C. Ray Humphries, a resident of Lakeland, Minnesota and an employee of the 3M Company, became actively interested in conservation issues in 1964 during a dispute about construction of a Northern States Power Company plant on the St. Croix River. Humphries opposed the plant, especially because of the air pollution he felt it would cause. Though the battle against the plant was lost, Humphries' interest in the St. Croix continued and in 1966, he was elected president of the St. Croix River Association, a more than 50-year-old group of ecology-minded residents of both Minnesota and Wisconsin.

As president, Humphries was soon involved in many other issues concerning use of the River. Some of these were inclusion of the St. Croix in federal wild rivers legislation, construction of a Corps of Engineers flood dam at the Nevers Dam site and of a sewage treatment plant at Forest Lake, Minnesota, building a pedestrian walkway on the interstate 94 bridge between Hudson and Lakeland, and establishing a state park on the River's banks near Afton, Minnesota. This last issue was the most controversial and is the one most fully documented in these Papers.

The Afton area had long been studied by various government agencies as a possible site for a park. When a land owner in the most desirable area decided to sell his land, several individuals felt compelled to protect the land from residential development. They formed the Afton Land Company which purchased the property in the hope that government would soon buy it from them for a park. Plans were expanded until the St. Croix River Association and other park backers recommended a state park totaling over 2000 acres, including the land already purchased. Opposition soon surfaced. Opponents claimed the land cost was too high, a railroad track made the beach inaccessible, Washington County would be forced to improve roads and would lose tax base, law enforcement would be a problem, and many present owners did not want to sell. Hearings were held by several government agencies and after much public debate, the Minnesota Legislature in 1969 authorized establishment of the Afton State Park, essentially as originally planned.

The C. Raymond Humphries Papers, 1964-1970, include correspondence, clippings, legal documents, testimony, maps, and other materials concerning each of the issues mentioned above plus other subjects relating to the St. Croix River. Arrangement is alphabetical by subject.

The major quantity of the Papers is correspondence. Conservationist Chester S. Wilson, Congressman Joseph E. Karth, Senators Walter F. Mondale and Gaylord Nelson, and Samuel H. Morgan of the Minnesota Council of State Parks are among the correspondents. The "Miscellaneous" folder includes correspondence on river caves, a proposed hydrological study, and pollution and trash problems among other topics.