[1] The Taku traditionally lived along the northwestern coast of North America, in the area that is now the Alexander Archipelago of Alaska, and on the lower basin of the Taku River of the adjoining British Columbia mainland above that river's mouth.

From this main winter village they dispersed to their clan subsistence areas during the spring, summer, and fall.

[2] Having a keen appreciation of the advantages of their position for trade, the Taku held possession of the main river in the area that is now Juneau and compelled the natives of the interior territories to use them as middle-men, instead of allowing trade directly with the white settlers.

[3] In the early 1840s, the Hudson's Bay Company established a trading post called Fort Durham in Taku Harbor.

The Taku people then moved to the area around Sheep Creek to work with the miners for wages.