Near this spot ran the L’Anse-Lac Vieux Desert Trail, which crossed the interior of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula from L’Anse on Keweenaw Bay to Lac Vieux Desert on the Wisconsin border. Native Americans used the trail in prehistoric times to travel for visiting, hunting, and trade. Father René Ménard may have followed this route in 1661 as he traveled south from Keweenaw Bay on a trip from which he never returned. The trail was later used by fur traders, early surveyors, and homesteaders. The L’Anse and Lac Vieux Desert bands of Chippewa Indians used this trail into the twentieth century. Today, many segments of the L’Anse Lac Vieux Desert Trail are unpaved roads that can be traveled by car.