Ross River is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

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 ...

, Canada. It lies at the junction of the Ross River 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 ...

, along the

Canol Road The Canol Road was part of the Canol Project and was built to construct a pipeline from Norman Wells, Northwest Territories, to Whitehorse, Yukon, during World War II. The pipeline no longer exists, but the long Yukon portion of the road is m ...

, not far from the Campbell Highway. Primary access to the Campbell Highway is via a nine-mile access road. Formerly it was accessed along a six-mile

section that is no longer maintained. It is serviced by

Ross River Airport Ross River Airport is located south of Ross River, 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 pr ...

, used mainly for charter and scheduled flights to and from

Whitehorse Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...

and Watson Lake. It is the home of the

Ross River Dena Council The Ross River Dena Council is a First Nation in the eastern Yukon Territory in Canada. Its main centre is in Ross River, Yukon at the junction of the Campbell Highway and the Canol Road, near the confluence of the Pelly River and the Ross River. ...

, a

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 ...

in eastern Yukon.

History

The confluence of the Ross and Pelly rivers had long been used as a gathering place for First Nation peoples, particularly in the late summer. The first permanent settlement was established in 1901 when Tom Smith started a small

fur Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket t ...

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 north bank of the Pelly and called the spot Smiths Landing. That winter approximately 15 First Nation families overwintered near the post, creating the beginnings of the permanent community of Ross River. By 1903 a second, rival trading post was set up on the south bank of the Pelly opposite Smiths Landing. The settlement attracted an increasing number of people, mostly the

Kaska 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 ...

but including many First Nation people from the Mackenzie River region who would travel over the divide to meet others, trade, and sometimes stay. By 1914 over 1,000 people were gathering at Ross River in the late summer. But a severe

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...

epidemic An epidemic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics ...

in 1916 hit the community's First Nation people hard, and increasing economic activity and new trading posts along the Mackenzie River reduced the population.

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and the years immediately following brought massive changes to Ross River. The building of the Canol Road and pipeline between 1942 and 1944 brought a massive, but temporary, influx of newcomers and the new road made the community more accessible, although the road closed in 1946 and did not reopen until 1958. The late 1940s and early 1950s also saw a collapse of fur prices and the permanent closure of most of the region's fur trading posts — including Pelly Banks, Sheldon Lake, Rose Point,

Frances Lake Frances Lake is a lake of 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 Canad ...

and

Macmillan River The Macmillan River is a tributary, approximately long, of the Pelly River in the Yukon Territory of northwestern Canada. It originates in the Mackenzie Mountains The Mackenzie Mountains are a Canadian mountain range forming part of the Yukon ...

. By 1952 Ross River had the only remaining trading post in the region. The Canol Road shifted the commercial centre of the community to the south bank of the Pelly River at the new ferry crossing point and the federal government began pressuring the First Nation to move across the river from the Old Village. By the mid 1960s the community of Ross River assumed the shape it has today.

Geography

Climate

Ross River has

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...

( Dfc) with long, severely cold winters and short but mild summers.

2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, Ross River had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Economy

Mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

exploration increased in the region around Ross River through the 1950s and an exploration and mining boom occurred in the 1960s and 1970s with the discovery and development of the Faro mine. In 1950 and 1951 Al Kulan, who was inducted into the

Canadian Mining Hall of Fame The Canadian Mining Hall of Fame was conceived by Maurice R. Brown as a way to honor Canada's mine finders and builders, in recognition of accomplishments by leaders in the Canadian mining industry. The Hall was established in 1988; in 2022 it ha ...

in 2005, prospected the Pelly Range. In 1952 he located mineralization in the Anvil district. In 1953 Ross River Dena citizen Jack Sterriah mentioned a heavy concentration of rust in Vangorda Creek that he had known about as a boy. That year Kulan, Peter Thompson along with Dena citizens Arthur John, China Sterriah, Jack Ladue and Robert Etzel prospected Vangorda Creek and found the first significant mineralization in the area on July 2. They, along with Dena members Joe Etzel and Jack Steriah, were issued shares in the company formed as a result of the discovery, Vangorda Mines Ltd. The property was optioned to Prospectors Airways, headquartered in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. Arthur John, a Dena elder, learned prospecting from, and worked with, Kulan in the early 1950s and his fluency in English enabled him to serve as an intermediary between Kulan and other Ross River Dena members who also learned to identify minerals. John had a long career prospecting with Conwest Exploration as well as Kulan's companies Spartan Exploration and Welcome North Mines. From 1954 to 1957 Kulan prospected north-west of the Vangorda and discovered a rusty area. Geochemical and geophysical surveys resulted in several drill targets. Propspectors Airways would only pay for a packsack drill. The first drill hole was attempted over the No. 2 orebody of what, a decade later, would become Canada's largest lead-zinc mine. This hole could not reach the bedrock due to heavy overburden. The program was discontinued. In 1964 the property was re-staked by Dynasty Explorations which Kulan was a director and officer of. Dynasty staked large tracts of the district and identified many drill targets. Due to lack of funds they joined forces with

Cyprus Mines Corporation The Cyprus Mines Corporation was an early twentieth century American mining company based in Cyprus. In 1914, Charles G. Gunther began prospecting in the Skouriotissa area after reading in ancient books that the island was rich in copper and n ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. The joint venture was running over budget when a move was made to one of the mineralized sites selected by Kulan, which was one of the last hopes for the discovery of a successful body of ore. In the summer of 1965 the discovery of the mine was made and resulted in the biggest staking rush the Yukon Territory had ever seen. The mine closed permanently in 1997.

Media

The Ross River community was too small to get a satellite-serviced transmitter for CBC and did not even have radio – residents would drive to Faro to listen to the Canada-Russia hockey series. The first television service arrived after intervention from Al Kulan, who hired a helicopter and pilot from Whitehorse and flew from mountaintop to mountaintop on a bitterly cold night to find the signal from Faro's five watt TV transmitter. After a signal was detected on Grew Creek Hill, Kulan paid for the equipment, and the community's men volunteered their work, bulldozing a road up the mountain. The transmitter caught the government's attention, but the residents steadfastly refused to shut it down and requested a licence. In early 1975, radio was finally installed. Ross River's community effort led to other similar projects that brought TV to every community; Teslin installed their own satellite dish (illegal until 1979), and the Yukon government attempted to negotiate a lower lease price with

Telesat Canada Telesat, formerly Telesat Canada, is a Canadian satellite communications company founded on May 2, 1969. The company is headquartered in Ottawa. History Telesat began as Telesat Canada, a Canadian Crown corporation created by an Act of Parl ...

which had a monopoly on satellite earth stations until 1979.

References

External links

Community profileThe Ross River Dena: A Yukon Aboriginal Economy (PDF)
{{coord, 61, 59, N, 132, 27, W, region:CA_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki, display=title Settlements in Yukon