From Lake Superior the main range of mountains looks like a crouching porcupine, giving them their name. Machinery, rock dumps, and old adits remain as ghostly reminders of forty mining ventures between 1846 and 1928, none of which succeeded. Some logging took place around 1916. As late as 1930 a few trappers eked out a living here. In 1945 the area became a state park to preserve its virgin splendor.