Rum River

{{Use American English|date=February 2025}} {{More citations needed|date=December 2010}} {{Infobox river | name = Rum River | native_name = {{native name list |tag1=dak|name1=Watpa waḳaŋ |tag2=oj|name2=Misi-zaaga'igani-ziibi}} | name_other = | name_etymology = Mistranslation of ''Watpa waḳaŋ'' | nickname =  | image = Rum River in Princeton, Minnesota (29572111696).jpg | image_size = | image_caption = Rum River in Princeton, Minnesota | image_alt =  | map = rumrivermap.jpg | map_size = 175 | map_caption = Rum River highlighted | map_alt = | pushpin_map = Minnesota | pushpin_map_size = 175 | pushpin_map_caption= Mouth of the Rum River | pushpin_map_alt =  | subdivision_type1 = Country | subdivision_name1 = United States | subdivision_type2 = State | subdivision_name2 = Minnesota | subdivision_type3 = Counties | subdivision_name3 = Anoka, Isanti, Sherburne, Mille Lacs | subdivision_type4 = | subdivision_name4 = | subdivision_type5 = | subdivision_name5 =  | length = {{convert|151|mi}}<ref name=GNIS>{{GNIS|650382|Rum Rivere}}</ref> | width_min = | width_avg = | width_max = | depth_min = | depth_avg = | depth_max = | discharge1_location=St. Francis, MN | discharge1_min = | discharge1_avg = {{convert|683|cuft/s|abbr=on}}. <ref>{{cite web|url=https://waterdata.usgs.gov/mn/nwis/annual/?format=sites_selection_links&search_site_no=05286000&agency_cd=USGS&referred_module=sw|title=Rum River|website=USGS}}</ref> | discharge1_max =  | source1 = Mille Lacs Lake | source1_location = Mille Lacs Indian Reservation | source1_coordinates= {{Coord|46.160499|-93.756020}} | source1_elevation = | mouth = Mississippi River | mouth_location = Anoka, Anoka County, MN | mouth_coordinates = {{Coord|45.189985|-93.390311}} | mouth_elevation = | progression = | river_system = | basin_size = | basin_landmarks = | basin_population = | tributaries_left = | tributaries_right = | waterbodies = | waterfalls = | bridges = | ports = | custom_label = | custom_data = | extra = }}

The '''Rum River''' is a slow, meandering stream that connects Minnesota's Mille Lacs Lake with the Mississippi River. It runs for {{convert|151|mi}}<ref name=NHD>U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. [http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/ The National Map], accessed October 5, 2012</ref> through the communities of Onamia, Milaca, Princeton, Cambridge, Isanti, and St. Francis before ending at the city of Anoka, roughly 20 miles northwest of Minneapolis. It is one of the six protected Wild and Scenic rivers in Minnesota.<ref>{{cite web|title=City of Princeton, Minnesota|url=http://www.princetonmn.org/}}</ref><ref name=GNIS />

== History == [[Image:Milaca-Rum River 2.jpg|thumb|left|The Rum River as seen on the west side of Milaca, Minnesota.]] The early explorer Louis Hennepin is credited with being the first European to lay eyes upon the Rum. He was taken to see it during the spring of 1680, while under the captivity of a party of Dakota. He referred to it as the St. Francis river in his published journals, although obviously the name didn't stick. The current river bearing the name St. Francis River, located 12 miles west of the Rum, parallels the flow of the Rum.<ref>Shea, John Gilmary. ''DESCRIPTION of LOUISIANA, By FATHER LOUIS HENNEPIN, RECOLLECT MISSIONARY: Translated from the Edition of 1683, and compared with the Novella Decouverte, The La Salle Documents and other Contemporaneous Papers'', New York: John G Shea (1880), pp 368–70. (The spelling ''Recollect'' is the translator's. See original title page ([https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044021229133;view=1up;seq=7 image at HathiTrust]).)</ref>

The Rum River makes a sharp turn southward at Cambridge, Minnesota. During the spring floods, the Rum River forces itself through a wetland complex west of Cambridge as the sharp bend constricts the river's floodwaters. In the 1825 First Treaty of Prairie du Chien, the outlet of this natural diversion channel located near Isanti, Minnesota, known as "Choking Creek", became a treaty boundary separating the Dakota from the Ojibwe.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://govtrackus.s3.amazonaws.com/legislink/pdf/stat/7/STATUTE-7-Pg272.pdf|title=Treaty of Prairie du Chien|date=August 19, 1825}}</ref>

In Princeton, Minnesota, the Rum divides between the Main Branch and the West Branch. When Mille Lacs County, Minnesota was created from Benton County, Minnesota, the West Branch of the Rum served as the counties' boundary. Today, Mille Lacs County's western boundary instead follows the public land survey line.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.millelacs.mn.gov/2328/History#:~:text=When%20Mille%20Lacs%20County%20was,of%20county%20officials%20were%20elected.|title=History of Mille Lacs County|website=Mille Lacs.gov|access-date=April 11, 2021}}</ref>

The Bogus Brook, which flows into the Rum River, was known to have been a refuge for moonshiners during Prohibition.

==Name history== The Dakota name for the river is ''Watpa waḳaŋ'' (Spirit(ual)/Mystic River), after Mille Lacs Lake (''Mde waḳaŋ'', Spirit(ual)/Mystic Lake). In 1702, d'Isle's map recorded the name of the river as ''Riviere des Mendeoüacanton'' (River of the Mdewakanton). On the [http://rla.unc.edu/Mapfiles/HMC2/F29-1-3.jpg "Carte représentant le ''Messisipi'' entre le 49e d. et le 42e d. ou aboutit la rivière ''Wisconsing'' lac Supérieure, lac des Illinois et lac ''Alemepigon''" map (c. 1730)], Rum River is recorded as ''Rivière de S. François ou des Nadouessioux'' (St. Francis or Sioux River). On the 1733 Henry Popple map, the Rum River is shown as ''R. Nendivaocanton''. Upham notes that both Carver in 1766 and Pike in 1805 found the name "Rum River" in use by English-speaking fur traders.<ref name = Upham>{{cite book| last =Upham| first =Warren| authorlink =Warren Upham| title =Minnesota Place Names, A Geographical Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition| publisher =Minnesota Historical Society| date =2001| location =Saint Paul, Minnesota | isbn =0-87351-396-7}}</ref> However, the 1778 Mitchell Map by John Mitchell records the river as ''Fiume del Lago'' (River of the Lake), with Samuel Mitchell reproducing the map in 1880, with the river recorded as ''Lake R.''; Mille Lacs Lake, though, was recorded in the reproduction as ''Red Lake'' or ''Mustiacalsan'' ("''Mustiacalsan''" being a mis-recording of "''Miſsiſacaigon''"). Henry Schoolcraft in his ''Narratives'' in 1820 records the Rum River by its Ojibwe name ''Missisawgaiegon''.<ref>Schoolcraft, Henry R. (1820) ''Narrative Journal of Travels''. (Reprint: 1953, 1992.)</ref> By 1832, Tanner's map recorded the name of the river as ''Missisagaigon'' or ''Rum River''. Today, two different Ojibwe names can be found for this river: one indicating the lake of its origin (''Misi-zaaga'igani-ziibi'', Grand Lake River) and the other reflecting the English (''Ishkodewaaboo-ziibi'', Fire-water River). Due to changes in the Dakota language, two slightly varying river's name appears as well: ''Watpa waḳaŋ'' representing the historically recorded name, and ''Wakpa waḳaŋ'' reflecting the current name.

== Naming controversy == The current English name is a mistranslation of the one given to it by the Mdewakanton Dakota (see Dakota) tribe. Though ''Watpa waḳaŋ'' (Spirit(ual)/Mystic River) in the Dakota language, by the late 18th-century Europeans interpreted the Mdewakanton Dakota name for the river not as "Spirit" denoting a mystical force, but instead as "spirit" denoting alcohol and ever since it has been known as the ''Rum'' River.

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/canoe_routes/rum.pdf Minnesota DNR: A Canoe and Boating Guide to the Rum River] *[http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/watertrails/rumriver/index.html Rum River – State water trail: Minnesota DNR]

Category:Rivers of Minnesota Category:Tributaries of the Mississippi River Category:Rivers of Anoka County, Minnesota Category:Rivers of Mille Lacs County, Minnesota Category:Rivers of Isanti County, Minnesota Category:Rivers of Sherburne County, Minnesota