Fort McPherson (
Gwich'in: ''Teetł'it Zheh'' , ''at the head of the waters'') is a
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
located in the
Inuvik Region of the
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
, Canada. It is located on the east bank of the
Peel River and is south of
Inuvik
Inuvik (''place of man'') is the only town in the Inuvik Region, and the third largest community in Canada's Northwest Territories. Located in what is sometimes called the Beaufort Delta Region, it serves as its administrative and service ce ...
on the
Dempster Highway
The Dempster Highway, also referred to as Yukon Highway 5 and Northwest Territories Highway 8, is a highway in Canada that connects the Klondike Highway in Yukon to Inuvik, Northwest Territories on the Mackenzie River delta. The highway crosses ...
.
The
First Nations people who make up the majority are
Gwich'in (Teetł'it Gwich'in) and the two principal languages spoken are
Gwichʼin
The Gwichʼin (or Kutchin) are an Athabaskan-speaking First Nations people of Canada and an Alaska Native people. They live in the northwestern part of North America, mostly above the Arctic Circle.
Gwichʼin are well-known for their crafting ...
and English.
Originally the site of a
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...
post the community was named for Murdoch McPherson.
Most people have vehicles and regularly make trips to either Inuvik, or
Whitehorse, Yukon
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 ...
.
History
Fort McPherson was the starting point of
Francis Joseph Fitzgerald's famous tragic journey of "The Lost Patrol". All four men on the Patrol, including Fitzgerald, were buried at Fort McPherson on 28 March 1911. In 1938, the graves were cemented over into one large tomb (to the right of the flag pole in above image), with cement posts at the four corners connected by a chain. In the centre is a memorial to the Royal Northwest Mounted Police Patrol of 1910.
National Historic Site
In 1969, the area comprising the boundaries of the community of Fort McPherson, as it was mapped in 1898, was designated a
National Historic Site of Canada
National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ...
, in recognition of the fact that the site had served as the principal
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...
trading post in the
MacKenzie Delta region for over 50 years, and had been the first
North-West Mounted Police
The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territo ...
post in the
Western Arctic
Northwest Territories (french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest) is a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada. The electoral district covers the entire territory.
This riding was created in 1962 from Mackenzie River ...
.
Transportation
Fort McPherson is accessible by road all year from
Dawson City
Dawson City, officially the City of Dawson, is a town in the Canadian territory of Yukon. It is inseparably linked to the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–99). Its population was 1,577 as of the 2021 census, making it the second-largest town in Yuko ...
and
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 Whitehorse, downtown ...
,
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 ...
, with the exception of spring break-up and fall freeze-up on the Peel River. The community also has access to Inuvik via the Dempster Highway and crosses the
Mackenzie River at
Tsiigehtchic.
There is also a small airport at Fort McPherson,
Fort McPherson Airport, that has seasonal flights to
Inuvik (Mike Zubko) Airport
Inuvik (Mike Zubko) Airport is located east of Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada.
The airport is classified as an airport of entry by Nav Canada and is staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). CBSA officers at this airport ca ...
on
Aklak Air
Aklak Air is an Inuvialuit owned airline based in Inuvik in Northwest Territories in Canada. It operates year-round and seasonal scheduled services, as well as charter flights throughout the western Arctic. Its main base is Inuvik (Mike Zubko) ...
when the road across the Peel is closed.
The former
Fort McPherson Water Aerodrome
Fort McPherson Water Aerodrome was located adjacent to Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories, Canada on the Peel River. The airport was listed as abandoned in the 15 March 2007 Canada Flight Supplement.
See also
*Fort McPherson Airport
Fort ...
was listed as closed in the 15 March 2007
Canada Flight Supplement
The Canada Flight Supplement (CFS) (french: link=no, Supplément de vol Canada) is a joint civil/military publication and is a supplement of the Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP Canada). It is the nation's official airport directory. It ...
.
Demographics
In the
2021 Census of Population
The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...
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 cultu ...
, Fort McPherson 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.
In the 2016 Census 695 people identified as
Indigenous, 610 as
First Nations, 15 as
Métis
The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United State ...
, 20 as
Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territorie ...
or
Inuvialuit
The Inuvialuit (sing. Inuvialuk; ''the real people'') or Western Canadian Inuit are Inuit who live in the western Canadian Arctic region. They, like all other Inuit, are descendants of the Thule who migrated eastward from Alaska. Their homelan ...
, 10 giving multiple or other aboriginal responses and 40 non-Aboriginal.
Climate
Fort McPherson experiences a
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, g ...
(
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
''Dfc''). The highest temperature ever recorded in Fort McPherson was on 7 August 1919 and 20 July 2001.
The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 14 January 1894.
See also
*
List of municipalities in the Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is the most populous of Canada's three territories with 41,070 residents as of 2021 and is the second-largest territory in land area at . The Northwest Territories' 24 municipalities cover only of the territo ...
References
Further reading
* Carefoot, E. I., and N. A. Lawrence. ''Utility Study Settlement of Ft. McPherson for Department of Public Works, Government of the Northwest Territories''. Edmonton: Associated Engineering Services, 1972.
* Gallupe, Scott. ''Husky Lake, Fort McPherson Area Historic Hydrocarbon Exploration Investigation June 29, 1992''. Inuvik, NT: Northern Affairs Program, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 1992.
* Kakfwi, Stephen. ''Literacy Program Funding, Fort McPherson''. Yellowknife?, N.W.T.: Northwest Territories, Executive Council, 1991.
* Manitoba Free Press. ''Pemmican Made at Fort McPherson, a Hudson's Bay Company's Post Sixty-Five Miles Within the Arctic Circle and Two Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy-Eight Miles Northwest of Winnipeg A Christmas Present from the Manitoba Free Press''. Winnipeg:
.n. 1902.
* Northern Engineering Services Company, and Canadian Arctic Gas Study Limited. ''Report on All-Weather Road from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Fort McPherson, N.W.T''.
anada? Northern Engineering Services, 1972.
* Northwest Territories, and Jane Gilmartin Gilchrist Collection (Newberry Library). ''Gwich'in Alphabet Posters Fort McPherson Dialect''.
ort McPherson Northwest Territories, Dept. of Education, Programs and Evaluation Branch, 1981.
* Ripley, Klohn & Leonoff International Limited. ''Community Granular Materials Inventory Fort McPherson, N.W.T''.
.l. Dept. of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, 1972.
External links
Fort McPherson Hamlet website
{{Authority control
Communities in the Inuvik Region
Gwich'in
Hudson's Bay Company forts
National Historic Sites in the Northwest Territories
Populated places in Arctic Canada
Hamlets in the Northwest Territories