River Falls, WI

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In the summer of 1848, Joel Foster, a Mexican War veteran heard about the beautiful area of the Kinnickinnic River with the cascade falls while he was visiting in St. Croix County near Hudson. At that time, St. Croix County was comprised of the present counties of Polk, St. Croix and Pierce. The population of the area in 1849 was less than 2,000.

The next day Foster set about exploring the region. Hunting and fishing along the way, he moved up the river until he reached the falls at the junction of the South Fork and the Kinnickinnic. Foster wrote about the two American Indian tribes inhabiting the region – the Sioux and the Chippewa. He noted that both place such value on the St. Croix Valley that neither claimed it for themselves.

Foster returned to St. Louis but soon decided to spend the winter in River Falls before some other explorer staked a claim. Along with his 20-year-old black indentured servant, Dick, Foster returned to the St. Croix Valley. They spent the winter under a rock shelf along the banks of the Kinnickinnic River, about a half-mile south of the falls.

Using split logs, they dug a pit into the floor, put down a carpet of grass, fastened hooks to hold their rifles and started a fire at the entrance. They heated water to make mud so they could finish the cabin and chimney, but the structure was not completed that first winter. They got supplies in Hudson every 10 days or so.