Fort Fraser is an unincorporated village of about 500 people, situated near the base of

Fraser Mountain Beaumont Provincial Park is a provincial park located at the southeast end of Fraser Lake, between Fort Fraser and the town of Fraser Lake, British Columbia, approximately 40 km west of Vanderhoof, British Columbia Vanderhoof is a dis ...

, close to the village municipality of Fraser Lake and the

Nechako River The Nechako River arises on the Nechako Plateau east of the Kitimat Ranges of the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, and flows north toward Fort Fraser, then east to Prince George where it enters the Fraser River. "Nechako" is an angl ...

. It can be found near the geographical centre of

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, west of Vanderhoof on the

Yellowhead Highway The Yellowhead Highway (french: Route Yellowhead) is a major interprovincial highway in Western Canada that runs from Winnipeg to Graham Island off the coast of British Columbia via Saskatoon and Edmonton. It stretches across the four western ...

. Originally established in 1806 as a North West Company

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 ...

post by the explorer Simon Fraser, it is one of present-day British Columbia's oldest permanent European-founded settlements. The area around the community is also recorded as the site of the first land in British Columbia cultivated by non-First Nations people. The original site of the fort is to the west, in

Beaumont Provincial Park Beaumont Provincial Park is a provincial park located at the southeast end of Fraser Lake, between Fort Fraser and the town of Fraser Lake, British Columbia, approximately 40 km west of Vanderhoof, British Columbia Vanderhoof is a dis ...

. In 1911, the fort was relocated to nearby Nadleh Village, and later closed in 1915. The present community is located at the site of the last spike of the

Grand Trunk Pacific Railway The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway running from Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay) to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a Pacific coast port. East of Winnipeg the line continued as the National Tra ...

, driven on April 7, 1914. Today, Fort Fraser is an active community sustained by both

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

and

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...

Transportation

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...

Jasper – Prince Rupert train Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> i ...

calls at the Fort Fraser railway station.

Local events

The Fort Fraser Fall Fair is one of the oldest agricultural fairs in BC. The event has run annually since 1928, on the Labour Day weekend in September.

Local facilities

Local facilities include: * Three churches -

United Church of Canada The United Church of Canada (french: link=no, Église unie du Canada) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholi ...

, Apostolic Lutheran Church (est. 1928 by St. Mary's Anglican Church), and

Church of the Nazarene The Church of the Nazarene is an evangelicalism, evangelical Christian denomination that emerged in North America from the 19th-century Wesleyan-Holiness movement within Methodism. It is headquartered in Lenexa, Kansas, Lenexa within Johnson Cou ...

* Gas station/grocery store * Automotive repair garage, tire sales * Community hall * Post-office * Motel * Laundromat * Visitor information centre

Climate

Directions

Nearby communities of Fort Fraser include: West on Hwy 16 * Fraser Lake - 21 km (13 mi) * Burns Lake - 90 km (56 mi) * Topley - 141 km (88 mi) *

Smithers Smithers is a surname of English origin. It derives from the Middle English term "smyther", referring to a metalsmith, and is thus related to the common occupational surname Smith. The name Smither is related. People *Alan Smithers (born 1938 ...

- 234 km (145 mi) *

Terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river * Terrace, a street suffix * Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk an ...

- 437 km (272 mi) * Prince Rupert - 581 km (361 mi) East on Hwy 16 * Vanderhoof - 38 km (24 mi) *

Fort St. James Fort St. James is a district municipality and former fur trading post in northern central British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the south-eastern shore of Stuart Lake in the Omineca Country, at the northern terminus of Highway 27, which con ...

- 84 km (52 mi) * Prince George - 134 km (83 mi)

References

External links

Fort Fraser website, maintained by British Columbia School District #91
{{authority control Fort Fraser Populated places in the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako Nechako Country Fur trade Hudson's Bay Company forts North West Company forts Designated places in British Columbia