The original inhabitants of the area are the N'Biissing, an Anishinabek people, and many N'Biissing still inhabit the area today. A trading post was founded in the last quarter of the 18th century on an island on Lake Nipissing at the mouth of the La Vase River, called Fort La Ronde and was operated by Denis de la Ronde. Fort La Ronde will move numerous times on different islands on Lake Nipissing. It was later sold to North West Company. It was later bought by the Hudson's Bay Company around 1820 and was later relocated on the right bank of the river several hundred metres below the falls, at the mouth of Sturgeon River, trading with the N'Biissing for furs and other goods. James R. Holditch of Utterson, Ontario is generally credited as being the first permanent non-aboriginal settler in the area. He arrived in 1878 and built a cabin on the left bank, near the waterfalls. Nowadays, the Sturgeon River House Museum sits where the HBC trading post was. It was founded as a centennial project in 1967 by the Historical Restoration Committee of the Sturgeon Falls Secondary High School, the Township of Springer and the Town of Cache Bay, in cooperation and funded by the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario. It was renovated and re-opened in 1999 and upgraded to include a permanent building capable of being open year-round and vastly improved its exhibits. It is now an agency of the Municipality of West Nipissing and supports the West Nipissing tax base.