The Bead Hill site was settled temporarily as part of a mid 17th century push by the Iroquois Confederacy north, from their traditional homeland in New York state.

[6] The village was an important fur trading post and was part of the regional power struggle between the French, British, and Iroquois.

The Comte de Frontenac wrote to Louis XIV of France in the fall of 1674 that the Iroquois "have given their word not to continue the trade, which as I informed you last year, they had commenced to establish at Ganatsekwyagon, with the Ottawas, which would have absolutely ruined ours by the transfer of the furs to the Dutch."

Tensions between the Iroquois and French led to a number of conflicts over the course of the 17th century which are collectively known as the Beaver Wars, which would gravely affect Ganatsekwyagon.

The whole of the steep bank of the river had been used, and the graves being one above another in the hillside, they looked like steps from the top to the bottom.In 1885, C. Blackett Robinson published A History of Toronto and County of York, which described artifacts found "near the mouth of the Rouge River, where the site of what was once a considerable Indian village was indicated by the remains of the logs which formed a wooden palisade surrounding their habitations."

Some of these artifacts, the account continued, "have all the characteristics of the stone age, and mixed with the rude weapons and implements of 'native industry' are those of copper and iron, and also glass beads, which were probably obtained by intercourse with the early French voyageurs and traders ... A few yards from the site of the village a number of graves containing aboriginal remains were discovered.

In addition to Ganatsekwyagon at the mouth of the Rouge River, the following settlements have been identified by historian Percy James Robinson:[10]