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In 1841, Sir George Simpson, a manager for the Hudson's Bay Company at Montreal, crossed Canada by canoe to inspect remote posts. In September, he reached Southeast Alaska, where he visited Fort Stikine, Fort Simpson and Sitka. He also visited Fort Durham near Taku Harbor, the European settlement closest to the future site of Juneau.

Simpson wrote there were about 4,000 Alaska Natives in the area.

" Seven tribes, three of them living on islands, and four on the mainland, visit Taco. They are subdivisions of the Thlinkitts, speaking dialects of the language of that nation. These Indians were delighted to have us settled among them; and on this ground they viewed with much jealousy the visits of more distant savages, to whom they were desirous of acting as middlemen" in matters of trade.

After being detained at Taku for several days by " an uninterrupted storm of high wind and heavy rain," Simpson and his party headed north. He proceeded on the west side of Douglas Island because the eastern passage, Gastineau Channel, " besides being still narrower, was generally obstructed by ice."

At this time, Sitka was a handsome settlement with its own governor, a Russian Orthodox bishop and 15 priests, a school and, as described by Simpson, a governor's residence with " public rooms handsomely decorated and richly furnished."

Later, after Alaska took over ownership of Alaska, Sitka became the base for miners searching for gold throughout Southeast Alaska. Mining engineer George Piltz offered 100 Hudson bay blankets to Natives bringing him ore of value.