In 1846 Alexander Murray opened Lapierre House on the Bell River, and the following year the Hudson's Bay Company built its most profitable post, FortYukon.
HBC officers relied on the First Nations to bring furs to the posts for trading. After the brief trading season following spring break-up, the furs were shipped to England for auction. Because of the complicated route by which trade goods were brought into the Yukon, the whole Yukon trade operated on a seven-year cycle. It took seven years from the time the trade goods left England until Yukon furs arrived at auction to pay for them.
Yukon trade was always more profitable in the north than in the south.
