Early settlers and Indians used this trail to reach the maple sugar and wild rice campsite at the north end of Tamarac Lake. It extended east to the Ottertail River and then branched south and north. The south branch followed the west side of the Ottertail to the centuries-old Indian Crossing and campground at the outlet of Rice Lake, now known as Mitchell Dam. The north branch followed the Ottertail River to the outlet of Round Lake. Five miles north of this location, the heavily used Yellowhead Indian trail joined the Ottertail. Most of the maple forests near Tamarac Lake were used by the Indians until the 1930s, with trees gashed into the sapwood and maple sap collected in birchbark containers placed at the base of the trees. The clearing to the north is the original early settler clearing of Mr. Ole Dahl, who occupied the site in 1905.