In 1912 the Dominion Government of Canada sent George B Milligan to survey the Northeast corner of British Columbia. They worked through the summers of 1912 and 1913 surveying the East side of the Rockies from the Yukon Border down to the town of Fort ST john and from the BC/Alberta border west to the Rocky Mountains.

They wintered with a band of Beaver Indians in the Fort Nelson region from November of 1912 to breakup in 1913 and headed to Victoria that fall. In his journal Milligan mentions meeting and buying food from Beaver who had never seen a white man before.

These Natives lived in the far Northern reaches of the province. They gathered together with other band members in large groups during the summer months where the younger members met and married other Beavers outside their family unit then went their separate ways for the winters.

Life in the northern regions was harsh and food was scarce. The heads of each family took their members back to their wintering grounds where they knew the area and were able to find enough fresh meat to sustain themselves and trap enough furs to buy supplies such as tea, flour, salt sugar, ammunition and other goods.

Some of these bands had never gone south to the outpost of Fort Nelson or North to Watson Lake. Instead they traded with other members of their band who lived closer to the trading posts.