Wolf Creek is an edge area. The edge of the pine barrens and the hardwoods. The beginning of 6 miles of rapids on the St Croix River. The Ojibway and Dakota Indian boundary land.
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Indian Trade
Joseph Renshaw Brown was running a trading post by 1832. His post(s) were “at the mouth of Wolf Creek”, but may have been on the MN side. In 1832 the Indian agent burned it.
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White Pine Logging
In 1837 a treaty with the Chippewa Indians opened the St Croix Valley to settlement by non-Indians. The first were loggers after the vast white pine forests to supply cities along the Mississippi.
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Geography
Loggers coming up the St Croix had to portage from the falls to Wolf Creek. Some went by trail to Wood Lake or Clam Falls, others back on the river. WC was a rest stop for both groups.
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Farming 1850s
Logging needed people, oxen and later horses. They needed food. The treeless sand barrens were easy to farm and had huge hay marshes. Hunting and berrying were tremendously good.
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Wheat needs grinding
The farmers needed to grind their wheat and corn, and they wanted lumber to build their houses. The farmers came from Ohio, NY, Indiana for cheap land and markets for their crops.
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Fulton City
Surveyers getting the land ready for sale to farmers listed Wolf Creek as Fulton City in the 1850s. A traveler in 1855 staying overnight described the terrible howling of the wolves on the barrens that gave the name to the place.