The Taku River (Lingít: T'aaḵu Héeni) is a river running from British Columbia, Canada, to the northwestern coast of North America, at Juneau, Alaska. The river basin spreads across . The Taku is a very productive salmon river and its drainage basin is primarily wilderness. During the 18th and early 19th centuries, the Taku Indians controlled the trade routes on the river and compelled natives of the Interior to use them as middle-men, instead of allowing trade directly with white settlers. The Hudson's Bay Company established a trading post called Fort Durham, also known as Fort Taku, near the mouth of the Taku River in the early 1840s to take advantage of the natural trade route. However, by 1843, Fort Durham had been abandoned as unprofitable. Although a major river, the Taku's name does not extend to its headwaters. Its name begins at the confluence of the Inklin and Nakina Rivers, which is the location of the tiny community of Inklin. The Inklin's name also only extends upstream to the confluence of the Nahlin and Sheslay Rivers, which the Nakina's main tributaries are the Sloko and Silver Salmon Rivers. One account of its name is that "Taku" is the Tlingit language word for "salmon" but the Taku Tlingit name for themselves T'aaku Kwáan translates as "Geese Flood Upriver Tribe"". There are also three kwaans of the Tlingit people: Taku Kwaan, Yenyeidi, wolf clan "own" Taku watershed, originating from yen hidi, 12 miles s/e of Juneau, a coastal clan, NOT inland in British Columbia, the Áa Tlein Kwáan ("Big Lake Tribe", today organized as the Taku River Tlingit First Nation) and the Deisleen Kwáan ("Big Sinew Tribe", today organized as the Teslin Tlingit Council); the territory of the former includes those areas of the Taku basin in British Columbia. Tributaries The Taku's main tributaries are as follows, listed hierarchically in ascending order from its mouth: Wright River Sittakanay River Tulsequah River Inklin River Sutlahine River Nahlin River Dudidontu River Kakuchuya Creek Matsatu Creek Koshin River Kaha Creek Lost Creek Megatushon Creek Sheslay River Samotua River Hackett River Egnell Creek Nakina River Sloko River Nakonake River Silver Salmon River Economic value The Taku River is an important contributor to the economies of Southeast Alaska and British Columbia, especially for its commercial, sport and personal-use fisheries. A detailed report released in 2004 by the McDowell Group notes $5.4 million in total U.S. commercial