European, Canadian and American traders began to establish permanent trading posts soon after the Corps of Discovery visit in 1805-06. John Jacob Aster sent out groups of men by both land and by sea, to meet up and establish a permanent fur trading post at the mouth of the Columbia. Their Fort Astoria became Fort George, then Astoria, Oregon. Fort George became part of Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821, whose management directed them to move headquarters, and built Fort Vancouver in Vancouver, Washington.

The magnificent abundance of fish in the Columbia was enjoyed locally, until canning techniques developed. Then forty canneries sprang up along the Lower Columbia in the late 19th century. Commercial salmon fishing was done on a massive scale in the Lower Columbia, continuing until fish runs declined in the later 20th century.