French River is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Duluth Township, Saint Louis County,

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, United States; located on the North Shore of

Lake Superior Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. Lake Michigan–Huron has a larger combined surface area than Superior, but is normally considered tw ...

. The community is located 13 miles northeast of the city of

Duluth Duluth ( ) is a Port, port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of St. Louis County, Minnesota, St. Louis County. Located on Lake Superior in Minnesota's Arrowhead Region, the city is a hub for cargo shipping. The population ...

, at the junction of North Shore Scenic Drive ( County 61) and Ryan Road (County Road 50).

History

French River had also been known by the name ''Clifton'' during the early settlement years. Clifton, the first townsite surveyed in the United States section of the North Shore, was platted west of the mouth of the French River in 1855. The river was known to early explorers as and to the

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

as , meaning 'Floodwood River'. Rumors of nearby copper deposits resulted in widespread prospecting and townsite planning in the 1850s. Like many of the projected towns, Clifton never developed. From 1864 to 1866, the French River Mining Company and the North Shore Mining Company dug several exploratory shafts, but failed to locate profitable copper deposits. Extensive lumbering operations were carried on in the vicinity during the 1880s.

References

* Rand McNally Road Atlas – 2007 edition – Minnesota entry * Official State of Minnesota Highway Map – 2011/2012 edition Unincorporated communities in Minnesota Unincorporated communities in St. Louis County, Minnesota {{StLouisCountyMN-geo-stub