Brown's Creek (St. Croix River)
| Brown's Creek | |
| stream | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Minnesota |
| Region | Washington County |
| City | Stillwater |
| Source | |
| - elevation | 992 ft (302 m) |
| - coordinates | 45°07′08″N 92°53′57″W / 45.11889°N 92.89917°W |
| Mouth | Confluence with the St. Croix River |
| - location | Stillwater, Minnesota |
| - elevation | 670 ft (204 m) |
| - coordinates | 45°07′08″N 92°53′57″W / 45.11889°N 92.89917°WCoordinates: 45°07′08″N 92°53′57″W / 45.11889°N 92.89917°W |
Brown's Creek is a 9.7-mile-long (15.6 km)stream which originates about 5.5 miles northwest of the city of Stillwater and flows south for about half its length then east to its confluence with the St. Croix River just north of Stillwater in Washington County, Minnesota, United States. It is one of few creeks in the Minneapolis – Saint Paul "Twin Cities" metropolitan area that supports a fishable trout population.
The creek's name is from the founder of the first settlement in the Stillwater area, Joseph R. Brown, where Brown's Creek (then Pine Creek) flows into the St. Croix River. In 1840 Brown, a former soldier, Indian trader, promoter, and Justice of the Peace set up a small warehouse at the head of Lake St. Croix to supply his upriver fur trading operations. This warehouse, in what is now the north part of Stillwater, became the county seat of St. Croix County, Wisconsin Territory. Brown began building a courthouse and jail and importing settlers for his new village, which he named Dacotah. Several of Brown’s relatives, including his half-sister Lydia Ann and her husband, Paul Carli, moved into a house built of tamarack logs. The Tamarack House, well known as “Mrs. Carli’s,” became a favorite stopping place for travelers on the St. Croix River. However, few other settlers arrived in Dacotah until a mill was built to the south in what became Stillwater.
The watershed includes School Section Lakes, Goggins Lake, Long Lake and Benz Lake. Brown's Creek flows through the Brown's Creek Park and Nature Preserve northwest of Stillwater, then proceeds east to it confluence with the St. Croix River. At one time in its history, Brown’s Creek was diverted into McKusick Lake, which supplied water to Stillwater residents. By 1955 fisheries managers recognized that warm lake water was putting a strain on the trout population in Brown’s Creek. In an effort to reduce water temperatures for the benefit of trout, a dike was constructed to separate the stream from the lake and return the flow back to Brown’s Creek. The dike still exists today. In 1999, Browns Creek underwent a re-route in the fall of 1999 that shortened this section of the stream from 5,130 feet to 2,000 feet in order to lower water temperatures by avoiding water warming in previous meander through a wetland just north of Lake McKusick, increasing stream velocity and decreasing organic matter in the stream. This project by the city of Stillwater and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources also restored natural riparian vegetation as the creek traverses the Oak Glen Golf Course.
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