The Hudson's Bay Company established a major trading post on the Skeena at what became called Port Simpson, British Columbia (Lax Kw'alaams), where nine tribes of the Tsimshian nation settled about 1834.

It flows for 570 km (350 mi)[4] before it empties into Chatham Sound, Telegraph Passage and Ogden Channel, east of the Dixon Entrance, all part of the Pacific Ocean.

It continues in this direction until it passes the Slamgeesh Range, then flows westwards to Fourth Cabin, when it turns south through a shallow canyon below Poison Mountain.

It continues through rolling hills to the community of Kispiox and then Hazelton, where it receives the waters of Morice-Bulkley River, and turns south-west.

Groups of Tsimshian thus brought smallpox from Victoria to the Fort Simpson area, whence it spread widely starting in June 1862.

A number of other steamers were built around the turn of the century, in part due to the growing fish industry and the gold rush.

[13] In 2007 SkeenaWild Conservation Trust was formed to promote projects and initiatives by conservationists, First Nations in Canada, and local communities to protect the natural sustainability of the Skeena watershed and its wild salmon ecosystems.

[14][15] One of SkeenaWild's main goals is to develop and implement a strategy for long-term stewardship of forest carbon in the Skeena watershed.