Long before any settlers arrived, the Anishinabek of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation looking for a shorter and safer route between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, would cross the peninsula near its base. They would enter near the site of the present-day location of the town of Wiarton and after portaging, would paddle their canoes across the lakes and rivers that almost connect both shores. The route became known as the Rankin Portage and it is suspected that early French explorers used this route to visit the various indigenous communities, which existed in the area and avoid the often-treacherous waters around the tip of the peninsula.