Rum River

Since the first and second road trip stops follow along the Rum River, I thought I would touch on it a little. The Rum River flows south, about 151 miles in total. Starting in Lake Mille Lacs and leading all the way down to its confluence with the Mississippi River in Anoka, the slow, meandering river goes through Onamia, Milaca, Princeton, Cambridge, and Isanti. Father Louis Hennepin is credited with being the first European to see it while under the captivity of a party of Dakota in 1680. This spot, near Isanti is known as “Choking Creek”. In the 1825 Treaty of Prairie du Chien, it became a treaty boundary separating the Dakota from the Ojibwe. Fun fact for the next stop; the Rum divides between the Main Branch and the West Branch in Princeton and the Bogus Brook, which flows into the Rum River, was known to have been a refuge for moonshiners during Prohibition.