Moreover, the St. Croix flowed directly into the Mississippi River, making a convenient route to the burgeoning communities all down the length of the nation plus the numerous inland settlements they served.

In the 1830s and 40s the St. Croix harvest was collected and sorted downstream on an honor system, but the increasing number of companies and logs soon necessitated a more official approach.

[5] In 1851 the Minnesota Legislature chartered the St. Croix Boom Company, granting them the right to collect all logs at a certain point on the river, sort them according to mark, and deliver them to the appropriate owners in return for 40 cents per thousand board feet (17 cent/m3).

[5] In 1856 the Boom Company ran into financial trouble, so a syndicate of Stillwater-based lumbermen led by Isaac Staples seized their opportunity to purchase and relocate the operation.

It was 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Stillwater in a stretch of the river that was narrow, high-banked, and naturally divided into multiple channels by small islands.

[6] The massive volume of logs on the river and the centrality of the St. Croix Boom Company to the all-important lumber industry led to major regional impacts.

The Boom Company did endeavor to provide teams and wagons to portage passengers and goods around blocked areas, transferring them to small steamboats upstream so they could continue their journeys.

[7] The St. Croix Boom Site Roadside Parking Area was developed 1935–1939 using New Deal federal labor relief programs, which had been instituted to combat widespread unemployment during the Great Depression.

Landscape architect Arthur R. Nichols designed the plans while construction was largely carried out by young men employed through the National Youth Administration (NYA).

They constructed a more permanent historical marker, a picnic area, fire rings, toilets, a stone wall, a guardrail, and a staircase down to the riverbank.

At that time the original restrooms, retaining wall, and fence were replaced, a parking area was redesigned, and paved walkways, picnic tables, drinking fountains, and staircase railings were added.

Although many of Minnesota's New Deal-era waysides are listed on the National Register in the own right—including the nearby Stillwater Overlook—the Boom Site was deemed ineligible because the changes over the years had too greatly compromised its historic integrity.

[8] Across the highway from the wayside parking area is a private home that was once the St. Croix Boom Company House and Barn, built circa 1885 as the residence of the on-site superintendent.

[10] It was long assumed that no other structures remained from the log boom era, but in 1975 a historical survey crew from the National Park Service rediscovered two buildings hidden by forest.