![Fort Selkirk, Yukon (1898)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Fort_Selkirk%2C_Yukon_%281898%29.jpg)
Fort Selkirk is a former
trading post
A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded.
Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...
on the
Yukon River
The Yukon River (Gwichʼin language, Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Central Alaskan Yup'ik language, Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq language, Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag language, Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän language, Hän: ''Tth'echù' ...
at the confluence of the
Pelly River
The Pelly River (Ts'ekínyäk Chú) is a river in Canada, and is a headstream of the Yukon River. The river originates west of the Mackenzie Mountains and flows long through the south central Yukon. The Pelly has two main tributaries, the Ros ...
in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
's
Yukon
Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...
. For many years it was home to the
Selkirk First Nation The Selkirk First Nation (Hucha Hudan people) is a First Nation self-government in the Canadian territory, Yukon. Its original population centre was the trading post of Fort Selkirk, Yukon along the Yukon River, but most of its citizens now live in ...
(
Northern Tutchone
The Northern Tutchone are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living mainly in the central Yukon in Canada.
Language and culture
The Northern Tutchone language, originally spoken by the Northern Tutchone p ...
).
History
Archaeological evidence shows that the site has been in use for at least 8,000 years.
Robert Campbell established a
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...
trading post nearby in 1848. In early 1852, he moved the post to its current location. Resenting the interference of the Hudson's Bay Company with their traditional trade with interior
Athabaskan
Athabaskan (also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large family of indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific C ...
First Nations
First Nations or first peoples may refer to:
* Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area.
Indigenous groups
*First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including:
**First Natio ...
, Chilkat
Tlingit
The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ), First Nation warriors attacked and looted the post that summer on Saturday, August 21, 1852.
The fort was rebuilt about 40 years later and became an important supply point along the Yukon River.
At age 28, under the command of Inspector John Douglas Moodie,
Francis Joseph Fitzgerald
Francis Joseph Fitzgerald (12 April 1869 – 11 February 1911) was a Canadian who became a celebrated Boer War veteran and the first commander of the Royal North-West Mounted Police detachment at Herschel Island in the Western Arctic (1903). From ...
was the first person of European descent to chart an overland route from
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
to Fort Selkirk,
Yukon
Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...
via northern
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
and the
Pelly River
The Pelly River (Ts'ekínyäk Chú) is a river in Canada, and is a headstream of the Yukon River. The river originates west of the Mackenzie Mountains and flows long through the south central Yukon. The Pelly has two main tributaries, the Ros ...
(1897). The voyage took eleven months, having covered about 1,000 miles. As a result of this achievement, Fitzgerald was promoted corporal in 1899.
Canadian Biography Online - Fitzgerald
/ref>
Fort Selkirk was essentially abandoned by the mid-1950s after the Klondike Highway
The Klondike Highway is a highway that runs from the Alaska Panhandle through the province of British Columbia and the territory of Yukon in Canada, linking the coastal town of Skagway, Alaska, to Dawson City, Yukon. Its route somewhat par ...
bypassed it and Yukon River traffic died down.
Restoration and historic status
Many of the buildings have been restored and the Fort Selkirk Historic Site is owned and managed jointly by the Selkirk First Nation and the Yukon Government's Department of Tourism and Culture. There is no road access. Most visitors get there by boat, though there is an airstrip, Fort Selkirk Aerodrome
Fort Selkirk Aerodrome is an aerodrome located Fort Selkirk, Yukon
Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least popu ...
, at the site.
See also
*Volcano Mountain
Volcano Mountain is a cinder cone in central Yukon, Yukon Territory, Canada, located a short distance north of Fort Selkirk, near the confluence of the Pelly River, Pelly and Yukon Rivers. Volcano Mountain is called Nelrúna in the Northern Tutc ...
* Fort Selkirk Volcanic Field
*Ne Ch'e Ddhawa
Ne Ch'e Ddhäwa is the Northern Tutchone name for an eroded tuya approximately 7 km up the Yukon River from Fort Selkirk (UTM zone 8V 383955 E, 69600091 N) (it has been informally called Wootten's Cone) in the Fort Selkirk Volcanic Field of centr ...
*Fort Yukon, Alaska
Fort Yukon (''Gwichyaa Zheh'' in Gwich'in) is a city in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska, straddling the Arctic Circle. The population, predominantly Gwich'in Alaska Natives, was 583 at the 2010 census, down from 59 ...
References
External links
Virtual Museum Canada
Yukon Heritage Resources Unit
Selkirk
Klondike Gold Rush
Hudson's Bay Company forts
Ghost towns in Yukon
{{Yukon-geo-stub