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For information on the spring Snake River Canoe Race, go to their website.  Includes registration and other information for those of us who enjoy spring canoeing on the River.

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The Friends of the North West Company Snake River Fur Post, located near Pine City,  have an informative website for visitors.  The Post was built in 1804-05 on important trade and travel routes.  The site was rediscovered in the 1950s, and the Minnesota Historical Society excavated and rebuilt the site.  Events are held there during the year.  

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Dr. Thomas Waters' book, Wildstream: A Natural History of the Free Flowing River, is now out.  Dr. Waters is the founder and President of Friends of the Snake River, and has a cabin on the Snake River.  His book is favorably reviewed in the July-August 2000 issue of Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, by Greg Breining who is author of Paddling Minnesota.  Dr. Waters' book can be ordered by calling (877) 953-7487 ($22 in softcover).  Dr. Waters is also the author of Streams and Rivers of Minnesota and The Superior North Shore.

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Breining writes: "It's a definitive work, geared toward the layperson with an abiding interest in moving water ... He discusses the mechanics of rivers, their chemistry and food chains, their varied and mysterious sources of nutrients, and their fish life.  Despite the sometimes technical nature of the materials, Waters writes with the impeccable clarity that characterized his (other) books."

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The July-August 2000 issue of the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer has an article called "Mussel Bound" by DNR malacologist Dan Kelner on mussels in Minnesota rivers--including our Snake River.  It is worth reading because Kelner describes mussels at "sentinels of our rivers' health." 

Kelner and his colleagues are studying the Snake River as a part of their studies.  Last January Kelner e-mailed us: "We have sampled most of the Snake River for mussels and I have to admit it is a remarkable river.  We plan on sampling Pokegema and Cross Lakes this summer.  I don't know if you know this but many years ago there was a mussel camp on Pokegema where mussels were commercially harvested and processed for the Pearl button industry."

"Mussels are excellent indicators of water quality because they are long lived, sessile benthis organisms that filter water for food.  Any drastic decline or change in the mussel fauna of the Snake River for example would definitely be cause for alarm."  

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Check out the petition signed by 69 deer hunters opposing the development of truck trails in Section 16 of Ford Township, Kanabec County.  This petition was presented to deer hunters who were hunting in Section 16 during the first two weekends of the November 1999 deer hunting season.  All hunters enthusiastically opposed the development of truck trails on state lands in Kanabec County.  Deer hunters petition.