Valley Creek (Minnesota)

Valley Creek, sometimes called Bolles Creek, is a small stream in Washington County, Minnesota. It is one of the few remaining trout streams in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. Approximately 10 miles long, the stream begins in Woodbury, Minnesota and flows into the St. Croix River at Afton, Minnesota.

Valley Creek is notable as the location of the first private gristmill in Minnesota. It was built in 1846 by Lemuel Bolles several hundred feet upstream from the confluence with the St. Croix. [Upham, W. (2001). Minnesota Place Names: A Geographical Encyclopedia. Minnesota Historical Society Press.] Bolles' nephew, Erastus Bolles, built an additional mill and a blacksmith shop further upstream. [http://www.pressenter.com/~aftnhist/bro_valleycreek.pdf]

References

ee also

*List of Minnesota rivers