Initially there was little to encourage Grosse Pointe settlements especially since a grand marais, or great marsh, stretched from Waterworks Park to Bishop Road. Then, the French king, Louis XV, concerned about English incursions into the Ohio Valley, offered new incentives to attract colonists like Grosse Pointe's earliest pioneers, the Trombleys and LaForests. Coming from French Canada in 1750, the Trombleys became the area's first habitants or farmers, and LaForest became the manager of the LeDuc grist mill on Windmill Pointe. They were soon joined by the Fretons, Deshetres, and Duchenes. Each family had a narrow plot of land, often three miles in depth. These tracts, nicknamed ribbon farms, provided access to the lake for drinking water, fishing and transportation, to the shore for fields and cabins and to the forest for timber and game.