George Inlet is a deglaciated fjord that extends generally north into Revillagigedo Island for about 19 miles (31 km) from Revillagigedo Channel to Salt Lagoon, with a historical cannery situated on the western shore, about 87 miles (140 km) northwest of Prince Rupert and 9 miles (15 km) east-northeast of Ketchikan, Alaska. The US Coast and Geodetic Survey named George Inlet in 1880 after Captain W.E. George, a local maritime pilot credited with sketching the first navigational chart of Revillagigedo Channel and Tongass Narrows. Revillagigedo Island is separated from the Alaska mainland by Behm Canal to the east, from Prince of Wales Island by the Clarence Strait to the west, and from Annette Island by Revillagigedo Channel and Nichols Passage to the south. Its landscape results from complex interactions among tectonic terranes that accreted to the western margin of the North American Plate and were later heavily glaciated. The island is primarily composed of rocks from the Taku terrane, separated from the outer Alexander terrane by the Gravina sequence. The Taku terrane consists of Late Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic metamorphosed basalt, marble, and argillite. These rocks were intruded by magma in the Cretaceous , forming granodiorite and quartz diorite. A fault zone beneath the cannery in George Inlet separates these rocks from the Gravina sequence. The Gravina sequence comprises Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous metavolcanic and metasedimentary strata, forming a composite over 49,000 feet (15,000 m) thick. It records intermittent arc volcanism along the eastern edge of the Alexander terrane. A massive gabbro pluton is located just south of the cannery site. Another fault zone separates the Gravina sequence from the Alexander terrane, which consists of Early Paleozoic metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks intruded by diorite plutons. The topography has been modified by erosion and deposition from continental and alpine glaciers during the Pleistocene, between 2 million and 10,000 years ago, and by alpine glaciation during the Holocene.

Revillagigedo Island is the traditional territory of the Tlingit people. By the 19th century, it was divided between the Saanyaa Ḵwáan and Taantʼa Ḵwáan tribes. The first European to document sighting the island was Spanish explorer Jacinto Caamaño in 1792. The following year, British Captain George Vancouver named the island after Juan Vicente de Güemes, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo, then Viceroy of New Spain. In 1802, Russian fur traders expanded eastward and established a fort near present-day Sitka. By 1804, the Russian-America Company moved its headquarters from Kodiak to Sitka. During the Crimean War in the mid-1850s, Russia faced various encroachments in its colonies. Emperor Alexander II feared that England would seize Russian America. Consequently, Russia sold its American colonies to the United States in 1867. For centuries, the Cape Fox and Tongass villages thrived in Southeast Alaska. However, the 19th century brought change with the arrival of traders and explorers. Cape Fox had 100 residents and was situated about 4 miles (6 km) south of Boca de Quadra Inlet, approximately 34 miles (55 km) southeast of Ketchikan. Tongass, with a population of 700, was located on Tongass Island, about 56 miles (90 km) southeast of Ketchikan, near the U.S.-Canada border. In 1868, the United States established Fort Tongass, stationing a small garrison to serve as the customs port for its newly acquired territory. By 1894, the inhabitants of Cape Fox and Tongass relocated to Saxman, just south of Ketchikan, seeking access to a government school and missionaries.

In 1878, the first salmon cannery in Alaska was built at a former fish saltery site in Klawock. Over the next 50 years, salmon fishing and canning became the primary economic drivers in Southeast Alaska. Between 1878 and 1949, 134 canneries were established. Of these, 65 burned down and were not rebuilt, five were rebuilt, and ten were relocated. Consolidations reduced the number of operating plants to 37 by 1949. The George Inlet Packing Company constructed a cannery in 1914 near Beaver Falls on George Inlet. This facility was leased in 1926 and purchased by Libby, McNeill & Libby in 1928. A significant player in the early 20th-century Alaska seafood industry, the company was founded by Arthur and Charles Libby and Archibald McNeill in 1868 in Chicago. They perfected meat canning, earning a gold medal at the 1878 Paris World’s Fair, known then as the Exposition Universelle. The company entered the Alaskan salmon canning business in 1912, establishing a cannery in Kenai. It quickly expanded to all Alaskan fishing districts. The Libby cannery in George Inlet operated until 1958. In 1959, the Columbia River Packers Association merged with Wards Cove Packing to form Columbia Wards Fisheries, acquiring all Libby canneries in Alaska. The George Inlet facilities were closed soon after. The Cape Fox Corporation, the Alaska Native corporation for the Village of Saxman, was established by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. In 1996, the George Inlet cannery reopened as a historic landmark, owned and operated by Cape Fox Corporation. It now offers guided tours showcasing early cannery operations and equipment. Read more here and here. Explore more of George Inlet and Revillagigedo Island here: