The 1903-1904 Kluane gold rush probably brought the first non-native settlers to the area. Louis and Gene Jacquot from the Alsace region of France established the trading post at Burwash Landing about 1904. Shortly after they began building cabins for the families from the upper White and Donjek River area who would stop to trade during their seasonal rounds. Eventually these families settled here. Jimmy Joe's father, Copper Joe, who died in 1943, was the one person most responsible for the move to Burwash Landing. The Aishihik people also traded at Burwash Landing. They came through Isaac and Gladstone Creeks and built huge signal fires on the shore of Kluane Lake. The traders would send a boat over to pick up the people who wished to trade. The Jacquots had forty or fifty horses which packed supplies from Whitehorse to Christmas Creek and later to Kluane from where the supplies were boated to Burwash Landing. The wagon trail, the road and finally the Alaska highway followed much of this route. The brothers also ran a sport hunting business.