Looking at this photograph it is difficult to imagine that this is what the entire area around LaSalle Park once looked like. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the shores of Hamilton Harbour were wild. Inlets, marshland and forests dominated the shore. Wild animals such as rattlesnakes, bears and wolves were common. However, once Europeans arrived and settled the area, the land was mostly farms and forests, a rich source of natural resources to ship across the Great Lakes and into the Maritimes.