Travel water routes used in the 1600s by Native Americans and Fur Traders!

Consider this thought, still very appropriate today, from the diary of Andrew Rundell, 1846, as he stood on Lake Superior's shore.

I had been accustomed to seeing the sun above me, but now it was between me and the water - on the water and under the water, and now the sun sleeps in Lake Superior - and so we too come to the end of a perfect day, made so by those in the past planning for the future which for us is to day and from now on. Let us make the most of it, but jealously guard what we have so we can pass it on to be enjoyed by those who will follow in our footsteps."

Individual Routes

Turtle River Trail - Intermediate
Turtle-Flambeau Flowage - Lake Paddling
Bear River Trail - Novice
Manitowish River Trail - Novice
Flambeau River Trail - North Fork - Immediate/Expert
Montreal River Trail -West Branch - Expert

Other Options

After crossing miles of open water, the Flambeau Trail parallels Wisconsin's "North Coast" following a narrow sand split called Long Island. This land is the home of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa Indians. About the time Columbus "discovered" the New World, the Chippewa people came to the long, narrow, sandy strip of land they called Sha-ga-waun-ik-ong. After leaving the area for a short time, they returned. By 1650, they had established settlements on the Apostle Islands and extensive trading networks that branched out from here. The Bad River Reservation was established in 1854 along this coastline, preserving important wild rice and fishing grounds for the people.

The shoreline changes along the coast from gentle sandy beaches to steep red clay cliffs. At special sites along this route, small rocks called "concretions" are found. Made of clay and sand, they take on a variety of round, marble like forms. They are unique to this area of Lake Superior. Agates are another rockhound's treasure to look for.

The original Flambeau Trail commenced at the Mouth of the Montreal River, an additional mile further up this coast from Lake Superior. Voyagers created a second access point to the Trail, at the mouth of Oronto Creek (now called Saxon Harbor). The Cass Expedition on July 2, 1820 found a beautiful 70 foot waterfall at the Mouth of the Montreal. This is located about a mile east of Saxon Harbor. Chippewa Indians built weirs to catch whitefish and sturgeon at the mouth.

The American Fur Company operated a fur trading post (at Saxon Harbor) and a fisheries station was started by traders in 1824. "A little above this river on the lake shore there were several lodges of Indians on a piece of level ground bounded on three sides by mountains through which a creek runs."
- Otis Bersing, WI Academy Review

Those "mountains" were the steep banks made taller by the virgin trees. The three sides had two valleys. One creek is now know as Parker's Creek and the other is the Oronto Creek.

Stick close to the shore on Lake Superior. Bad weather is known to come up quick and Lake Superior can become extremely rough with waves over 10 feet high. Beginners should not venture out alone.

Background History

Travel the same water routes used in the 1600s by Native Americans and Fur Traders for transporting their goods to markets around the world. Historic Guide Map To Canoe/Kayak Routes in Iron County, Wisconsin (Historical map graphic) Iron County was designated a Wisconsin Heritage Area by Governor Tommy Thompson in 1994. Its rich history played a significant role in establishing Wisconsin's place in national and international trade as the State was settled.

The beaver hat rage in Europe opened up international trade routes in the county as early as the 1600's. Later, iron ore mined in the region fed the growing automobile industry. Iron County's unique history is "Rooted in Resources," not only the resources found in the iron ore mines and the lush forests, but in the people who settled the region opening up Wisconsin's Northwoods for the future.

The Flambeau Trail surfaced as the key transportation route for Native Americans centuries before white exploration. Later, the Flambeau Trail hosted voyageurs, fur traders and settlers during their journeys through out the region. The Flambeau Trail crossed the Continental Divide linking Lake Superior and Mississippi watersheds. The trail connected two important Native American Settlements, La Pointe, on the shore of Madeline Island, and Lac du Flambeau, inland to the South, which be came centers of fur trading commerce.

North of the Continental Divide, rivers contained natural barriers as they flowed north to Lake Superior, making travel by canoe impossible. On this section of the trail, travelers portaged goods 45 miles. South of the Divide, rivers flowed freely to Lac du Flambeau and the Mississippi, offering easier water transportation routes.

Words from the Diary of Reverend Sherman Hall, 1831, reference his departure from Madeline Island, using the Flambeau Trail to reach Lac du Flambeau:

"This morning I left LaPointe for a visit to Lac du Flambeau accompanied by one man, to carry my provisions and baggage and as my guide through the woods. About 4 p.m. we reached the place where we were to leave the lake. Here we laid up our canoe, formed our baggage into packs, my man taking our provisions and cooking utensils, and I my blanket and coat and a gun, and commenced our march across the Forty-Five Mile Portage. We had gone but a few rods from the trading post at the Mouth of the Montreal, before we found ourselves immersed in a thicket of large hem lock, birch, and maple timber."

The original Flambeau Trail commenced on land at the mouth of the Montreal River. Supplies and trade goods to be carried on the Flambeau Trail were broken down into packs weighing 80 - 90 pounds. Each man carried two packs. The Flambeau Trail was called a "120 pause" portage, so named for the number of times the voyagers had to stop to rest. Depending on the load and the motivation of the travelers, the Flambeau Trail took between 2.5 to 7 days to complete.

The Flambeau Trail continued overland south east to the Continental Divide at Long Lake. At Long Lake, canoes were used for the remainder of the route south to Lac du Flambeau. This portion of the route required a number of short portages.

Some of the earliest accounts of traveling the Flambeau Trail were by, Raddison and Groselliers, who may have been the first non-Indians to set foot on the trail and in Iron County. In 1661, they reported that they followed their Chippewa guides south from Lake Superior along the Flambeau Trail "to win the shortest way to their nation at Lac du Flambeau". By that date the Trail must have been extensively used as noted in this excerpt from the 1661 Raddison diary:

"Near this river (the Montreal) a few of Raddison's Huron Indian companions left them to proceed over land by a well worn trail to their village about the source of the Chippewa River (now called the Flambeau River)."

Some of the most descriptive remembrances of travel on the Flambeau Trail come from the Journal of Francois Malhiot, a 28 year old clerk assigned to oversee operations for the Northwest Fur Trading Company at Lac du Flambeau, 1804: 28th Saturday. . .

"I started this morning from Lake Superior with seven of my men to proceed to Lac du Flambeau. I took with me a bale of merchandise, a roll of tobacco, 20 pounds of bullets, three quarters of a sack of corn, a barrel of run double strength, and all my baggage. Today we did forty pauses.”

29th Sunday . . .

“Today we did 20 pauses because I suffered too much from a toothache last night. It is now four o’clock in the afternoon and several of the men are complaining greatly of pains in their legs and it is necessary to spare them.”

"How weak they are! I gave each man a drink of shrub, two double handfuls of flour, and two pounds of pork which they began to eat with such avidity that I was twice obliged to take the dish away from them; fortunately they all escaped with slight twinges of colic. Of all the spots and places I have seen in my thirteen years of travels, this place is the most horrid and the most sterile. The Portage road is truly that to heaven because it is narrow, full of overturned trees, obstacles, thorns and muskegs. Men who go over it loaded and who are obliged to carry baggage over it, certainly deserved to be called ‘men’.”

J. G. Norwood was an Assistant Government Geologist who participated in reconnaissance of the country from the Mouth of the Montreal via Lac du Flambeau, and the headwaters of the Wisconsin River to Prairie du Chien in 1847. His journal vividly catalogs the natural landscape. He reports crossing the Montreal River, at a point which must now be flooded by the Gile Flowage:

September 23 . . .

“We crossed (the West Branch) at 7 o’clock and commenced ascending hills of slight elevation . . . until we reached a ridge one thousand and seventy-eight feet above the lake (Superior). One mile beyond this station, we reached the summit of the highlands, dividing the waters of Lake Superior from those of the Mississippi. At least it appeared to me to be the highest point on the route. I could not verify this however, for half an hour before reaching it, I was so unfortunate as to slip from a root in the trail and in the endeavor to save my barometer, struck it against a tree and broke it.”

Norwood continues his adventure in 1847, through Long Lake to what is now the town of Mercer. The land between what is now called Echo Lake (historically called Big Turtle Lake) and Grand Portage (Little Turtle) Lake is a historic portage and encampment area for native Americans and voyagers, as Norwood documented in his 1847 report: September 24 . . . “[We] finally entered Big Turtle Lake, from the east of which there is a portage of about 600 yards to Little Turtle Lake. At this place, we camped just in time to escape the rain.”

September 25th . . .

"Turtle Portage is an excellent one, over the plain lying between the two Turtle Lakes. At the east end is an Indian village, inhabited during the summer months by one of the Chippewa bands. At present it is deserted, the band having gone north to their winter hunting grounds. Potatoes and corn are raised at this village.”

From Echo Lake, a variety of water highways could be taken. If the traveler wanted to go to Lac du Flambeau, as did Francois Malhiot in 1804, it was necessary to “leap frog” by paddling and portaging from Little Turtle lake (Grand Portage Lake), to Mercer Lake, and finally to the Manitowish River. The Manitowish offered an easy downstream paddle to the Bear River, which then had to be paddled upstream to Lac du Flambeau.

These are just a few of the historical stories of exploring, traveling and moving goods along the Flambeau Trail. We hope they will make your trip along the waterways of Iron County more enjoyable as you recount what life was like for those who have gone before you.

Get the Historic Guide Map of Canoe and Kayak Routes in Iron County at the information request page.