The riverfront always drew people to Stillwater. The Ojibwe and Dakota
first settled here, later striking a treaty with Europeans, who quickly
realized the St. Croix River's potential as an ideal way to move lumber.
One of the first to float logs down the river was Captain Stephen Hanks,
cousin to Abraham Lincoln. The lumber business gave birth to Minnesota's
first millionaire as the city grew, and Stillwater received one of the
state's first Carnegie grants for a free public library. Meanwhile, the
state prison saw notorious gangster Cole Younger found the Prison Mirror
in 1887, now the nation's oldest continuously operated offender
newspaper. Authors Holly Day and Sherman Wick celebrate the history and
charm of one of Minnesota's finest cities, from the frontier to today.