"I bring you beauty from the river"

A poet in the 1920s wrote verses about the St. Croix River that still ring true one calm August afternoon.

August 29, 2012

2 minute read

“Wherever an American river runs, there are always those who love it. Over the years, the St. Croix River has especially attracted the proprietay affection and unswerving loyalty of all who have come under its influence. In the late 1920s Ruth Lusk Ramsey summed up her feelings about the St. Croix acres she and her doctor husband shared at Copas and she spoke for all of us:

“I bring you beauty from the river,
Shadowy hills in a rising mist,
Pine trees standing high
And a river flowing, flowing,
Flows forever by.

“I bring you beauty from the river
Where leaves a golden carpet lie.
There are no smoky buildings here
To shut away the morning sky—
Just shadowy hills in a rising mist
And pine trees standing high.”

– From The St. Croix: Midwest Border River, by James Taylor Dunn, Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1965