A number of prehistoric sites on the Michipicoten River, as well as in the surrounding valley, have been identified by archaeologists. Of these remains, the most extensive are from the Late
Woodland period, though some go as far back as the
Archaic period. Artifacts, such as ceramics, have been linked to the
Blackduck and
Laurel traditions. Later, in the days of the
fur trade, this river provided access to
James Bay by way of the
Missinaibi and
Moose rivers.
Pierre-Esprit Radisson and
Médard des Groseilliers are believed to be the first non-natives to travel this route. A
French fur trading post was built at the river's mouth in the early 18th century, at a site sometimes called "Fort Michipicoten". Later, after the British triumph in the
French and Indian War, the post was abandoned. It was eventually reopened later in the 18th century under the British, and the
Hudson's Bay Company and
North West Company both opened competing trading posts at the river mouth, with the former building trading posts along the river's route in the 1770s. In 1781,
Philip Turnor, the HBC's first full-time surveyor, performed a detailed survey of the river, followed by many upgrades to the
portages. The two companies merged in 1821, and the Moose/Missinaibi/Michipicoten route became the established supply route for HBC's Lake Superior District, orienting the fur trade up to
Hudson Bay rather than
Montreal. In the 1880s, during the construction of the
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), construction materials were landed at the mouth of the river, as well as at Michipicoten Harbour. The materials were then moved upriver mostly on land, though partially using steamboats on Wawa Lake and Lake Manitowick. The routing of the Canadian Pacific mainline (the nearby section of which is the
CP White River Subdivision) was oriented to parallel the Great Lakes system and ran orthogonal to the river, but fell well inland and diminished the importance of the
Michipicoten River trading post, while stimulating business elsewhere, for example at
Missanabie. The river once flowed over a succession of cascades known as Michipicoten High Falls. In 1904, construction began on a dam and hydroelectric power plant, intended to provide power to mines in the area such as the Helen Mine. The power plant was later upgraded in 1926 in anticipation of a revived gold mining industry. This second gold mining boom drew population and development toward the new gold mining towns, which were referred to collectively as Gold Park, and away from existing riverside settlements. ==Tributaries==