Gordon (or, in Inupiaq, ''Pattaktuq'', meaning “he/she/it is spanking”, alluding to the pounding of the waves on the shore, as though it is being spanked by someone; also ''Demarcation'') was a 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 North Slope Borough,

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

on the shore of

Demarcation Bay Demarcation is the act of creating a boundary around a place or thing. Demarcation may also refer to: *Demarcation line, a temporary border between the countries * Demarcation problem, the question of which practices of doing science permit the r ...

, near the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

border in the east. It is located approximately 200 miles (325 km) north of the Arctic Circle, 2.5 miles (4 km) east of Demarcation Point and 65 miles (105 km) east of Kaktovik. It was one of the many trading outposts established along the north coast of Alaska in the early 20th century.

History

The place was named after Thomas Gordon, a Scottish whaler and trader who was sent by Charles Brower to Demarcation Point in 1917 to establish the post for the fur trading company H.B. Liebes Company of San Francisco. He founded the settlement with the help of Andrew Akootchook, his brother-in-law, and moved there with his wife and their families. After Gordon and his wife's family later moved to

Barter Island Barter Island is an island located on the Arctic coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, east of Arey Island in the Beaufort Sea. It is about four miles (6 km) long and about two miles (3 km) wide at its widest point. Until the late 19th ...

, his son Mickey took over the trading post and continued to run it until the late 1920s. The construction of the DEW line in the 1950s affected the appearance of the site. Excessive removal of gravel caused the spit at Demarcation Point, which used to extend further into the bay, to retreat; consequently, the houses on the spit were washed away due to

beach erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landward ...

. Since then, fishing has not been as good. Many Inuit and Dene people from the region frequently visited the place. The

Athabascans 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 Co ...

regularly came here from the south and were involved in trading. The area around the trading post was, and still is today, a good fishing, hunting and camping site. Especially oldsquaws, caribous and polar bears were hunted at Demarcation Bay. Additionally, it occasionally serves as a stopover for people from Kaktovik taking boat trips to Canada to visit friends and relatives.

References

Unincorporated communities in North Slope Borough, Alaska Populated places of the Arctic United States Unincorporated communities in Alaska {{NorthSlopeAK-geo-stub