Lob trees

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Lob trees were prominent trees used as guides or landmarks along voyageur canoe routes. Branches were lopped (or lobbed) off the trees just below the top to make them more conspicuous. They were located at important places along canoe routes to indicate a portage, trail, or direction to a fur trading post. Often the tree was named in recognition of a bourgeois or trade official in the expedition. Research has shown that this was adopted from earlier First Nations tribes who practiced this form of marking.