 The search for the Northwest Passage, the fur trade, and missionary activity brought European travelers to the area.used native routes in 1732 to reach Rainy Lake.In the latter part of the eighteenth century it was used by ' of the French-Canadian fur brigades as their main route from Grand Portage on Lake Superior to the ', the "upper country" beyond the height of land separating the Great Lakes from the fur country in the Northwest; "see Canadian canoe routes".