Georgian Bay is on Lake Huron and it is possible to travel anywhere on the Great Lakes from here. To get back to Montreal you need only follow the drainage course through Lakes Erie and Ontario down to the St. Lawrence River. Because of its strategic location, the shortest water route across Canada involved utilizing the LaVase Portages. The first site excavated was called the LaVase North Bank Site and was established near the historical plaque in Champlain Park. These artifacts are considered to be pre-historic as clay vessels and stone tools were quickly replaced by steel European trade goods after contact with the French in the early 1600s.
Evidence also supports the theory of the site being used during the fur trade era.
The second site excavated is on LaVase Island, a privately-owned island at the mouth of the LaVase river. This island was actually part of the mainland before a water-control dam on the French River was constructed in 1910, raising the level of Lake Nipissing by about 1.5 metres. The island was considered a potential site for the location of Fort Laronde as historical records described it as being near exposed bedrock and on the mouth of the LaVase River. The island, meanwhile, has a considerable amount of exposed bedrock and used to be located on the South Bank. It is a particularly rich archaeological site, yielding a wealth of historic and pre-historic artifacts.