Indian Trail

Indian Trail is a Michigan historical marker in Masonville Township, Delta County, dedicated 1968.

County Rd 509, Masonville Township

Get directions ↗Start a road trip Historical trails

The trail that begins here was one of the most important in the Upper Peninsula. The Noquets, an Algonquian tribe, lived in this area and used the trail in their frequent travels between Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. In places the trail is deeply worn from centuries of use. Beginning in the early 1800s, the Northwest Fur Company and the American Fur Company established posts at Grand Island, near the Lake Superior end of the trail. Traders, lumbermen, and others continued to use this route until a county road was built. The U.S. Forest Service has reconstructed the trail and maintains it for hiking and riding.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

Northwestern University Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1852 · Wisconsin (Cowperthwait, 1852) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1874 · Colton's Michigan (1874) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1925 · Rand McNally Official 1925 Auto Trails Map: Special Around Lake Michigan (The Chicago… (University of Chicago Library, Mapping Chicagoland · CC BY-NC 4.0, used by permission)
1927 · Sectional paved road map (Continues) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1937 · Forest and park activity map as of December 15, 1937 : [Wisconsin] (Northwestern University Libraries)

Wisconsin (Cowperthwait, 1852), 1852, covering the location of Indian Trail, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Wisconsin (Cowperthwait, 1852), 1852, covering this location. Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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Marker data: Michigan History Center
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Indian Trail

Historical maps covering this location

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