In 1634, Jean Nicolet was the first white man to have contact with the Indians of Wisconsin, and he was soon followed to this area by French and British explorers, missionaries, adventurers, and fur traders. The first white settlers came in the 1840's from Norway, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, and many descendants of these early settlers still live in the Dells area. In the 1830's, lumbering surpassed fur trading as the leading industry, and for nearly 70 years the Wisconsin River was used for transporting lumber downstream to saw mills. During these years, the Narrows of the Upper Dells was known as the most treacherous stretch of water for maneuvering log rafts, and a bridge was constructed to cross the river there while a boarding house was built on Blackhawk Island to serve as a stopover for loggers and stagecoach passengers. Meanwhile, LeRoy Gates began scenic river tours in 1857, and by the 1870's daily excursions were offered to visitors using wooden launches, rowboats, and steamboats. Today, a fleet of 22 steel launches shows the beautiful and ever-changing scenery to as many as 5000 people every day. In 1909, the Wisconsin Power and Light Company built the first permanent dam on the Wisconsin River at its present site in the Dells, elevating the water level on the Upper Dells by 20 feet, and now there are 27 hydro-electric dams on the Wisconsin River, making it one of the hardest working rivers in the world.