Kwadacha, also known as Fort Ware or simple Ware, is an aboriginal community in northern British Columbia, Canada, located in the

Rocky Mountain Trench The Rocky Mountain Trench, also known as the Valley of a Thousand Peaks or simply the Trench, is a large valley on the western side of the northern part of North America's Rocky Mountains. The Trench is both visually and cartographically a s ...

at the confluence of the Finlay, Kwadacha and Fox Rivers, in the

upstream from the end of the Finlay Reach (north arm) of Williston Lake. The population is about 350. It is in the federal electoral riding of Prince George-Peace River. The community is home to

Kwadacha First Nation The Kaska or Kaska Dena are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living mainly in northern British Columbia and the southeastern Yukon in Canada. The Kaska language, originally spoken by the Kaska, is an Athabas ...

, a Sekani First Nation but a member of the

Kaska Dena The Kaska or Kaska Dena are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living mainly in northern British Columbia and the southeastern Yukon in Canada. The Kaska language, originally spoken by the Kaska, is an Athabas ...

tribal council.

History

The area is part of the traditional territory of the Sekani-speaking people, the Kwadacha, and called ''Tahche'' in their language. In 1927, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) established an outpost of

Fort Grahame A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

, naming it the Whitewater trading post. It was first built in

Deserters Canyon Deserters Canyon is a canyon on the Finlay River in the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It is located just upstream (north) from the head of the Finlay Arm of Lake Williston, the reservoir created by WAC Bennett Dam on the lower Pe ...

farther along Finlay River, but was later relocated near the meeting of Fox, Kwadacha and Finlay Rivers. It became a "full-fledged" post in 1929. The fort introduced the local Kwadacha people to its wares as well as commercial trapping, still a mainstay of life in the region and for the

. . In 1938, the fort was re-named Fort Ware after William Ware (1872-1957). Ware had worked for HBC since 1895, rising from Chief Factor company store at Telegraph Creek in 1911 to the District Manager of Fur Trade (1927-1932). William reportedly portaged across Canada to set up Telegraph Creek Trading Post, meeting and hunting with Louis Riel along the way. The HBC post was closed on 31 May 1953.

Flooding from Bennett Dam

The community of Fort Ware was relocated from its original location due to the flooding of the lower Finlay Valley by Lake Williston in the late 1960s. Some current inhabitants of Fort Ware are relocatees (and their descendants) who formerly lived at locations (such as Finlay Forks, located at the confluence of the Finlay and Parsnip Rivers). Before the

Bennett Dam The W. A. C. Bennett Dam is a large hydroelectric dam on the Peace River in northern British Columbia, Canada. At high, it is one of the world's highest earth fill dams. Construction of the dam began in 1961 and culminated in 1968. At the dam, ...

was completed on the Peace River in 1967, the combined flow of the Finlay and Parsnip were the beginning of the Peace River, but which itself is now the Peace Arm of Lake Williston. Finlay Forks was one of several native communities that were flooded out during the creation of Lake Williston (British Columbia's largest lake and one of the world's largest man-made lakes).

Infrastructure

Transportation

No provincial highways reach the community, but a logging road extends north from the Prince George region. A 70 km logging road connects the community with the

Tsay Keh Dene Tsay Keh Dene, meaning "people of the rocks" in the Sekani language, may mean: * Sekani people of northern British Columbia, Canada * Tsay Keh Dene First Nation, the band government of the Sekani people * Sekani language The Sekani language or T ...

village, whose people are closely related. Additionally there are a series of horse trails following the rocky mountain trench north, ending at the

Alaska highway