same enormous and impassable marsh then known as the "Great Savannah", and travellers took the portage to avoid the worst part of this marsh. With the channelization of the river, Muskeg Lake is no longer open water, and the actual distance from the start of the portage to the river's outlet is much less, perhaps half the historic distance of 24 miles, as the meanders have been substantially eliminated.
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. The stream now rises in Wolf Lake, a small body of water within a spruce bog
Bog
A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens....
in Savanna Portage State Park
Savanna Portage State Park
Savanna Portage State Park is a state park of Minnesota, USA, established in 1961 to preserve the historic Savanna Portage, a difficult trail connecting the watersheds of the Mississippi River and Lake Superior...
, and flows northeasterly to the Saint Louis River
Saint Louis River
The St. Louis River is a river in the U.S. states of Minnesota and Wisconsin that flows into Lake Superior. The largest U.S. river to flow into the lake, it is 179 miles in length and starts near Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota. The river's watershed is in area...
at Floodwood, Minnesota
Floodwood, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 503 people , 254 households, and 112 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,131.9 people per square mile . There were 290 housing units at an average density of 652.6 per square mile...
, whence its waters flow through the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
and the Saint Lawrence River
Saint Lawrence River
The Saint Lawrence is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage conveyor of the Great Lakes Basin...
to the Atlantic Ocean. A few thousand years ago however the East Savanna was part of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
itself, originating in northeast Minnesota and flowing southwesterly to Big Sandy Lake
Big Sandy Lake
There is another Big Sandy Lake, crossed by U.S. Highway 80 in Big Sandy, Texas.Big Sandy Lake is a lake in Aitkin County, Minnesota, approximately nine miles north of McGregor. The lake is considered fertile walleye ground with several habitat types, including the open main basin, the deep, cold...
, whence the great river drained down its present valley to the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
. The low divide which now separates the Mississippi tributaries from the East Savanna was part of a historic trade route connecting the Saint Lawrence and Great Lakes to the Mississippi basin.
Name
The river, and the West SavannaWest Savanna River
-References:***USGS Hydrologic Unit Map - State of Minnesota...
located a half-mile (.8 km) to the west of Wolf Lake, on the other side of the Saint Lawrence River Divide, kept the name given by French explorers, la Savanne. This French word for savanna
Savanna
A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...
however originally is of American Indian
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
origin, and meant a "treeless area". The word was used here to refer to the marshy grasslands where the river begins and through which it flows. The Ojibwe name, Mashkiig-onigami-ziibi, was more precise, being translated as "marsh-portage river".
Geology
After the recession of the last continental glacierWisconsin glaciation
The last glacial period was the most recent glacial period within the current ice age occurring during the last years of the Pleistocene, from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years ago....
, Lake Upham formed from glacial meltwaters. As the lake receded, its watershed at first was drained by the Mississippi River, which rose from the northeast at the present headwaters of the Saint Louis River, and flowed southwest to Sandy Lake along the course of the East Savanna. By the process of stream piracy, the smaller Saint Louis River captured the Cloquet and then the Mississippi east of the present divide, diverting their waters southeast to Lake Superior. In fact, the river now known as the East Savanna reversed its course; it once was the far upper Mississippi, flowing to the Gulf of Mexico, but after the Saint Louis eroded its way upward to Floodwood, it became the present small tributary of the Saint Louis River in the Saint Lawrence River watershed.
Ecology
The Lake Upham lacustrine plainLacustrine plain
Some lakes get filled up by the sediments brought down by the rivers and turn into plains in the course of time. Such plains are called lacustrine plains...
is part of the Tamarack Lowlands Subsection within the Northern Minnesota Drift Plains Section of the Laurentian Mixed Forest. Sediments deposited by the glacial lake are parent to the present soils of peats, silt, and sand; the peats are in marshes which dominate the upper reaches of the river. These marshes, in which the river rises and through which it flows, were known as the "Great Savannah". The lower course was a winding stream with clay banks through a mixed forest; beavers dropped many trees into and across the river.
The river now flows through a channel, following the section line from Wolf Lake east for about four miles (six km), then angling northeast and east through what is now prosaically named "Judicial Ditch No. 3". The ditching neither drained the marsh nor made it suitable for agriculture: "The land is still hopeless swamp, and so far as anyone can now see will always remain so." As the river leaves the park boundary and enters Saint Louis County, local relief begins to increase, and the channel crosses and obliterates the meanders and oxbows of the former naturally-flowing river.
History
| "The stream wound sluggishly between low banks covered with long grass, from which shot lofty trees, aspen, maple, ash, elm, birch, hemlock, pine, and fir, that met overhead, and formed an agreeable shade from the noonday sun. . . . After we had followed the tortuous river for some miles, we suddenly found ourselves in a labyrinth of channels winding among long rushes, and we were informed that we had entered the Great Savannah itself. As, however, the rushes almost met overhead, it was impossible to form any impression of it . . . [W]e . . . found ourselves upon a small circular island, . . . from which we could take an inspection of the Savannah, which was nothing more than a boundless swamp . . . ." |
| —Laurence Oliphant Laurence Oliphant Laurence Oliphant was a British author, traveller, diplomat, and mystic. Best known for his 1870 satirical novel Piccadilly, he spent a decade in later life under the influence of the spiritualist prophet Thomas Lake Harris.... , Minnesota and the Far West, 1855 |
The stream was part of the Northwest Trail, and led to the Savanna Portage, a historic trade route between the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
and the Mississippi basin in central North America. Members of the First Nations, and later fur traders, missionaries, and explorers, ascended the Saint Louis River from its mouth at Fond du Lac
Fond du Lac (Duluth)
Fond du Lac is a neighborhood in Duluth, Minnesota, United States.Evergreen Memorial Highway serves as a main arterial route in the community.-History:...
(in modern Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...
), then went up the East Savanna to the portage, crossed the portage and the divide to the West Savanna River, and descended that stream to the Prairie River and Big Sandy Lake
Big Sandy Lake
There is another Big Sandy Lake, crossed by U.S. Highway 80 in Big Sandy, Texas.Big Sandy Lake is a lake in Aitkin County, Minnesota, approximately nine miles north of McGregor. The lake is considered fertile walleye ground with several habitat types, including the open main basin, the deep, cold...
to the Mississippi.
In preindustrial times, the winding river was some 24 miles (about 40km) from the Saint Louis River to the start of the portage. Prior to the channelization of the river described above, Muskeg Lake, several miles to the south of the start of the portage, was considered to be the source. In truth, both Wolf and Muskeg Lakes were open areas of water in the same enormous and impassable marsh then known as the "Great Savannah", and travellers took the portage to avoid the worst part of this marsh. With the channelization of the river, Muskeg Lake is no longer open water, and the actual distance from the start of the portage to the river's outlet is much less, perhaps half the historic distance of 24 miles, as the meanders have been substantially eliminated.
Sources
- Feature Detail Report for East Savanna River, Geographic Names Information System, United States Geological SurveyUnited States Geological SurveyThe United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...
- Hart, Irving Harlow (1932), "The Geologic Origin of the Savanna and Prairie River Portages", Minnesota History 13 (4): 403–07, Minnesota Historical SocietyMinnesota Historical SocietyThe Minnesota Historical Society is a private, non-profit educational and cultural institution dedicated to preserving the history of the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was founded by the territorial legislature in 1849, almost a decade before statehood. The Society is named in the Minnesota...
.
- Hart, Irving Harlow (1927), "The Old Savanna Portage", Minnesota History 8 (2): 117–139, Minnesota Historical SocietyMinnesota Historical SocietyThe Minnesota Historical Society is a private, non-profit educational and cultural institution dedicated to preserving the history of the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was founded by the territorial legislature in 1849, almost a decade before statehood. The Society is named in the Minnesota...
.
- Lake Information Report, Wolf Lake, Lakefinder, Minnesota Department of Natural ResourcesMinnesota Department of Natural ResourcesThe Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is the agency of the U.S. state of Minnesota charged with conserving and managing the state's natural resources. The agency maintains areas such as state parks, state forests, recreational trails, and recreation areas as well as managing minerals,...
(2009)
- Le Conte, Joseph, (June Drenning Holmquist, ed.) (1951), "Joseph Le Conte's Early Geological Excursion", Minnesota History 32 (2): 81–99, Minnesota Historical SocietyMinnesota Historical SocietyThe Minnesota Historical Society is a private, non-profit educational and cultural institution dedicated to preserving the history of the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was founded by the territorial legislature in 1849, almost a decade before statehood. The Society is named in the Minnesota...
(1951).
- Monk, George Henry (1807), "Some Account of the Department of Fond du Lac or Mississippi by George Henry Monk Esq", accompanying an 18 April 1807 letter to Roderic Mackenzie, a partner in the North West CompanyNorth West CompanyThe North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada...
. This report is reprinted in Minnesota History 5 (1): 32–39, Minnesota Historical SocietyMinnesota Historical SocietyThe Minnesota Historical Society is a private, non-profit educational and cultural institution dedicated to preserving the history of the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was founded by the territorial legislature in 1849, almost a decade before statehood. The Society is named in the Minnesota...
(February 1923).
- Oliphant, LaurenceLaurence OliphantLaurence Oliphant was a British author, traveller, diplomat, and mystic. Best known for his 1870 satirical novel Piccadilly, he spent a decade in later life under the influence of the spiritualist prophet Thomas Lake Harris....
(1855), Minnesota and the Far West, London: William Blackwood and Sons.