The Mattawa River had been used by native peoples as an important transportation corridor for many centuries. In 1610, Étienne Brûlé and in 1615, Samuel de Champlain were the first Europeans to travel the river. For some 200 years thereafter, it formed part of the important water route leading from Montreal west to Lake Superior. It was the primary access to the vast Canadian interior in the days of the fur trade. Canoes travelling west up the Ottawa turned left at "the Forks" (the mouth of the Mattawa) to enter the ""Petite Rivière"" ("Small River", as compared to the Ottawa), reaching Lake Nipissing by way of "La Vase Portage", an stretch of water and portages.