Fort St. James is a

district municipality A district municipality is a designation for a class of municipalities found in several locations, including Canada, Lithuania, and South Africa. Canada British Columbia Under provincial law, municipalities in British Columbia are to be desig ...

and former fur

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 ...

in northern central

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, ...

, Canada. It is located on the south-eastern shore of Stuart Lake in the

Omineca Country The Omineca Country, also called the Omineca District or the Omineca, is a historical geographic region of the Northern Interior of British Columbia, roughly defined by the basin of the Omineca River but including areas to the south which allowed ...

, at the northern terminus of Highway 27, which connects to

Highway 16 Route 16, or Highway 16, can refer to: International * Asian Highway 16 * European route E16 * European route E016 Australia - Thompsons Road (Victoria) - South Australia Canada ;Parts of the Trans-Canada Highway: *Yellowhead Hi ...

at Vanderhoof. It is home to the John Prince Research Forest which features abundant wildlife. This community celebrated its bicentennial in 2016 and is incorporated as a

Fort St. James National Historic Site

Founded by the North West Company explorer and fur trader Simon Fraser in 1806, it came under the management of the

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 di ...

in 1821 with the forced merger of the two battling fur companies. Also known historically as Stuart Lake Post, it is one of British Columbia's oldest permanent European settlements and was the administrative centre for the

's New Caledonia fur district. The fort, rebuilt four times, continued as an important trading post well into the twentieth century. Now the fort is a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ...

with some buildings dating to the 1880s.

History

As part of his commission from the North West Company,

Fraser Fraser may refer to: Places Antarctica * Fraser Point, South Orkney Islands Australia * Fraser, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in the Canberra district of Belconnen * Division of Fraser (Australian Capital Territory), a former federal e ...

and his assistants John Stuart and James McDougall explored potential river routes to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

from 1805 through 1808. Explorations in the Winter of 1805-06 by McDougall resulted in the discovery of Carrier's Lake, now known as Stuart Lake. In the heart of territory inhabited by the Carrier or

Dakelh The Dakelh (pronounced ) or Carrier are the indigenous people of a large portion of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. The "Carrier" name was derived from an English translation of ''Aghele'', the name from the neighbouring Sekani ...

First Nation Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

, this proved to be a lucrative locale for

fur trading The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most ...

and so a post - Fort St. James - was built on its shore in 1806. In 1821, the fort came under the control of the

, when the North West Company merged with it. It subsequently became the administrative headquarters of the Company's vast New Caledonia District. The fur trade was slow to take root in the area, since the economy of the

people had been based on the fishery, rather than on trapping. In addition, there were customary and ceremonial restrictions which placed obstacles in the way of an efficient fur economy. Nonetheless, eventually the post became profitable, and continued to function until its closure in 1952. The community is located on the south-eastern shore of Stuart Lake, at the head of the Stuart River. Both the lake and the river are named for Fraser's assistant John Stuart, who would later become head of the New Caledonia District of the North West Company.

Climate

Fort St. James is located in the sub-boreal spruce zone of

, a sub-division of the

hemiboreal Hemiboreal means halfway between the temperate and subarctic (or boreal) zones. The term is most frequently used in the context of climates and ecosystems. Botany A hemiboreal forest has some characteristics of a boreal forest to the north, and ...

climatic zone. It is characterised by severe, snowy winters and short, warm summers. The region is rich in wildlife. Under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

Fort St. James is classified as a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(''Dfb'').

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by Statistics Canada, Fort St. James had a population of 1,386 living in 586 of its 671 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 1,598. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. About one quarter of the population of the greater Fort St. James area identify as being of

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 ...

origin The town is surrounded by numerous, small

communities and

Indian reserves In Canada, an Indian reserve (french: réserve indienne) is specified by the '' Indian Act'' as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." Ind ...

, including Pinchie, Tachie, and Nak'azdli. In the 1990s, Fort St. James had the highest proportion of South Asians of any municipality in Canada - at approximately 20%. The South Asian community of Fort St. James was composed mostly of Punjabis of the

Sikh faith Sikhism (), also known as Sikhi ( pa, ਸਿੱਖੀ ', , from pa, ਸਿੱਖ, lit=disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner, translit=Sikh, label=none),''Sikhism'' (commonly known as ''Sikhī'') originated from the word ''Sikh'', which comes fro ...

. The local Sikh temple was put for sale in 2012, as fewer than 50 South Asian residents remain in the community.

Economy

The local economy is well diversified, although resource-oriented. The forest industries constitute the leading sector followed by mining, agriculture and tourism. Recent developments also include a small high technology sector.

Notable people

* Jim Playfair, Associate Coach of the Edmonton Oilers, NHL *

Larry Playfair Larry William Playfair (born June 23, 1958) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Playfair had a reputation as being a hard-working, pugnacious defender. He played for the Buffalo Sabres and Los Angeles Kings in the NHL and he has w ...

, Former NHL player with the Buffalo Sabres and the Los Angeles Kings * Dylan Playfair, Actor, most notable role is "Reilly" on TV show Letterkenny. *

Brian Spencer Brian Roy Spencer (September 3, 1949 – June 3, 1988) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played ten seasons in the National Hockey League for the Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins. C ...

"Spinner", former player in the National Hockey League and the subject of the film, 'Gross Misconduct'. * Chief Kwah (aka Chief Kw’eh), (ca. 1755-1840), leading Dakelh chief of the Stuart Lake area. * Cody Legebokoff, Convicted serial killer * Johan Pitka, Estonian military commander

References

External links

* {{authority control District municipalities in British Columbia Populated places in the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako Hudson's Bay Company forts North West Company forts