[2] The park preserves the ruins of a French trading post that operated from the early 1700s until it was abandoned by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1904.

[4] These posts on the north shore of Lake Superior were the main source of fur supply from the west and northwest.

[5] Four years later, it was re-opened on the same site by independent fur traders Alexander Henry the elder and Jean Baptiste Cadotte.

In 1797, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) built a rival post on the north bank to compete directly with the original fort.

[5][7] With the union of the two companies in 1821, the HBC took over the original fort, and it gained importance because the Lake Superior trade was diverted from Montreal to Hudson Bay via Michipicoten.

From there a number of smaller posts along Lake Superior and in the interior were supplied, and it also served as a base for missionaries and surveyors.