The St. Croix River (; Maliseet-Passamaquoddy: ''Skutik'') is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

in northeastern

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, in length,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed June 22, 2011 that forms part of the

Canada–United States border The international border between Canada and the United States is the longest in the world by total length. The boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Canada' ...

between

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

(U.S.) and

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

(Canada). The river rises in the Chiputneticook Lakes and flows south and southeast, between

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...

and St. Stephen. It discharges into

Passamaquoddy Bay Passamaquoddy Bay () is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy, between the U.S. state of Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick, at the mouth of the St. Croix River. Most of the bay lies within Canada, with its western shore bounded by Was ...

, in the

Bay of Fundy The Bay of Fundy () is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its tidal range is the highest in the world. The bay was ...

Geography

The river forms from the Chiputneticook Lakes (North Lake, East Grand Lake, Mud Lake, and Spednic Lake) along the Canadian–U.S. border.

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...

topographic maps show the St. Croix River as beginning at the outlet stream from East Grand Lake, then flowing through the short Mud Lake and entering Spednic Lake, extending to its outlet at Vanceboro, Maine, and the start of the river proper. Adding the section of river and lake from the outlet of East Grand Lake gives a total length of to the St. Croix. The total drainage area of the river is approximately . In the 20th century, the river was heavily developed for

hydroelectric power 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 ...

. The river had previously hosted a large population of

Atlantic salmon The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Hucho taimen, Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlan ...

; however, the salmon population was reduced after building hydroelectric

dams A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, ...

upriver from Calais-St. Stephen. The river is an

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

between Calais-St. Stephen and the river's

mouth A mouth also referred to as the oral is the body orifice through which many animals ingest food and animal communication#Auditory, vocalize. The body cavity immediately behind the mouth opening, known as the oral cavity (or in Latin), is also t ...

at Robbinston and St. Andrews. This tidal area extends for approximately along this section and exhibits a

tidal bore A tidal bore, often simply given as bore in context, is a tidal phenomenon in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave (or waves) of water that travels up a river or narrow bay, reversing the direction of the river or bay's cu ...

Navigation

The Saint Croix River was an early trade corridor to interior Maine and New Brunswick from the Atlantic coast. Ocean ships could navigate upstream to Calais and St. Stephen; although tidal fluctuation made Eastport a preferred port for deeper

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

vessels. The river upstream of Calais and St. Stephen became an important transportation corridor for log driving to bring wooden logs and

pulpwood Pulpwood can be defined as timber that is ground and processed into a fibrous pulp. It is a versatile natural resource commonly used for Papermaking, paper-making but also made into low-grade wood and used for chips, energy, pellets, and engineered ...

from interior

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s to

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 ...

s and

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt ...

s built to use

water power Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kin ...

at Calais and

Woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

Historical boundary issues

The boundary issues of the St. Croix River came out of the Treaty of Paris that was signed in 1783. The geography of the river was not charted clearly until the

Jay Treaty The Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, Between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, commonly known as the Jay Treaty, and also as Jay's Treaty, was a 1794 treaty between the United States and Great Britain that averted ...

(1794) provided provisions for surveying the boundary. The boundary between Maine and New Brunswick north of the headwaters of the Saint Croix took another four decades to establish. Following the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

there was a push to settle this disputed territory north of the St. Croix on the St. John watershed and it remained in dispute until 1842. During this conflict Maine,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

and New Brunswick continued to issue some lumbering permits to the disputed territory. With or without a permit, lumbermen were in a race to cut the best timber from the land while it was under dispute. Although it was illegal to cut trees with no permit, the Saint John River enabled this activity because it increased business at the local mills, shipyards and timber ponds in New Brunswick so the officials were slow to halt the ongoing illegal activity. During this time, the lumbermen were very serious and competitive about the trees. Whoever got to the best trees first claimed them.

Dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern German ...

was used as a tool of

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...

to blow up some of the log booms that were strung across the river to catch the recently cut trees. It is also known that at times the timber men purposely sorted their logs incorrectly to attempt to confuse local officials charged with regulating timber trade and transportation. Prior to 2001, it was possible for boaters to use campsites on both sides of the river. However, boaters must now stay on the same shore that they entered from, and report their trip to the appropriate border agency.

Water level monitoring

Canada

The Water Survey of Canada maintains six river flow gauges in the St. Croix River watershed: * St. Croix, New Brunswick () * Baring, Maine () * Dennis Stream near St. Stephen, New Brunswick () * East Grand Lake at Forest City, New Brunswick () * Spednic Lake at St. Croix, New Brunswick () * Forest City Stream, below the Forest City Dam at Forest City, New Brunswick ()

United States

The

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

maintains two river flow gauges in the St. Croix River watershed. * Vanceboro, Maine () where the rivershed is , downstream from the Spednik Lake Dam. * Baring Plantation, Maine () where the rivershed is , downstream of the nearest dam. The maximum recorded flow here is per second and the minimum per second. USGS also maintains a water chemistry monitor at Milltown, Maine () where the rivershed is . For

water year A water year (also called ''hydrological year'', ''discharge year'' or ''flow year'') is a term commonly used in hydrology to describe a time period of 12 months for which precipitation totals are measured. Its beginning differs from the calendar y ...

2001, the pH ranged from 6.6 to 7.2.

Crossings

Seven active international bridges cross the river at the following locations: * St. Croix, New Brunswick- Vanceboro, Maine ( Saint Croix–Vanceboro Bridge, road * St. Croix-Vanceboro ( Saint Croix–Vanceboro Railway Bridge), rail * Mohannes, New Brunswick- Woodland, Maine (unnamed

Maine Central Railroad The Maine Central Railroad was a United States, U. S. class 1 railroad in central and southern Maine. It was chartered in 1856 and began operations in 1862. By 1884, Maine Central was the longest railroad in New England. Maine Central had expand ...

bridge), rail * Upper Mills, New Brunswick- Baring, Maine (unnamed

bridge), rail * St. Stephen, New Brunswick- Calais, Maine, International Avenue Bridge, road * St. Stephen, New Brunswick- Calais, Maine ( Milltown International Bridge), road * St. Stephen, New Brunswick- Calais, Maine (unnamed New Brunswick Southern Railway/

bridge), rail * St. Stephen, New Brunswick- Calais, Maine ( St. Stephen-Calais Bridge), road One defunct crossing exists: * St. Stephen, New Brunswick- Calais, Maine, ferry (at site of St. Stephen-Calais Bridge)

Derived names

HMCS ''St. Croix'' (I81), previously USS ''McCook'' (DD-252), became a Canadian ship in 1940 as part of the Destroyers for Bases Agreement. It was renamed after the St. Croix River to follow the Canadian tradition of naming

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s after Canadian rivers while recognizing the shared national history of the ship.

Dam removal

New Brunswick Power has indicated their desire to remove the 138 year old Milltown Dam on the St Croix River between St. Stephen, New Brunswick (Canada), and Calais, Maine (USA). Currently, New Brunswick Power stakeholders, government officials, the Peskotomuhkati Tribe, locals, and the public are examining this proposed dam removal. Milltown Dam removal would restore Salmon Falls between St. Stephen and Calais. The Peskotomuhkati Tribe is also advocating for the removal of Milltown Dam and the full restoration of Salmon Falls. Milltown Dam was built in 1881 by New Brunswick Power and is the oldest operating hydro facility in Canada.

Atlantic Salmon The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Hucho taimen, Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlan ...

shad The Alosidae, or the shads, are a family (biology), family of clupeiform fishes. The family currently comprises four genera worldwide, and about 32 species. The shads are Pelagic fish, pelagic (open water) schooling fish, of which many are anadr ...

eels Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order (biology), order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 20 Family (biology), families, 164 genus, genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the earl ...

, and alewives would all benefit from this dam's removal and ongoing

habitat restoration Ecological restoration, or ecosystem restoration, is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, destroyed or transformed. It is distinct from conservation in that it attempts to retroactively repair ...

. St Croix River oxygen levels would also improve with the restoration of Salmon Falls.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Croix River (Maine-New Brunswick) Rivers of Maine Rivers of New Brunswick Canada–United States border Borders of Maine Border rivers International rivers of North America