A settlement on St. Michael Island, called St. Michael, was founded by the Russian-American Company in 1835 to trade with Yupik natives, but by 1892 it had been taken over by the Alaska Commercial Company. Weare had hoped to use this trading post as a base for his shipyard, but the Alaska Commercial Company had a virtual monopoly on the Yukon steamship business and saw Weare as a competitor. It refused to cooperate. The Alice Blanchard was forced to anchor two miles offshore and to ferry supplies to the beach in the ship's boats and a 40' scow built on site. Weare started a new trading post about a mile north of St. Michael. It took a month to unload at Weare's new settlement, which was dubbed Fort Get There.
