The Poplar River is a river in northeastern
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
that drains into
Lake Superior
Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...
.
Name
The Poplar River derives its English name from a translation of its
Ojibwe
The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains.
According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
name.
Joseph Gilfillan
Joseph Alexander Gilfillan (1838 – November 18, 1913) was an Episcopal missionary to Native Americans of the Ojibwa Tribe on White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota during 35 years from 1873 until 1908.
Biography
Joseph Alexander Gi ...
identified the Ojibwe name of the Poplar River as ''Ga-manazadika Zibi'', or "place-of-poplars river".
[Upham, Warren. Minnesota Geographic Names, Their Origin and Significance. p. 145. Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Volume 17. 1920.] Thomas Clark further identified the particular poplar in question as the
Balm-of-Gilead.
Topography
The Poplar River stretches from its source in Gust Lake
[Persons, Steve. ]
Poplar River Fisheries - Summaries and Trends.
' 2008. to its mouth in
Lutsen
Lutsen Township is one of the three townships of Cook County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 537 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated community of Lutsen is located within the township. The township was named after the town of ...
, where it empties into Lake Superior. Its major tributaries are Mistletoe Creek, the Tait River, Caribou Creek, and Barker Creek.
[A fishing Guide to Lake Superior and North Shore Trout Streams.](_blank)
/ref> It drains an area of
/ref> lying mostly on the Superior Upland
The Laurentian Upland (or Laurentian Highlands) is a physiographic region which, when referred to as the "Laurentian Region" or the Grenville geological province, is recognized by Natural Resources Canada as one of five provinces of the larger C ...
plateau. In its upper reaches, the plateau's slope has an average grade
Grade most commonly refers to:
* Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance
* Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage
* Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope
Grade or grading may also ref ...
of only 1%, which increases to 4% as the Poplar approaches Superior.[Nieber, John, and Hanson, Brad.'' Poplar River Turbidity TMDL.'' p. 2.1 Submitted to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. University of Minnesota. 2009.] Due to the many lakes located in this largely flat watershed, Poplar, along with its neighbors the Temperance, Cross, and Cascade rivers, has a more stable flow and a warmer average water temperature.[Waters, Thomas F. ''The Streams and Rivers of Minnesota.'' p. 57. ]University of Minnesota Press
The University of Minnesota Press is a university press that is part of the University of Minnesota. It had annual revenues of just over $8 million in fiscal year 2018.
Founded in 1925, the University of Minnesota Press is best known for its book ...
, Minneapolis, 1977. Three miles from its mouth, the Poplar goes over a series of waterfalls. The above the Highway 61 bridge at the mouth of the river are classified as class II-IV+(V) rapids.[Minnesota Whitewater, Poplar River](_blank)
/ref>
The Poplar's flow has been modified in the past by dams. In the early 20th century, two dams were located above the mouth of the river.[Minnesota State Drainage Commission; Eberhart, Adolph Olsen; Ralph, Georg A.; Follansbee, Robert. ''Report of the water resources investigation of Minnesota, 1909'' Vol. 1. p. 524.] In 1923, another dam was installed to power the nearby township of Lutsen,[Nieber, John, and Hanson, Brad.'' Poplar River Turbidity TMDL.'' p. 4. Submitted to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. University of Minnesota. 2009.] the only hydropower plant on a North Shore stream.[Waters, Thomas F. ''The Streams and Rivers of Minnesota.'' p. 59. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1977.]
The watershed is 77% forested and 19% wetland, with the remainder being grassland, open water, agricultural land, or bare rock. There are of streams in the Poplar River watershed, and of road.
Plant and animal life
The lower stretch of the Poplar River serves as a fishery
Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...
for pink
Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, ...
, chinook, and coho salmon
The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". The scientific species name i ...
in the spring, and rainbow
A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...
and brook trout
The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae. It is native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada, but has been introduced elsewhere ...
in the fall. The largest chinook salmon caught on record in Minnesota was taken here in 1989.[State Record Fish](_blank)
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. from its mouth, a barrier waterfall prevents Lake Superior fish from traveling any further upstream. Brook trout can be found anywhere in the upper 17 miles of the Poplar, in increasing numbers as one moves further north. In the lower portions, spawning grounds for brook trout are limited by a recent buildup in silt, and warm water temperatures in the summer are stressful on the population. The populations of warmwater species such as smallmouth bass, pumpkinseed sunfish
The pumpkinseed (''Lepomis gibbosus''), also referred to as pond perch, common sunfish, punkie, sunfish, sunny, and kivver, is a small/medium-sized North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Lepomis'' (true sunfishes), from family Centrarchi ...
, and bluegill
The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or "copper nose" as is common in Texas, is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and ...
have been increasing in these regions over recent surveys. In the upper watershed of the Poplar, the smallmouth bass has spread into every major lake north of Rice Lake since being introduced into Crescent Lake in the 1990s.[Lake Information Report, Rice Lake.](_blank)
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Logging
During the late 19th and early 20th century, logging was a major industry in the Arrowhead region of northern Minnesota. The Poplar, lying in a heavily forested area, was used to transport logs to Lake Superior from the inland forests. However, the Poplar, like neighboring streams with flat uplands and steep, narrow beds near their mouths, is not conducive to log driving. The Lutsen Tie & Post Company operated a sawmill upstream on Poplar River, and briefly operated a four-mile railroad linking that mill to Lockport between 1910 and 1912, but this was soon abandoned, and the locomotive sat on the shore of Lake Superior for nearly 20 years[King, Frank Alexander. ''Minnesota Logging Railroads.'' p. 23. University of Minnesota Press, 2003] until it was sold for scrap metal.
Limited logging continues to the present day, largely on private land. The watershed of the Poplar River still sees less logging activity than other nearby watersheds.
National Forest management
The United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...
manages a rustic campground along the Poplar River. Rustic campgrounds in the Superior National Forest
Superior National Forest, part of the United States National Forest system, is located in the Arrowhead Region of the state of Minnesota between the Canada–United States border and the north shore of Lake Superior. The area is part of the grea ...
have no fees, but no drinking water or garbage disposal facilities. The Poplar River Rustic Campground has four sites designed for tents, but two have spurs long enough for RV use.[Superior National Forest Camping, 2011](_blank)
/ref>
The campground is unusual in that it is located on the edge of a river rather than a lake. Several of the sites have access directly to the river making it very convenient for trout stream fishing. Note that trout fishing requires a trout/salmon stamp in addition to a valid Minnesota fishing license.[USDA Forest Service Poplar River Rustic Campground]
/ref> This campground is also on one of the roads included in the USDA Forest Service Sawtooth Mountains Fall Color Tour, so it is good spot to stay during the fall color season[USDA Forest Service Sawtooth Mountains Fall Color Tour]
/ref>.
See also
*List of rivers of Minnesota
Minnesota has 6,564 natural rivers and streams that cumulatively flow for . The Mississippi River begins its journey from its headwaters at Lake Itasca and crosses the Iowa border downstream. It is joined by the Minnesota River at Fort Snellin ...
References
Minnesota Watersheds
*USGS Hydrologic Unit Map - State of Minnesota (1974)
{{authority control
Rivers of Minnesota
Tributaries of Lake Superior
Rivers of Cook County, Minnesota
Northern Minnesota trout streams