In 1873 he took a job with the Alaska:Commercial:Company, and for the next 15 years worked as a fur trader and mining supplier. He was a good-natured, generous man, respected by natives and non-natives alike, and so accustomed to living outside civilization that he once went two years without tasting flour.
In 1874 he helped establish Fort Reliance, close to the junction of the Yukon and Klondike rivers. This very successful post meant that the local Han First Nation did not have to travel downriver to trade. The next year, along with Mayo, he took over the trade of the upper Yukon River valley, working on commission for the Alaska Commercial Company.
