While this area is famous for gold rushes, it was actually the fur trade that first opened the north to non-native settlement.

In 1848, Robert Campbell established Fort Selkirk for the Hudson Bay Company at the historic First Nation trading centre at the junction of the Yukon and Pelly Rivers. The supply route was long and difficult, so trade goods were always scarce here.

The presence of the Hudson Bay Company strained relations between the Tr'ondek Hwech'in and the Chilkat, their Tlingit speaking trading partners. The Tr'ondek Hwech'in soon found they only had to give five pelts in exchange for one gun at the HBC post, while the Chilkat were asking fifty pelts for a gun. In 1852 the Chilkat attacked Fort Selkirk, burning it and taking anything of value, thus re-establishing their trade monopoly. The fort was then abandoned and remained so for forty years.

Fathers of the Yukon

Men such as Jack McQuesten, Al Mayo and Arthur Harper travelled to the Upper Yukon River in 1873 and became independent traders linked to the Alaska Commercial Company. They were known for their trust and generosity, and would often extend unlimited credit to penniless prospectors on the understanding that when they found gold they would pay their debts to the trading post. This system of "grubstaking" led to much more thorough prospecting of the Yukon River drainage than would otherwise have been possible. Honour was the law of the land in the early days, and the trio of traders was rarely stuck with a bad debt. One time when a steamer arrived with supplies, a group of prospectors became anxious waiting for the boat to be unloaded and the goods sorted. Harper told the men to help themselves and keep their own accounts. When all was said and done, he was only short payment for six cans of condensed milk.