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Fort Yukon (''Gwichyaa Zheh'' in Gwich'in) is a city in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...
, straddling the
Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the northernmost of the five major circle of latitude, circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern counterpart is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circl ...
. The population, predominantly Gwich'in
Alaska Natives Alaska Natives (also known as Native Alaskans, Alaskan Indians, or Indigenous Alaskans) are the Indigenous peoples of Alaska that encompass a diverse arena of cultural and linguistic groups, including the Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tli ...
, was 428 at the 2020 census, down from 595 in 2000. Fort Yukon was the hometown of the late Alaska Congressman
Don Young Donald Edwin Young (June 9, 1933 – March 18, 2022) was an American politician from Alaska. He is the List of members of the United States Congress by longevity of service, longest-serving Republican Party (United States), Republican in House ...
. Served by Fort Yukon Airport, it is also known for having the record highest temperature in Alaska.


History

This area north of the Arctic Circle was occupied for thousands of years by cultures of
indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...
and in historic times by the Gwich’in people. means "House on the Flats" in Gwichʼin. What became the village of Fort Yukon developed from a trading post, Fort Yukon, established by
Alexander Hunter Murray Alexander Hunter Murray (1818 or 1819 – 20 April 1874) was a Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company ...
of the
Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...
, on June 25, 1847. Murray drew numerous sketches of fur trade posts and of people and wrote the ''Journal of the Yukon, 1847–48'', which gave valuable insight into the culture of the Gwich’in at the time. While the post was in
Russian America Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
, the Hudson's Bay Company continued to trade there until the American traders expelled it in 1869, following the
Alaska Purchase The Alaska Purchase was the purchase of Russian colonization of North America, Alaska from the Russian Empire by the United States for a sum of $7.2 million in 1867 (equivalent to $ million in ). On May 15 of that year, the United St ...
when the Alaska Commercial Company took over the post. During the Klondike Gold Rush, in the winter of 1897–1898, Fort Yukon received two hundred prospectors from
Dawson City Dawson City is a town in the Canadian territory of Yukon. It is inseparably linked to the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–1899). Its population was 1,577 as of the 2021 census, making it the second-largest municipality in Yukon. History Prior t ...
, which was short of supply. A post office was established on July 12, 1898, with John Hawksly as its first postmaster. The settlement suffered over the following decades as a result of several
infectious disease An infection is the invasion of tissue (biology), tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host (biology), host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmis ...
epidemics 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 Host (biology), hosts in a given population within a short period of time. For example ...
and a 1949 flood. During the 1950s, the
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
established a base and
radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...
station at Fort Yukon; the town was officially incorporated in 1959. Since the late 20th century, due in part to its extreme northerly location and its proximity to Fairbanks, it has become a minor tourist destination. On February 7, 1984, a Terrier Malemute-type
sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are often ...
, with a maximum altitude of , was launched from Fort Yukon.


Geography

Fort Yukon is located on the north bank of the
Yukon River The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. From its source in British Columbia, it flows through Canada's territory of Yukon (itself named after the river). The lower half of the river continues westward through the U.S ...
at its confluence with the Porcupine River, about northeast of Fairbanks. As of 2014, the
Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the northernmost of the five major circle of latitude, circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern counterpart is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circl ...
passes through the southern portion of the city at . Due to long-term oscillations in the Earth's axis, the Arctic Circle currently shifts northward by about per year, though varying substantially from year to year due to the complexity of the movement. According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, Yukon City has a total area of , of which of it is land and of it (5.65%) is water.


Climate

Fort Yukon has a strongly continental
subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental 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 ...
(
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
: Dfc). In the summer Fort Yukon has
midnight sun Midnight sun, also known as polar day, is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When midnight sun is see ...
and in December the sun appears for only a few hours each day. Summer temperatures are exceptionally high for such a northerly area, being far warmer than the
tree line The tree line is the edge of a habitat at which trees are capable of growing and beyond which they are not. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually low ...
threshold. The highest temperature ever recorded in Alaska occurred in Fort Yukon on June 27, 1915, when it reached . This was also the highest temperature recorded north of the Arctic Circle until June 20, 2020, when it was finally exceeded by a reading at Verkhoyansk, a location similarly known for its extremely continental climate. Fort Yukon is also subject to severe winters, being less influenced by
chinook wind Chinook winds, or simply Chinooks, are two types of prevailing warm, generally westerly winds in western North America: Coastal Chinooks and interior Chinooks. The coastal Chinooks are persistent seasonal, wet, southwesterly winds blowing in from ...
s than areas to the west—the winter season absolute maximum being colder than in Fairbanks. Until 1971, Fort Yukon held the all-time lowest temperature record for Alaska and the United States at on January 14, 1934, and it still holds the record for the lowest mean monthly temperature when the notoriously cold month of December 1917 had an average daily temperature of and the minimum averaged .


Demographics

Fort Yukon first appeared on the 1880 U.S. Census as an unincorporated village of 109 residents. Of those, 107 were members of the Tinneh Tribe and 2 were Whites. It did not appear on the 1890 census, but has returned in every successive census since 1900. It formally incorporated in 1959, the year Alaska became a state. As of the
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 595 people, 225 households, and 137 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 317 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 86.05% Native American, 10.76%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.17%
Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
or
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.17% Asian, and 0.17% from other races, and 2.69% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race were 1.34% of the population. There were 225 households, out of which 36.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 25.8% were
married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 23.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.1% were non-families. 34.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 3.37. In the city, the population was spread out, with 33.4% under the age of 18, 10.3% from 18 to 24, 27.4% from 25 to 44, 22.0% from 45 to 64, and 6.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 112.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 111.8 males. The median income for a household in the city was $29,375, and the median income for a family was $32,083. Males had a median income of $25,000 versus $27,813 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the city was $13,360. About 18.0% of families and 18.5% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 14.3% of those under age 18 and 3.5% of those age 65 or over.


Education

Yukon Flats School District Yukon Flats School District (YFSD) is a school district headquartered in Fort Yukon, Alaska. Schools They are: * Arctic Village School ( Arctic Village) * Cruikshank School (Beaver) * John Fredson School (Venetie) * Fort Yukon School ( Fort Y ...
operates the Fort Yukon School, serving Fort Yukon. The University of Alaska (Fairbanks) operates a rural campus facility called the Yukon Flats Center.Yukon Center
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Notable people

* Hudson Stuck (1863–1920), Episcopal priest, social reformer, mountain climber (buried there in the native cemetery) * Hannah Paul Solomon (1908–2011), first woman elected mayor of Fort Yukon * Jonathon Solomon (1932–2006), Goldman Environmental Prize recipient for his efforts to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge *
Don Young Donald Edwin Young (June 9, 1933 – March 18, 2022) was an American politician from Alaska. He is the List of members of the United States Congress by longevity of service, longest-serving Republican Party (United States), Republican in House ...
(1933–2022), longest-serving Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives and of Congress in history *
Clarence Alexander Clarence Lee Alexander (born March 12, 1939) is a former Grand Chief of the Gwich'in people, Gwich'in of Alaska. He was 1st Chief of Fort Yukon from 1980 to 1994. He was raised at "Shoo Taii," the "Happy Hill," which is also known by the name " ...
(born 1939), First Chief of Fort Yukon * Woodie Salmon (born 1952), politician, Representative, Alaska State House of Representatives, 2004–2010, former Chief, Chalkyitsik, Council Member, Fort Yukon Mayor, Fort Yukon * F. Kay Wallis (born ), traditional healer and Representative, Alaska State House of Representatives, 1985–1990 * Velma Wallis (born 1960), Native American writer


References


External links

* {{Authority control 1847 establishments in the British Empire Cities in Alaska Cities in Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska Gwich'in Hudson's Bay Company forts in the United States Populated places established in 1847 Populated places of the Arctic United States Yukon River