Clifton, the first townsite surveyed in the United States section of the North Shore, was platted west of the mouth of the French River in 1855. Early explorers knew the river as Riviere des Francais. Rumors of nearby copper deposits led to widespread prospecting and townsite planning in the 1850s, but Clifton, like many projected towns, never developed. From 1864 to 1866, the French River Mining Company and the North Shore Mining Company dug several exploratory shafts but did not find profitable copper deposits. Extensive lumbering operations were carried on here in the 1880s.