Although French Fort Detroit was only 10 miles away after 1701, settlers did not reach Warren for 100 years. Red Run Creek, a branch of the Clinton River, served as the route early pioneers followed by canoe. It also provided the path that the Moravian Trail, a 23 1/2 mile wagon road built in 1785 by Moravian missionaries and local Indians, followed into the interior for settlement and homesteading. At the time, the territory was marshland, and Red Run Creek and similar waterways drained the land and helped open the area for forestry and farming.