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The first Fort St. John was built by the North West Company in 1806. By 1820 the Hudson's Bay Company had moved into the Peace Country. Beaver pelts became scarce and both fur-trading companies expanded in competition. Hudson's Bay Company governor George Simpson urged the establishment of Fort de Pinnette "without delay" and instructed his men to "use every exertion to secure the hunts of the free Iroquois in the neighbourhood of the Rocky Mountains." In 1821, after years of bitter conflict, the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company merged.
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